When you offer your customers the right choices, you create memorable experiences that increase the value of your business brand.
Offering the wrong choices can drive customers away. So, the challenge is determining which are the right choices.
It turns out the the best choices you can offer your customers are those that allow them to personalize their experience with your business in a small way.
Businesses Like to Bundle – But Customers Want to Choose
Marketers have historically used choice to bundle products and services. This is sometimes known as upselling.
The value in this approach is a better price for the consumer. And that is exactly why bundling is a poor choice.
Bundling conditions customers to be price sensitive.
Offering incentives for bundling can actually devalue your offerings if there is not a logical reason for it, such as reduced shipping or handling costs.
Most consumers recognize bundling as an approach that favors the business. The classic example is the super-sized combo meal that fast-food restaurants offer.
You may not want everything in that package, but its cheaper to pay the lower price and throw out what you do not want to consume.
Bundling conditions customers to focus on the lowest common denominator – price.
Will that get your customers talking up their experience with your business?
Little Choices Allow Your Customers to Personalize their Experience
At Five Guys Burgers and Fries, you choose your meal from selected offerings – what they do well. For burgers this amounts to two choices: regular and little – and with or without cheese.
It’s intentionally a simple choice. Then the fun begins.
You get to personalize your order by choosing from about a dozens extra toppings that are all FREE. This ranges from lettuce and tomato to fresh jalapenos and various sauces. The incremental cost to the business for the customer that piles it all on is minimal.
The net result is you appreciate the added value and feel great about getting just what you want. The business is now on its way to building personal relationships with their customers.
When you have your customers make easy choices you engage them in a collaboration – one that is interactive, inherently personal – and therefore, memorable.
Contrast that with the how fast food restaurants have traditionally operated. If you ask nicely, they will indeed allow you to customize your order – mostly by deleting ingredients you do not like.
Isn’t it better to offer positive choices that add value than permitting choices that devalue your product or service?
Is it any wonder fast food restaurants compete predominantly on price?
Should a customer pay the same when it gets less? The key is making it their choice – then it’s o.k.
The Big Choices are the Responsibility of the Business
Notice the choices you make at Five Guys are little things that matter a lot to most of us – but are easy to make. Personally, I love jalapenos – especially when they are fresh. That choice alone won my business.
Have you been to restaurants where there are too many choices? It’s too much. Customers don’t want to concern themselves with the burger and the bun. That’s your job.
What’s the burger and bun in your business?
The last time I bought jeans at Nordstroms I was astonished at the number of choices. What helped me to narrow down my selections?
You got it – price. I worked my way up from the bottom until I found a pair that was comfortable and stylish.
If you don’t want price to be a differentiating factor – learn how to use choice in your business to create a personalized experience that engages your customer.
What choices do your prospects have to make?
Are they based on price?
Do they require too much brain power?
When you know your business you should not stray from your process – what you know is necessary to serve your customer well.
Now you just need to add the right choices – the little ones that add big value for your customer.
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Until tomorrow, Jeff