How digital has always been positioned as choice - the consumer wants choices and wants to have it their way.

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Choice in digital – can you have too much
of a good thing?
Dr. Deborah Ko || Asia’s Customer Festival
27 October 2014

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Introduction

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Change or get left
behind.
"Give people what they want, when they want it, in the form they
want it in, at a reasonable price and they'll more likely pay for it rather
than steal it… The audience has spoken. They want stories. They're
dying for them. They're rooting for us to give them the right thing. And
they will talk about it, binge on it, carry it with them on the bus and
the hairdresser, force it on their friends, tweet, blog, Facebook,
make fan pages, silly GIFs and God knows what else about it.”
– Kevin Spacey

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Why digital?
Self service
Co-creation
Social networks
Consumption of media
Mobile and tablet

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A little experiment…

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Where would you go?

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Is choice key in
digital?

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Choice helps in motivation
Intrinsic motivation and engagement
Autonomy
Self-expression

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Too many decisions
Decision are mentally tiring
People want to make the right decision
The harder the decision, the more frustrating the experience
Leads to bad choices or no choice

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Simplifying decisions
Trader Joe's limits products to less than 10 percent of a typical grocer. It has
more than twice per square foot sales of the average grocer
Sara Lee reduced its number of products by more than half and achieved a
reduction of inventory of almost 40 percent while improving on-time deliveries
Golden cat cut out 10 of its kitty litters and saw a 12% increase in sales
Procter & Gamble reduced Head and Shoulder shampoos from 26 to 15 and
saw an increase in sales by 10%
Amazon and Pandora choose for you things that they think you will like

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Give them an easy comparison.

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Make them feel confident
about their choice.

14. Rein in numbers with categories.
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Start with easy choices first.

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What does choice
mean to different
cultures?

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Choice in Asia
• Relationships
• Face
• Mientze (Chinese)
• Taimien (Japanese)
• Chemyon (Korean)
• Sia naa (Thai)
http://www.weddingangbao.com/

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Who has choice?
Westerners perceive themselves to
have more choice than Asians
Choice is not an individual’s
decision
• Motivation
• Persistence
• Liking

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Saving Face and Culture
Face consumption: consumption of
products to maintain, enhance, or save
face
• Conform to the purchase behavior of their
peers than Americans
• Buy products that enhance their social
status than Americans
• Consider other-face more than Americans
do when purchasing gifts

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Summary
Perception of choice is important
Everyone wants choice but they don’t like making decisions
Too many choices are cognitively taxing and lead to frustration
Difficult choices are often driven by fear of regret and can lead to decision
avoidance
Choice in Asia is also influenced by relationships and face
Opportunities for gift-giving in Asia are important to encourage online and
offline relationships

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What can you do with this?
• Make choices easy
• Set time limits
• Limit the amount of viable options
• Provide a good comparison
• Give pointers on how to choose
• Focus on reducing regret

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What can you do with this?
Rethink the Asian consumer
• Identify “Face” cues to help the consumer
• Indicate normative and relational cues to help increase behavior change (social
proof)
• Involve family and friends input and encourage word of mouth
• Consider how products and services protect our consumers’ face
• Provide opportunities for gift giving
• Help users in their quests for gift giving

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Make the choices
count.

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