More isn’t always better...

I think we need a couple of new features, before we roll. Or more pricing options to give more choices for the prospect to choose us.

I cannot count on fingers how many times I have heard B2B founders say those words.

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I have often suggested going out in the market first.

Some have agreed, and others have felt otherwise.

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A lot of founders and some Marketers assume that the more choices they offer, the more likely customers will be able to find just the right thing.

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And so I recalled one story which is quite enlightening, and somehow answers this question.

This one is about Jam, and a lady Sheena Iyengar.

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Now Sheena had introduced some new flavors of Jam and as is the norm, she wanted some sampling to be done to understand how people perceive it.

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What she does is sets up a table outside of her outlet for Jam sampling.

But she wants to do some testing too.

On the first day, shoppers at that upscale food market notice a display table with 24 varieties of gourmet jam. As a sweet surprise, those who sampled the spreads received a coupon for $1 off any jam.

On the next day, shoppers saw a similar table, except that only six varieties of the jam were on display. The $1 coupon still stayed as the offer.

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What do you think would have happened on each of the two days as comparison?

The large display attracted more interest than the small one. More people ended up sampling the jam when the varieties were more.

But when the time came to purchase, people who saw the large display were one-tenth as likely to buy as people who saw the small display.

Let me repeat that – by a factor of 10.

Choices, instead of freeing, liberating prospects, sometimes act in the opposing direction and paralyse decision making.

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This is what we were taught back in B-school when studying consumer behavior for FMCG products as well.

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Guess what? It is the same set of eyes that buy B2B and SaaS.

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So the next time you think of adding one more feature, or another pricing layer.

Remember – it might attract a lot of people to see what you got.

Not many will buy.

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Siddharth, or Sid, has worked for 3 organizations across 6 different states, selling everything from laptops to mobile recharges to SaaS products. He was handling brand and growth marketing for 15 countries at his last organization before he got bitten by the entrepreneurial bug.

Three years in, he now leads a team more driven than him at Ad Momenta. You can find him talking branding, B2B marketing and growth at @sidgrover25 on Twitter and LinkedIn.

And if you are stuck with some your brand and marketing problems, say Hi @ admomenta.com :)