Yesterday I recorded a podcast with Jason Cohen, founder of WP Engine and author of the new book Hidden Multipliers. He shared some data that’s worth zooming in on. It’s about being open and honest about the trade-offs of your solution.
There’s a company in Austin called Bazaarvoice. They helped big retailers like Walmart and Best Buy put customer reviews on their product pages. And since this is about millions of reviews, this is real data that backs up the story. What they found: when a product page showed the one-star reviews right next to the five-star ones, sales went up. And returns went down.
Let me explain why. When buyers see the weaknesses next to the strengths, they can make the trade-off themselves. “It does this really well, it doesn’t do that, and honestly I don’t care about that.” Once they’ve made that call, they feel comfortable buying. And because nothing surprised them afterwards, fewer of them sent it back.
Now take that back into business software. Nobody sends your software back, but in PLG, churn happens within months. In a sales-led deal, there’s too much at stake to switch after a few months, so the risk shows up before the deal is even signed. Buyers who can’t tell whether you fit tend to take longer to decide, pull in more people, or ask for yet another demo. And a lot of those deals end in “let’s do nothing for now.”
What every buyer is really judging is how a new solution will fit in their own unique context – and the challenges that brings them. They can only judge that if you show them the full picture: the approach you’ve taken, what that makes you great at, and what you’ve chosen not to do. Give them that, and they’ll work out for themselves whether you fit. The ones who say yes know what they’re getting, so they decide faster and with more confidence.
In reality, most of us hold back on this. We hide the trade-offs because we’re afraid to lose the buyers just outside our sweet spot. Jason called that a reasonable fear, but a wrong one, and I agree. When you’re clear, the people next to your sweet spot can weigh it up and often still say yes. When you stay vague, they can’t decide. So they don’t.
And sometimes staying vague isn’t even a choice. Many of us can’t name our approach at all, so we fall back on showing features.
You don’t have to be the best solution for everything and everyone. Nobody is, and that’s fine. But for the buyer whose situation is exactly what you’re built for, there should be no alternative.
Question for you to reflect upon:
Look at the last three deals you didn’t win: did you explain your approach and the trade-offs that deliberately come with it, or did you just show features?
The Remarkable Effect is when you attract the right buyers and respectfully turn away the wrong ones.
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