Journal finds that consumers prefer vague product specs to utter ignorance

A new study in the Journal of Consumer Research has confirmed something we suspected all along: consumers love specs, even vague ones, and when deciding between two products people will gravitate towards the one for which more specifications were given. According to the journal, the research sheds light on both how preferences are formed in theory, and on how marketers can sell you more crapgadgets and KIRFs. Of course, if you've begun your holiday shopping only to find yourself frightened and confused by all of the meaningless data floating around, you might want to take a peek at our Holiday Gift Guide. One hundred percent of Engadget editors agree that it's the best Holiday Gift Guide on the site, this year.

[Via Physorg]

Read - The Blissful Ignorance Effect: Pre- versus Post-action Effects on Outcome Expectancies Arising from Precise and Vague Information (Warning: subscription required)

[Mike @ Dec 15th 2008 1:58PM]

Thanks for that, next time im selling something on ebay, ill make sure that I put ALL the specs and measurements in, that should help me get a few extra bids.

[Electromodo @ Dec 15th 2008 2:09PM]

Yep, I noticed that people usually skip ebay items with little-to-no description (excluding the well-knowns like Wii). I do that all the time.
That's why eBay has a feature to link a standard description to popular items.

[drewdoog @ Dec 15th 2008 2:15PM]

Yes, if there is little or no description, I wont even consider the item, even though it may be cheaper then the exact same item on a different page.
I probably know the specs, but the fact that you didnt take the time to list them turns me off.

[MikeWard1701 @ Dec 15th 2008 4:39PM]

I agree and I skip items that don't have proper descriptions or specs. It only takes a few minutes to copy/paste the specs from the official site for a product and makes the listing appear more thought out and professional.

Also if you fill in the item specifics (think thats whats its called, the spec table at the top of the listing) it makes it much easier to narrow down your search.

Another eBay pet peeve of mine is people who use only stock images for items.

[Flashpoint @ Dec 15th 2008 2:03PM]

I don't believe this.

I believe that materialistc customers with no idea what they are buying - who spend based on price - probably like plenty of vague specs because they psychologicaly equate more stickers and more explanations with "more"...

but, true technophiles don't want vague specs.

We want to know exactly which processor is faster ie. Atom or Celeron

We want to know which is better, a GTX 280 or a Geforce 9800

We want to know whether or not an iphone or Storm can "copy/paste"

We want to know whether a computer can run Crysis in Very High...or just Medium.

I challenege the validity of this study.

[Oli D @ Dec 15th 2008 2:05PM]

I challenge you to a duel!

[BlurMagic @ Dec 15th 2008 2:12PM]

Oh let me get in on this. We will make it a Battale Royale

[Dan @ Dec 15th 2008 2:59PM]

I'm not so sure: I think that this operates on the standard assumption that people tend to be risk-averse when they make purchasing decisions.

Like many geeks out there, before I buy almost any piece of technology I do my research. But there are a few things about which I couldn't care less. Example: if I go to a hardware store to buy a circular saw, I don't really have a conception of the difference between amounts of torque, horse power, or RPMs. I just know that higher is GENERALLY better in a sort of vague sense. Given two indiscernible products, one of which has numbers attached and the other of which doesn't, I'll go for numbers every time because it means I know what I'm getting.

The AVERAGE consumer probably doesn't go look at benchmarks every time they think of getting a new monitor, they look at three things: price, appearance, and vague specs you get on the box.

[Mobius_1 @ Dec 15th 2008 3:23PM]

Team Fortress 2? Count me in! :)

[Ray @ Dec 15th 2008 3:32PM]

I agree with flash point. End of the day, the consumer doesnt care about all those specs, they just dont understand them... when faced with specs they dont understand, money becomes the decider. This is because somewhere in all of us, we believe that the price is correlated to quality.

Retailers get over on us all the time with throwing out unimportant specs to confuse the consumer, and its usually to confuse them into spending more doe. Sooo, specs dont matter when you dont know whats better, price does.

[Hung @ Dec 15th 2008 5:42PM]

I basically agree, but low-ranked him because I don't like his tone of writing. Nor do I appreciate the superiority he gave to "technophiles," and the fact he used the word "technophiles."




Also, because he's Flashpoint.

[AMiSH PiRATE @ Dec 15th 2008 2:04PM]

I will buy anything with blast processing.

[iCandy @ Dec 15th 2008 2:16PM]

and 4X the Mega Power!

[Oli D @ Dec 15th 2008 2:19PM]

In waitrose i once overheard an old lady refusing to buy Waitrose Own Brand Plain Porridge Oats because she said they were too exciting.

I think that this study fails to account for doddering biddys.

[Seneca @ Dec 15th 2008 2:06PM]

I paid more attention to this article because it mentioned 100% of something in it.

[drewdoog @ Dec 15th 2008 2:13PM]

yet the iphone is the most popular 'smart phone' of all time? i dont believe this shit for a second.

[Flashpoint @ Dec 15th 2008 2:22PM]

drewdog

when they say "popular", they are not speaking of consumer impression, I believe they are speaking of total sales.

[MikeWard1701 @ Dec 15th 2008 5:05PM]

Popular means nothing!

Look back at the 'popular' kids in your school, the atletic jocks and cheerleaders, sure they looked pretty, but could they play chess, calculate standard deviation, or code in several programming languages? No!

