In my previous blog entry, I discussed how having a bewildering selection of computers, especially with the all the confusing technical choices we have to make, makes purchasing a PC so difficult.

It is not just the bewildering technology that is the problem, it is the amount of choice itself. Psychologists have found that having too many choices actually diminishes our happiness and satisfaction with the choices we do make.

When we had fewer choices, it made choosing easier. Once upon a time we didn’t have dozens of soaps to choose from. You went to the general store and either bought soap or you didn’t. That was the choice. So much easier, with much less thought involved.

While one would think having lots of choices is liberating, it is not. It is a burden. In The Paradox of Choice, author Barry Schwartz tells of a study in which students were asked to evaluate either 6 or 30 gourmet chocolates. Based on their visual appeal, they picked one to taste and evaluate, then were offered a box of that chocolate in lieu of payment for participating in the study. Guess what! The students who had the selection of 30 chocolates gave lower ratings to the chocolates they tasted and were less likely to take the box of chocolate instead of the money than the students who had only six to choose from!

Not only are we generally less happy with the choices we make, we also tend to regret them. Buyer’s remorse. And as part of that whole conundrum, we regret the choices we didn’t make as well. Should I buy this sweater today or wait and perhaps find one I like better or at a better price tomorrow? Should I buy this smart phone or wait to see what cool features the next generation brings? Why did I buy that sweater yesterday? I like this one a lot more.

Brands Ease the Burden

In any product category, from cars to clothes, phones to facial tissue, brands provide shortcuts.  Whether it’s a Honda car, a Burberry coat, an iPhone, or Kleenex facial tissue, having a favorite brand – being “brand loyal” – greatly eases and simplifies the selection process. For example, my wife and I like Kleenex tissue. We have tried other brands and various store-brand tissues over the years, and have decided we like Kleenex best, in white. That saves us having to comparison shop between brands, package sizes, colors, prices, etc. every time we need tissue. We just buy white Kleenex. It’s one less thing to think about and spend time and energy doing.

That is what having a preferred brand does for a business. It helps your prospective customers narrow their choices and not have to think so much about which product brand to buy or which service provider to use.

Consumer products are easy to make the point with, but branding is equally important and valuable for B2B products and services. In B2B and B2C, it pays to build your brand.

Brands Ease Regret

As we said, having an overabundance of choices also results in increased regret in our buying decisions. When there are no options, we may be happy or disappointed with our purchase, but we don’t regret it. When our choice is to buy soap or not, there is no cause to regret our purchase of the one soap that is available.

When there are options galore, we always feel that there may be something better out there that we, perhaps, have not had the chance to investigate yet. And the more options there are, the more likely it is that some aspect of the each will be better … and worse … than in the others. So, not only do we have the increased burden of too many choices, we have the increased likelihood that we will regret the choices we make.

Great brands, on the other hand, engage their buyers. People form an emotional connection with them. If the car buyer know she has always been happy with Hondas, she doesn’t have to pay attention to the plethora of other car choices. That’s better both for Honda and for the loyal buyer! Less burden of choice and less chance of regret after the purchase.

The value of having a strong, preferred brand is almost always underestimated by business owners and managers. This information provides a substantiated reason why branding is so essential for building successful businesses.

—————-

According to a new report from Pitney Bowes Inc. , consumers surveyed in France, Germany, the UK and the US have indicated which marketing activities draw them closer to a brand, and which act as a repellent.

Consumers are clear about what they want from their business interactions and many of the techniques and initiatives being deployed are simply not having the intended effect. Worse, inappropriate communications often diminish a brand’s pool of available prospects and customers as targets opt out of the brand conversation altogether.

Customer satisfaction surveys are perceived as perfectly acceptable for 75 percent of those surveyed. This presents a real opportunity for brands to get to know their customers. With the insight learned, brands may then create a personalized or custom experience based on each consumer’s preferences, a very acceptable practice for the majority of consumers surveyed. By more accurately identifying a customer’s desires and concerns, marketers greatly reduce the number of off-target communications and also save substantial marketing dollars.

The growing trend of personalizing messaging is working for brands. On websites, 59 percent of consumers surveyed say they appreciate personalization such as “Welcome, Jane.” For transactional sites, especially where purchases are being made, it can be reassuring for Jane to know that the site recognizes her account details and has a record of her interactions.

Conversely, consumers clearly point to many annoying brand actions. These outreach efforts are meant to be inviting, yet are irritating to most consumers instead. For example, among the negatives are asking customers to support a brand’s charity or ethical concerns (84%); sending offers from third-parties (83%); encouraging interaction with other consumers via an online community (81%).

Do’s and Don’ts of Brand Interactions with Customers Personalization

Do  Amp up the level of personalization on the Web (59% positive)
Don’t  Let your call center reps get too chummy on the phone (70% negative)

Asking the customer for action

Do  Conduct customer feedback surveys regularly (75% positive)
Don’t  Invite consumers to create their own homepage (69% negative)

Frequency

Do Send a special offer in the mail each month (74% positive)
Don’t Send weekly emails (89% negative)

Invitation to a brand’s cause

Do  Keep customer forums with the customer service efforts, not marketing (81% positive)
Don’t  Ask the customer to support the brand’s charity (84% negative)

“This survey confirms that brands should listen to consumers before they send out their communications,” said Dan Kohn, Vice President of Corporate Marketing, Pitney Bowes, Inc.

“Every interaction must honor the interests of the customer first, only then is a relevant offer or call to action acceptable to consumers. Each conversation between a brand and a customer is an opportunity to delight or disappoint. We’re all learning how to do more of the former and less of the latter.”

Oh, boy. Here are my observations, from a branding standpoint:

First, the store’s signage is generic looking, with basic black sans-serif type on a white background. This may be their corporate graphic standard, but it just looks, well, generic. Cheap. (It was raining, so I didn’t take pictures).

Second, the store perpetually looks like it is going out of business because of the deep discounts it always advertises in the windows. I’ve been by there many times before, and there are constantly sale signs in the windows.

What does that do to the Van Heusen brand name? It dubs it a discount brand that may be hanging on by a thread (no pun intended). Combine that with my experience that their shirts are not the best quality — the customer’s experience is always of paramount importance in branding — and you wind up with a brand that the customer only buys at a discount.

Third, the “regular prices” on the shirts were in the $50′s and $60′s, a ludicrous price level for a so-so quality shirt. My impression was that the so-called regular prices are inflated so the deep discounts advertised still give them a profit margin. It’s a game people catch on to.

I also found Geoffrey Beene brand clothes, a brand I’ve seen and bought before, and one that made me laugh: Donald Trump brand. Did I miss something? When did The Donald become a fashion icon? Does anyone buy clothing because it carries his brand name? In my case, I might buy it in spite of it being a Donald Trump brand, not because of it.

In addition, these brands were discounted right along with the Van Heusen brand clothes. This leaves the impression that they are owned and made by Van Heusen, therefore these are discount brands as well.

Maybe this “discount king” marketing strategy works for them, I don’t know. But is it where they would really like to be? For most companies, this is a trap they can fall into when sales are down. One that it is extremely difficult to climb out of again. Once a brand becomes labeled a discount brand, it is usually stuck there for good.

Oh … I did buy one shirt I found on the clearance shelf, for $9.95.

Which brand was it? It didn’t matter at that point. I liked it, it was my size, mostly cotton, and 10 bucks.