is it possible to have too many choices?

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KSmith

KSmith

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Nov 9, 2005
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Long Valley
www.blossomsandtwigs.net
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NJ
Hi, my name is Kathy and I am new to the group. I'm one of the owners of a small flower shop in sleepy Long Valley, NJ. I'm wondering what folks think about a question I've been considering lately.

On a website, is it possible to have too many choices? Our site is a teleflora template that I try to customize somewhat, but for example, our "Birthday" link goes to 5 screens worth of arrangements. I'm wondering if that is info overload and if it would be better to limit the # of choices to 2, maybe 3 screens tops.
 
Welcome Kathy! :)

I looked at your website and I think 4 pages per catagory looks fine. That is 36 arrangements per catagory. Plus there are certain arrangements you have in more than one catagory.

If you have anything else to ask, please let us know! :)
 
I've spent a lot of time customizing our website. I think personalization is the key. Check out our home page www.asecretgardenflorist.com

We have a picture of one of our bride's < she's also an employee ; ) of ours >
We have booked weddings before initial consultations because we have her picture on the home page! Plus, there's a photo of me & my mom with some information about us. Customers love it & so do news reporters!

This is what we've done with the basic teleflora website & it really works!!!

Good Luck!!!!!

~ Kim
 
Maybe it's just me, but I always have preferred to have all items for each occasion on one page. I think when I have to go thru multiple pages then I would forget which page had the one I like.
 
Is it possible to have too many choices? Good question, Kathy

That is a question I keep asking myself. I notice some websites have more thumbnails to a screen. Mine has 6 and I tend to feel 3 screens [pages] are my limit.

Bloomz, how many thumbnail images do you have on a screen?

I've been working on Add-ons and wonder if we can go too far there also. Our Add-ns come between having decided to order and the page where all the information is taken. That concerns me a bit.

Hoping this thread will get more responses.
 
I give this issue about zero time in the course of a year because I'm too busy doing everything else. I use TF template and most of their SRPs.

The TF website template is nothing more than TF's selection guide.

You can customize it with your prices, but I prefer to keep most of TF's recommended SRPs. I do this because occasionally you get a customer purchasing a floral arrangement, through my website, that is to be wired out. If you have a "standardized" price, you eliminate alot of potential problems.

Joe
 
Tom Carlson said:
That is a question I keep asking myself. I notice some websites have more thumbnails to a screen. Mine has 6 and I tend to feel 3 screens [pages] are my limit.

Bloomz, how many thumbnail images do you have on a screen?

I've been working on Add-ons and wonder if we can go too far there also. Our Add-ns come between having decided to order and the page where all the information is taken. That concerns me a bit.

Hoping this thread will get more responses.
Click to expand...

Mine depends upon how many items I put in a certain category. The pages are generated on the fly with space allotted to how ever many items are in the category. I could change this and have multiple pages but I choose not to. I think my birthday cat has around 48 and another 32. I think those amounts are about as far as attention span goes.

But like I said, it may just be me, but I favor sites where you don't have to go between multiple pages. I feel this way on my own web shopping as well. If a site like officemax for instance gives me the option to display how many search results per page, I always choose the highest number. I get lost between pages. Maybe it's my own attention span, or maybe it is the results of living thru the 60's, but that's how I like web sites.

I absolutely don't care for sites like justflowers that have like their birthday cat has 84 pages of 15 per page!

I should probably have a few more but I see no need to go above 50 per category. I have no desire to have the most selections available. Too many choices is counterproductive. (he says as he realizes justflowers is probably ftd's top sender, who make more sales in a day than I do in a month) So - wtfdik?

Addons is something I could well do better on, but haven't taken the time to do it. I don't at all like putting an extra step between their decision to buy and the ca-ching sound.
 
At first I disagreed with you Bloomz, but the more I think about it.. I like all the images on one page too.

FlowerDiva, great job on taking a template and making it look better! Nice pic, you're a fine looking lady indeed.

Kathy, one thing that I have learned is that there is no need to re-invent the wheel on guessing what customers like. Companies have spent 10s of thousands $ on this and there is no need for you to beat your head on the wall. You wanna know what people like in an online flower buying experience? Wanna know what questions they have? Wanna know more about price points? Go to the big Boys: proflowers.com - 1800flowers.com - butterfieldblooms.com - ftd.com - florist.com - getflowers.com and take a look at their layout.. what do their banners say, what questions are they addressing on their customer service page? The corps above know, and you should use what they know to your advantage.
 
