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September 28, 2006

Why Does Business Ignore Lessons From Psychology?

The terrestrial radio industry was humming along and everything was hunky dory. Then along came satellite radio, ipods and internet streaming. Revenues started going sideways and what was the radio industry's reaction? Increase choices, shorten commercials, roll out HD radio... all in an effort match the wide variety of choices offered by satellite, ipod and the internet so listeners aren't lost to these other mediums.

But readily available research in psychology shows this to be a mistake.

Mark Ramsey recently profiled a conversation with author and psychologist Barry Schwartz. His book is called "Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less".

Mark's post does a great job of summarizing this issue, and Mr. Schwartz's book is full of insights that can be applied not only in radio advertising but also in many areas of our lives. The main point that's worth elevating out of this sea of insights is this:

Increasing choices without also offering a corresponding way to easily navigate and choose between them - what Mr. Schwartz calls "filters" - is an enormous mistake. Filters are currently absent in the way terrestrial radio presents its content - as a bunch of numbers on a dial that are not indicative of what you will get.

And without filters, says Schwartz:

"I think you're going to be less satisfied because you're not really consuming. You're spending all your time trying to decide what to consume and you miss half the song."

Category(s): creative
Posted by Jeff Small & Brett Astor at 11:46 AM | Permalink