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With the Christmas shopping season looming large, if you havn’t started already, there was some interesting research published last week that looked into the importance of product specifications on our buying habits.

The experiment was conducted by Christopher Hsee at Chicago Booth Business School and asked people to choose between two cameras.  The first camera had better resolution, the second an improved vividness of picture. After being shown pictures taken by each camera some 74% of people chose the camera with superior vividness.  However when the resolution stats were provided as well as the photos the situation reversed, with more people subsequently choosing the camera with good resolution stats.

Interestingly however, whilst providing some stats helps pursuade people to buy a product, it doesn’t provide them with any greater enjoyment of that product.  The team conducted some experiments using crisps.  When participants were informed of the thickness of a crisp they suggested they would eat more crisps the thicker they were.  However those that tasted the range of crisps prior to choosing a favourite were much less inclined to choose the thickest crisp.

So whilst stats and figures are important, don’t forget to include a users experience of a product in your marketing communications.