I too like having them all on one page...that said...my site allows for the customer to decide via drop down menu, how many items they would like to see...5-10-15-etc-ALL...much easier than going page by page, although there is that option as well...

Add ons are shown on the same page once they make their main selection.
 
Dazeal said:
FlowerDiva, great job on taking a template and making it look better!
Click to expand...

As much as I'd like to venture away from the TF template, I just can't. I'm not a computer literate person. The folks at TF have been accomodating & encouraging with our changes. (They've even claimed to have fun working with our changes! I think we're all on a first name basis now.)

Thanks for the compliment! It has been fun customizing our site. So much more to do to it, but such little time with the holidays now. It's amazing the great response we've gotten from our customers.

(Thanks for the compliment on my pic too..... :redface2: )
 
Studies show limiting product options by as much as 50% can by itself increase sales 10% or more.

Contrary to popular belief that more options bring more sales because it enables you to reach a broader range of customers is not true. Instead, more options results in customer uncertainty and fewer sales.

You would be wise to eliminate the poor sellers off your website.

RC
 
Joe Mioux said:
I give this issue about zero time in the course of a year because I'm too busy doing everything else. I use TF template and most of their SRPs.

The TF website template is nothing more than TF's selection guide.

You can customize it with your prices, but I prefer to keep most of TF's recommended SRPs. I do this because occasionally you get a customer purchasing a floral arrangement, through my website, that is to be wired out. If you have a "standardized" price, you eliminate alot of potential problems.

Joe
Click to expand...

Are you telling us you are too busy to take care of business, that you prefer to let Teleflora, your competitor, mind your store for you?

When your website looks like 10,000 other websites, all selling the identical things, you are telling your customer that you have nothing special to offer. You are in effect in a commodity business. This is why (even more so than rebates) the ordergathering business has thrived so well. The OGers can build a site and offer the same cookie cutter arrangements as you, and they can out market you too. If the customer can’t distinguish your product from theirs they will buy from whoever is the most convenient or the cheapest, usually not you.

In today’s market you can no longer afford to be just another vanilla wafer!

RC
 
RC in Dayton and Cincinnati said:
You would be wise to eliminate the poor sellers off your website.
Click to expand...
I agree 100%.

Belated welcome, Kathy. Take a good look at how many products you are really ready to make on a given day and focus on those. Better yet, take photos of what you create every day because there are more than 15,000 sites showing those same TF photos.

Add unique text, describing your experience, history, traditions, community activities and awards. Also request TF add you store name, complete address, local phone number and cities of delivery to the footer on your home page.

To Joe, IMO your poinsettia photos are a heck of a lot more impressive that that stock TF image on your About Us page. If you're not comfortable creating your own site, try injecting 'Joe Mioux mojo' into that template. ;) Guaranteed your customers (and potential customers on the web) would rather see you, your staff, your beautiful plants and your lovely designs.
 
Eliminate poor sellers

RC in Dayton and Cincinnati said:
Studies show limiting product options by as much as 50% can by itself increase sales 10% or more.

Contrary to popular belief that more options bring more sales because it enables you to reach a broader range of customers is not true. Instead, more options results in customer uncertainty and fewer sales.

You would be wise to eliminate the poor sellers off your website.

RC
Click to expand...

Interesting topic.

If I would have eliminated this item as a poor seller (meaning I have not sold one), then a Nevada lady that said this (http://www.mcadamsfloral.com/default.aspx?s=11&k=french&p=T345) was just perfect (happend last week), then she would have settled for something less than perfect (in her eyes).

I understand about studies in general, but that does not answer the question on what is less.....for let's say "Happy Birthday" catagory.
 
In today’s market you can no longer afford to be just another vanilla wafer!
Click to expand...

AMEN!!! How many roundie moundies will it take or florists going out of business before the light bulb goes on?
 
clay said:
Interesting topic.

If I would have eliminated this item as a poor seller (meaning I have not sold one), then a Nevada lady that said this (http://www.mcadamsfloral.com/default.aspx?s=11&k=french&p=T345) was just perfect (happend last week), then she would have settled for something less than perfect (in her eyes).

I understand about studies in general, but that does not answer the question on what is less.....for let's say "Happy Birthday" catagory.
Click to expand...

