Coolapalooza: Too Much Choice

Too much choice can paralyze. Send a tired person into Borders for a half hour and he will scan a bunch of stuff, feel fatigued and overwhelmed, and walk out with nothing except a newspaper and the vague urge to return later.

Dr. Barry Schwartz, in his exceptional TED presentation, explains the paradox of choice (also, the title of his book on this subject). His warns that too much choice:

1. Creates paralysis, which is the decision not to buy any CD out of the thousands for sale, and

2. Destroys satisfaction, because a choice however perfect, suffers if compared against too many alternatives.

Dr. Schwartz’s ideas further illustrate how too much choice destroys satisfaction:

1. Regret and anticipated regret: this CD is good, but I know there was a better one that I didn’t buy.

2. Opportunity cost: maybe what I really wanted was a book.

3. Escalating expectations: with so many choices, I’m sure one must be awesome.

4. Self blame: since I picked a CD that was only good, I made a mistake and could have picked a better one.

In Almost Famous, Lester Bangs actually addresses the issue of choice. To quote:

Here’s a theory for you to disregard completely. Music, you know true music, not just Rock & Roll, chooses you. It lives in your car, or alone listening to your head phones, with the vast scenic bridges and angelic choirs in your brain. It’s a place apart from the vast, benign laugh of America.

In aggregate, the contents of a near-by Borders is Lester Bang’s vast, benign laugh of America. A person is lost there. A fan, someone for whom the music has been chosen, is apart from that consequence of too much choice, that laughing vastness.

How can an author or musician change his relationship with that person walking into Borders?

Dennis Hope, the new band manager for Stillwater, recognizes the answer when he agrees (“truly, respectfully”) with Russell Hammond’s statement, “it’s not about the money, it’s about music and turning people on.”

Turning people on. Creating relationships. Or to again quote Seth Godin, “turning strangers into friends and friends into customers.”

How? Drip on people. How? Web sites are extraordinary tools for this interplay of permission and dripping. Readers choose to go to a web site. They volunteer, and should be rewarded. Seth coaxes out minor permission and then nurtures that slim focus to a broader relationship.

On Seth’s web site, he creates timely commentary and fresh thinking. He’ll point out other interesting work. It’s a place where he and his readers recognize a mutual interest. He turns web surfers into audience members.

And when he has a new book, he can explain its value calmly and succinctly without distraction, without the presence of alternatives. He has eliminated the paradox of choice. Instead he can say, “there are four reasons my book is great, would you like to buy it?”

That question is a yes/no question. It is simple choice without the explicit challenges that Dr. Schwartz details above. That is a powerful change. It’s good for the audience. It’s good for the author.

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Comments on Almost Famous:

When Lester Bangs and William Miller first talk, they are walking up a hill. Because, well, William has a hill to climb, yet.

Lester Bangs describes the record labels constant efforts to glorify rock stars as the “Industry of Cool.” Doesn’t walking into Borders or browsing Amazon feel kind of like going to Coolapalooza?

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This concludes Part 6 of:

All I Needed To Know About The Value Of The Web I Learned From Russell Hammond

Or

Why Merlin Mann Should Write, Fear & Loathing At The Algonquin Round Table.

Earlier Parts:
The Halo Effect
Merlin mann Is Emily Rugburn
All Halo Merlin Mann
Feather Boas, Yeah!
Enter A New Manager: Seth Godin