User Participation

[Ankesh]

Originally Posted by Duane Adolph

So Here are some quick thoughts on this

* If you have a product line, you could make an offer where your clients get to CHOOSE the product that they want from your product line, instead of you choosing for them

* In your copy if you get your visitors Involved in some capacity this will improve your conversion rates. (Involvement Devices in copy have been show to increase conversions online and off)

* Any involvement, in the buying process whether it be surveys about potential new products or overcoming objections for current promotions

Some great points Duane. Brings to mind the Model T fiasco - whose sales went down because Ford didn't give any choice to people. And Dell - who set up the entire system so that people can choose everything.

Originally Posted by Sandi Bowman

Hmmm...what if we revised the way in which products are presented to the customer? We might try a multiple choice type of presentation (after a brief intro of the product line availability and reason why to proceed with us) to help them decide which product/version best meets their needs.

Wacom does this really well.
http://www.wacom.com/tabletwizard/index.cfm

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The lottery sentence really stood out for me because I thought its a paradox.

If people select their own numbers, chances of more than 1 person having the same number increases. And thus, their potential winnings decrease. So why would they buy more lottery tickets if the lottery system is poorer than it would have been if all the numbers are generated randomly?

I think 2 things come into play. Ownership. And collectibility.

People are more enthusiastic about winning if its their own numbers (even if their chances may be low). But more importantly, by allowing them to choose their own numbers, you are encouraging them to buy more than one tickets.

"Buy tickets for all the combinations of your lucky numbers."

I'm not sure, but I think its not the case of more people buying the tickets as much as it is of people buying more tickets.

The closest related product that comes to my mind that allows something similar is Jones Soda. You can use your own photos for the labels on the Jones Soda bottles.

Jones Soda spent a lot of money on this technology of allowing people to customize their own bottle labels. And its paid off well too. Many empty Jones Soda bottles sell for a lot of money.