Good point Clay. I don’t know what less is either, but here is a case study that could give hints.

Case Study: When consumers were offered 24 samples of jam to taste and purchase, 2 percent of customers purchased.
When 6 samples were offered 12 percent of customers purchased.

The point is too much choice becomes demotivating, so even though you sold the arrangement to that lady, there is a good possibility you lost other customers because they became overwhelmed by all the selection.



Iyengar, S. S., and M. R. Lepper “When Choice Is Demotivating: Can One Too Much of a Good Thing?” Journal of Personality and Social Psyology, 79:6 (Dec. 2000) pp. 995-1006.

RC
 
Too much

RC in Dayton and Cincinnati said:
Good point Clay. I don’t know what less is either, but here is a case study that could give hints.

Case Study: When consumers were offered 24 samples of jam to taste and purchase, 2 percent of customers purchased.
When 6 samples were offered 12 percent of customers purchased.

The point is too much choice becomes demotivating, so even though you sold the arrangement to that lady, there is a good possibility you lost other customers because they became overwhelmed by all the selection.



Iyengar, S. S., and M. R. Lepper “When Choice Is Demotivating: Can One Too Much of a Good Thing?” Journal of Personality and Social Psyology, 79:6 (Dec. 2000) pp. 995-1006.

RC
Click to expand...

Point well taken.

I had (still have) a concern with this when our independant website combines both Teleflora and FTD images. I will really have to consider what to thin out when The John Henry Company issues their new Everyday images with their new Everyday Selection book later in 2006.

One of the solutions to the number of product images in a catagory (whether too much or just right), was to design the website so the customer has to option to view 5, 10, 15, 20 or ALL images on a page. Me personally, I like to see everything at one time ...to make a comparitive decision.....instead of having to go thru numerous pages. I think I counted 45 on our Happy Birthday catagory. Where it really gets bad (if you want to call it that) is combining the FTD & Teleflora catagories for Sympathy and Wedding. We are working on sub-catagories for both of these areas.

Once I get my own pictures of our products like you have done, I hope (and believe) that our customers will shop our "McAdams Exclusives" heading instead of the "Local and Worldwide" heading.
 
A lot of the new research in E-Commerce is centering around the idea of The Long Tail ...that is, because the cost of having huge catalogs online is basically zero, many VERY small niches can be supported profitably.

This is not just a virtue of online booksellers; it is an example of an entirely new economic model for the media and entertainment industries, one that is just beginning to show its power. Unlimited selection is revealing truths about what consumers want and how they want to get it in service after service, from DVDs at Netflix to music videos on Yahoo! Launch to songs in the iTunes Music Store and Rhapsody. People are going deep into the catalog, down the long, long list of available titles, far past what's available at Blockbuster Video, Tower Records, and Barnes & Noble. And the more they find, the more they like. As they wander further from the beaten path, they discover their taste is not as mainstream as they thought (or as they had been led to believe by marketing, a lack of alternatives, and a hit-driven culture).

An analysis of the sales data and trends from these services and others like them shows that the emerging digital entertainment economy is going to be radically different from today's mass market. If the 20th- century entertainment industry was about hits, the 21st will be equally about misses.

For too long we've been suffering the tyranny of lowest-common-denominator fare, subjected to brain-dead summer blockbusters and manufactured pop. Why? Economics. Many of our assumptions about popular taste are actually artifacts of poor supply-and-demand matching - a market response to inefficient distribution.​

I'm convinced this is why the big players have 40-50 pages of arrangements. Also, it just so happens the newest copy of PC Mag has a write up about this, too...so perhaps we are being a bit hasty to decide that just because "we" find it annoying, that the consumer feels the same way.
 
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RC, I think tasting tests and visual tests of emotional gifts online are a little different.

Clay, you want a floral case study that will sell over 150million dollars worth of flowers online this year? Check out one of my first posts here. Or just check out how the online pros do it proflowers.com. Ugly flowers, ugly backgrounds and ugly site is kicking major buns. The size of their pics are a good thing though! See the size? Look and learn people, it's free, don't re-invent the wheel when they spent millions to build it. Oh and their marketing is the best in the industry, that is a huge factor of why they do so good. I love a good laugh when florists pat themselves on the back and think... boxed flowers? What a fad.

I've digressed, sorry. :)
 
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