I was recently dispatched to the pharmacy to buy some allergy medicine. My only instructions were "Zyrtec, maybe Claritin."

Simple enough.

I walked to the local CVS, and made my way to the allergy aisle, where I saw the Zyrtec first. 

In that moment, I knew I would spend the next fifteen minutes evaluating the pros and cons of the different options and walk away with a decision that I didn't feel confident in. In a last-gasp effort to avoid this fate, I took a peek at the Claritin section. 

Bad idea, because the Claritin aisle had even more options. The "sophisticated" buyer that I am, I went online to check some reviews, which only made the problem worse.

10+ products that do the same thing, each with hundreds of positive reviews! 

But I only needed one product. And I now felt farther from a decision than I did walking into the store.

A marketing manager joins a new company, and is tasked with buying an email marketing solution.

Their only instructions? "We've outgrown Mailchimp."

Simple enough.

They go online and find the 2024 Marketing Technology Landscape Report.

400+ Email Marketing vendors. But wait, there's also 400+ Marketing Automation vendors. Do we need that? 

Well, let's find some reviews to see which of these hundreds of vendors are the best. So, we go to G2.

G2: "600+ Software Listings in Email Marketing"

And by the way, there are 100+ vendors with an average of 4 stars or higher with hundreds of reviews each. Mailchimp has 4.3 stars with 12,000+ (!) reviews.

Wait, Mailchimp isn't working for us, right? Isn't that why I'm here?

100+ products that presumably do the same thing, each with hundreds of positive reviews! 

But the buyer only needs one product. And they now feel farther from a decision than they did walking into the store.

Read on for Part 2: The Seller’s Problem →