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“While the ability to choose is generally a good thing, too much freedom of choice is crippling us with indecision and making us unhappy.”
This snippet caught me eye in a recent news article recently called “Too much choice: variety the strife of life“. The article talks about key findings from a new study soon to be published in the Journal of Consumer Research by Professor Hazel Rose Markus from Stanford University.
Although their focus was broad (i.e. the study is called “Does choice mean freedom and wellbeing?” ), the study’s findings resonated with what we’ve seen at Software Shortlist in terms of how people feel about choosing software. Excessive choice can be a real problem.
Does the following sound familiar to you?
“People can become paralysed by too much variety, or racked with uncertainty and regret about whether they have made the right decision. Ultimately, these people can be less satisfied by the choices they have made.”
Our experience at Software Shortlist is that people want to know that all software options have been looked at, but doing the full research and evaluation process themselves can be frustrating and even counter-productive. This is why we do the detailed legwork for you – and present you with a manageable shortlist, so you can make an effective choice from the best and most relevant options.
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Having just spent the past week here in Silicon Valley, we’ve had plenty of practice describing what Software Shortlist is, the customer need it serves, and how we deliver value. One thing that comes across loud and clear is that people understand the pain that small businesses face in choosing business software.
As a result, their questions were typically things like ‘will people pay enough to fund your service?’, ’how do you create the content cost effectively?’, and ‘how will you reach your customers?’
After all that, it was interesting yesterday to see a question posted on a LinkedIn discussion group that really captures the essence of the customer need we solve:
Wanted: online CRM program
Our business uses both a desktop CRM program and an online email marketing software program. Time to get “one-does-all” online program I think so we can create and follow the opportunities pipeline better.
Have been trawling the Internet but one after the other promises a lot, but don’t really feel like having to do xxx free trials to find the one that would suit us best.
Is anyone using an online CRM program they can recommend to a small business?
In our view, this quote really captures the essence of why customers need a service like Software Shortlist. Now we just need to expand the range of software we cover so we can help more people like this…
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If you’re a small business looking for software, you probably set aside a rough budget to buy and operate it. But there is a significant hidden cost to software that you may not have considered…
Upfront and ongoing costs of your chosen software package are only part of the picture. There is a significant cost to the process of choosing software.
Imagine adding $30,000 to the cost of your timesheet system. That’s exactly what happened with one accounting firm we spoke with recently.
We often hear that small businesses spend 3 to 6 months choosing software. The person-hours consumed over this time are substantial, so software selection has a significant “real” cost (i.e. salary paid to those people) as well as an “opportunity cost” (i.e. cost of not doing other things because they were busy with this).
For example, we met with an accountant yesterday who told us his firm recently chose a combined timesheet / project management system. It took 6 months of calendar time to make the choice, with a reasonably senior person spending 60 hours working on it. Given a typical client charge out rate of $500 per hour, choosing software cost the firm a staggering $30,000 in opportunity cost. On salary costs alone, they probably spent $3,000 paying staff to select software.
Choosing business software is an important decision. You don’t want to get it wrong. The challenge is how do you make the right decision on software, more quickly?
That’s where Software Shortlist comes in. By using our online comparison service, you can dramatically reduce the time required to find a shortlist of the most relevant software. The ultimate decision is still yours, but seeking our help can significantly reduce the ‘hidden cost’ of software selection. What’s your time worth?
