Information overload, comprehension underload

Marketers are a lot like consumers. Both are human, and both are fallible. As humans, we all have a limited capacity for digesting and making sense of information. Which is a problem, since both marketers and consumers are being confronted with more information than ever before. This dichotomy was forecasted as early as the 18th century by French philosopher Denis Diderot:

“As long as the centuries continue to unfold, the number of books will grow continually, and one can predict that a time will come when it will be almost as difficult to learn anything from books as from the direct study of the whole universe. It will be almost as convenient to search for some bit of truth concealed in nature as it will be to find it hidden away in an immense multitude of bound volumes.” Encyclopédie (1755)

The same principal holds true in a professional context. Case in point: the NASA Challenger disaster in 1986. The scientists who tried to persuade their superiors to postpone the launch had all the right data, but it wasn’t presented in an easily digestible form, as statistician Edward Tufte points out in his book, Visual Explanations. These are the two charts scientists had describing the O-ring erosion, which led to the crash.

It is only when this same data is charted along a temperature axis (thanks to Tufte) that the problem becomes abundantly clear: cooler temperatures increase the chance for damage.

Of course, not even 18th century French philosopher Denis Diderot could have foreseen the emergence of computers and the internet, which have put massive amounts of data within our reach. As marketers, we now have access to enough numbers to make our heads spin, from volume projections to time spent on websites and everything in between. And while all of this information can make our jobs easier, we need to make sure that we aren’t overwhelmed by it.

So what does all of this mean? Information is, at its basic level, a tool that we use to make decisions. Before diving into all of the information at our fingertips, we need to ask what decisions it is enabling us to make and filter out unnecessary information accordingly.

We also need to make sure we are giving consumers the right amount of information, as too much can only get in the way. Consider Apple, an over-used but nonetheless relevant example. In product packaging and on the products themselves, Apple displays only the relevant pieces of information. The only visible words on the computer I’m typing on right now are “MacBook Pro.” Beyond that, the product design speaks for itself, and Apple has recognized this.

That’s not to say everything should be simplified. In today’s consumer-powered market, many consumers are looking for large amounts of product information when making purchases. But this information shouldn’t be thrust upon them. Rather, it should be easy to find when sought out by consumers.

The bottom line: Keep it simple, know your end goal, and use information selectively to achieve it.

Image source: AskTog.com