Sleazy Car Salesman
Few people like dealing with a pushy salesperson when buying a car. But would you prefer walking into a car dealer and being handed a brochure? Would you be able to make a decision just by looking at the photos, reading the specs, not having access to anyone to ask questions, and then making a purchase decision?
For most people, probably not. Our brains are not structured to just read a brochure and make a decision. It’s the dialogue that helps us frame our understanding when making decisions. Dialogue also helps us make decisions more quickly than just reading a brochure in a silo.
This has been one of the flaws of the web: the belief you can just put static content on the web and people will find it easy to make decisions. This assumption does not take into account information and selection overload. Yes we have lived with it to date because we haven’t had an alternative- but it’s not optimal. Frustration occurs when we need to make a decision all by ourselves and there is a large selection. Lucky for us there is progress and social networks are leading this movement.
I hypothesize that over the next 3 – 5 years dialogue will overtake static reviews as the prominent process for online local search. And why wouldn’t it? This is how most decisions are made offline. This becomes even more likely on mobile web platforms where reading long reviews strains the eyes and is not practical. Plus mobile is inherently a communication platform. It would be flawed to think static content will dominate on an interactive communication device.
Yes reviews will still be valuable, but do you honestly think it will be better to read a ton of reviews on Yelp or Trip Advisor if you have the option of asking real people specific questions and engaging in a dialogue? No chance. I admit for this social dialogue to be successful and overtake reviews, there needs to be a framework that lets you know who is best qualified to answer questions or who best matches up with your tastes.
Going back to my original question whether you would buy from a brochure, I believe this dialogue must go a step further and occur directly with merchants. Whether it’s a car dealer, local restaurant, or hotel, if you can engage in dialogue with merchants you will have more confidence in your buying decision and you will be able to make a decision more quickly. And less time spent researching and contemplating, means less frustration. The merchant also wins because they can build a relationship with you before you make a decision versus after you made your decision. So it’s a win-win. The only question is what’s the optimal process that makes this all work?
FunnelScope has a view and created the first Social Network for Finding and Booking Hotels. It connects users directly with hotels as part of the search process so they can engage in a dialogue. We expect this will be a massive improvement versus relying on static content reviews. Try it first hand, sign up today and let us know what you think. We think you will enjoy experiencing the future!
