More Comparison Shopping Woes
Posted in: comparison shopping, merchandising, usability, By: E. Long, At: November 9th, 2007
As we continue to fine-tune the usability and comparison shopping on our site, I’m also paying close attention to how other manufacturers are executing as well.
After traveling over the past few weeks, I’ve been privy to sleeping on several different beds in hotels, friend’s homes, and family members’ homes. My wife and I need a new bed as ours has developed half-pipe indentations (who really enjoys flipping and rotating a king-size mattress every month?).
Tempur-Pedic has been pouring money into marketing dollars on this half of the year — at least I feel like we’ve been seeing their ads more often (certainly more than the Sleep Number bed). For some reason I just cannot mentally buy into the sleep number bed, so I took a gander at the Tempur-Pedic offering this morning on their website. I never knew buying a bed was so confusing. Let’s start at the product page for their “sleep systems”:
Wow, 9 different beds to choose from just based on the primary feature alone. They’ve at least given them unique names, but I have no idea which one is right for me. Oh wait, there’s a comparison option, great, let’s check that out:
Ouch, look at all of these options and names that mean absolutely nothing to me. What is the difference between a Quilted TEMPUR-HD and a Quiltend TEMPUR “comfort layer? What about the diference between the Grand AirFlow System and T-Flex Support System as the base layer? Can these options not be combined? What if I want both of them in one bed?
Comparison Shopping Flaws
The fatal flaw this website makes is that it does not SELL me on the “WHY?”. It is a brochure which assumes intimate knowledge of the differences in products and what each of the features means (it comes across as an assisted-sale tool for sales people). The comparison page should add clarity to the products offered, not additional confusion. If there are confusing terminologies and/or features, then at least provide pop-up windows or links to definitions of the features that provide feature and benefit statements for the consumer. This Tempur-Pedic comparison page does neither.
How we’re testing comparison shopping
We have an initial implementation of comparison shopping between product models of blinds and shades. The added benefit we provide are descriptions of product options listed on the comparison page.
I’ve received more information from a commercial about the Tempur-Pedic “sleep system” than I did on their website.
Additionally, pricing is also available on our page, too, so the consumer can determine if they are even in the right ballpark for their budget. This was another thing I noticed that was missing from the Tempur-Pedic comparison page — I have no idea what the cost ranges are for their product. While I expect to spend a decent amount of money, I’m unable to determine generally what that amount is going to be. Do you shop for cars online without seeing the price? Probably not.
Provide the context in which the feature is beneficial to the consumer
One thing I’ve found is marketers are not the best salesmen. They do a great job at drawing you into the store to take a look at the product, but a big part of online marketing is also selling. I expected to go to the Tempur-Pedic site to find exactly the right bed for me based on the features and benefits of those features of their various offerings. All I’ve taken away is that there are 9 models and I probably need to go to a store to find out more information from a real salesmen on which bed is right for me. Frustrating.
We’re getting there, but it’s not perfect…yet
While I don’t believe we have perfected the model in our online store, we are certainly learning from consumers, soliciting feedback, and analyzing site usage reports to determine how people are currently shopping vs. how they want to shop. Manfacturing companies like us tend to be far too feature-focused instead of being benefit focused. This is forcing companies like ours and like Tempur-Pedic to change their method of selling and marketing of products — which is a good thing.
I think many companies get in their own way when trying to communicate to the consumer — this further stresses the importance of usability testing both from a site architecture standpoint as well as a marketing/selling standpoint. The site may be fully usable, but at the end of the day, is it influencing a sale or better yet, is it converting a browser to a buyer? Tempur-Pedic has yet to convert me.
