More out of scientific interest than personal need I went to the Media Store and investigated through the shelves, especially DVDs and CDs. Worth noting: TV Series almost take up as much shelf space as feature films. People buy this? Whoa.
And then – for the first time in three years – I actually bought a CD. Because it was cheaper than on iTunes. Jeff Buckley — Grace, it’s one of those albums you must have if you are into music. Awesome. And I’ve been wanting it for quite some time but never saw it in stores. After that, I picked up another CD I thought of as nice to have, and another…and another. And then I stopped, thinking “Wait, what’s going on here?” and I remembered a blog post I had read some weeks ago when the author mentioned that people in the checkout queue always seem to be more excited than after having actually bought the items. Which made me think, resulting in me putting back 3 out of 4 CDs, thinking it would make a lot of more sense to put them on a wish list. Which is a clever option on Amazon.
On the one hand, it allows me to keep track of stuff I think I need, reconsider it after some time, but in the end, thanks to the recommendation system as well, it keeps ever growing. Wish lists are also great to share with your friends and family, so every time they want to give you a present they have some sensible options instead yet another pair of socks.
On the other hand, from Amazon’s point of view, wish lists are a precious source of information, because they tell them what the client thinks he needs. This applies for you as a marketer as well. It’s a good tool to follow up, because it’s connected to future intentions and not the last purchase. The way the list grows is a valuable information too (though prone to error because of misinterpretation). Fast growth and widely spread topics can be indicators of indecisiveness and procrastination, or the tendency of taking on too much at once. But this is something you only know when you have the opportunity to measure and compare the results. It’s interesting that Amazon doesn’t track this but keeps bombarding you with recommendation emails whatsoever, which is not always helping them make another sale I reckon, so you better not copy it straight away for your business. But following up is vital. The more relevant (i.e. centered on the client’s future) the better.