Look at 'popular' music, a bunch of manufactured acts by record companies to have mediocre succeses, then left to crash n burn a few years down the line. For a time they're the 'in thing' but they sound like cats in a blender, often having their recordings pitch corrected becasue they naturally cant hit or hold notes, and mime/lip sync on tour to cover it up. It may be 'popular' but it doesn't mean its a sign of quality.

[Matt @ Dec 15th 2008 2:15PM]

Consumers also love meaningless statistics.

[Oli D @ Dec 15th 2008 2:17PM]

More accurately 97%* of consumers love meaningless statistics

*From a selection of 13.5 random consumers**

**taken from one shopping mall***

***all related in some way

[Boarderwoot @ Dec 15th 2008 2:29PM]

Anyone can make up statistics to prove their point. 75% of all people know that Oli.

[Samboini @ Dec 15th 2008 3:44PM]

"They've done studies, you know. 60% of the time it works, every time."

[Jay Evans @ Dec 15th 2008 3:48PM]

Or just plain wrong specs. Just because that's what it says doen't mean that's what it is.

One item I just purchased from a leading retailer had the wrong video card listed (listed Nvidia 8400, was actually 8200). I got a free $85 dollar gift card and they corrected their web site.

A Sony Soundbar listing I looked at from the same people listed a feature that was very desirable but no way available on the item listed.

Caveat Emptor

[Mike C @ Dec 15th 2008 3:56PM]

Excuse me Sir, is that Sex Panther you're wearing?

[iKurt @ Dec 15th 2008 2:17PM]

The most important aspect of marketing a product is to make an emotional connection with the consumers.

It is something that Apple has done very well, making a wonderful product aesthetically and usability is definitely a plus.

[Flashpoint @ Dec 15th 2008 2:24PM]

If I was any more connected to my iphone, it would grow cybernetic tentacles and impale me.

And that's not an exaggeration cause it already claimed my wallet as its own.

[Evan @ Dec 15th 2008 2:41PM]

The problem is, companies distort specs to hype crappy products:
- Lots of MEGAPIXELS do not make a cell phone camera as good as a proper camera. More megapixels often means worst image quality due to noise.
- High DYNAMIC CONTRAST does not make a TN-panel LCD monitor look as good as a PVA or IPS panel with lesser contrast specs.
- High WATTAGE in a home-theater-in-a-box does not make it sound louder when the speakers have very low efficiency. Higher wattage is often accompanied by higher distortion.

[CraigJ @ Dec 15th 2008 2:57PM]

Yeah, but to the average consumer, more is better. Most consumers haven't a clue S/N ratio is, or what THD means. I would not buy an amp without 2X overhead with a THD of less than .08%. My old analog Denon amp was rated at 60 watts. It would put out a clean 240 peak, and rarely had more that .1% distortion. at it's rated power it had about .05% THD. Driving a pair of Boston Acoustics speakers with a sensitivity of about 100db at 1meter/1 watt/8 ohms, this system sounded better, and was louder by far than cheaper 200 watt per channel systems at Circuit City for example. But that is way to complicated for the average consumer...

[Samboini @ Dec 15th 2008 3:50PM]

@CraigJ:

?!

[Alex @ Dec 15th 2008 2:58PM]

'You might want to take a peak at our Holiday Gift Guide...'
Peek. Not Peak. While you may be impressed with your gift guide, it isn't quite a mountain.

[Mobius_1 @ Dec 15th 2008 3:26PM]

They are just describing how much money you'll need for all their gift ideas.

[Bill @ Dec 15th 2008 3:44PM]

60% of the time, it works everytime [grin]

[andres @ Dec 15th 2008 6:14PM]

theres a 99.99% chance thats already been said.

[Bill @ Dec 15th 2008 6:47PM]

And a 00.01% chance is was said at the EXACT SAME TIME. (WTF)

[joe23521 @ Dec 15th 2008 3:51PM]

I love articles like this one whose sole purpose is to generate funny and silly comments. :-)

[FILa @ Dec 15th 2008 4:34PM]

well thats because the basic consumer that doesnt know about tech or anything there buying will base there purchase on the specs. i can recall the times i worked at target talking to people about cameras i would tell them this one got bad reviews, bad image quality over the other one i would point out. but they would say yea but that one has more megapixels, and i would say you really dont need a camera with 25 megapixels if all your doing is shooting basic pictures, but you know they dont care, they hear so much stuff that goes around, they just want the specs no matter how crappy the gadget really is. but us on here, hey if were smart enough to post abotu tech, i know all of us are smart enough alot of tiems to wait and do research before we buy. i always tell people that.

[webmaster @ Dec 15th 2008 4:52PM]

It's validating their purchase decision. Not used for the decision.

So the more specs the more easily they can support their decision that was based on other things (price, status, friends...)

I don't believe most people base the purchase on the specs, they pay attention to the specs they want to support their decision.
So, if they want the Sony - they find the contrast that is higher and then say, oh this one has higher contrast, and I
wanted the Sony, so ok.

[webservant @ Dec 15th 2008 6:52PM]

Are you a webmaster?

[BigD145 @ Dec 15th 2008 6:05PM]

Does this toaster come with 16 megapixels and a phone jack? What's that? It comes with an ethernet jack AND a phone jack? Sweet!