Consumers are faced with a lot of choices every day. In fact, some studies have calculated that adults in the United States make up to 35,000 decisions each day. Hundreds of these are about food choices alone! With this volume, it should come as no surprise that consumers make bad choices regularly.
Of course, many of these decisions are simple and we are able to make them instantly or with little hesitation. Do you want that turkey sandwich or veggie wrap for lunch? Will you drive or take the bus to work today? Watch TV or read a book before bed?
But consumers make other decisions, which require more careful thought. Choices about which health insurance plan to buy, how to invest savings, or even which medical treatment to begin are what we at ThoughtForm call “high-information decisions.”
High-information decisions come in a wide variety, but they always have a few things in common:
- they require at least a little specialized knowledge, like understanding industry terms
- they require consumers to make comparisons that are often multi-faceted, involving many pieces of data.
- the stakes are high. These decisions are about the big stuff, and they matter.
So, if you are trying to help consumers pick the option that is truly best for them, you have to understand why high-information decisions are so hard to make, and then give consumers tools to overcome these challenges. Download our visual whitepaper “Helping Consumers with High-Information Decisions” and learn more about why consumers struggle and what you can do about it.