Have you noticed how more and more online shops give you recommendations ?

We think you’ll like this, and we think you need that. Other people who bought this, also bought that. They use the word ‘recommend’, its not pushy, but do you really want to ignore it ? They’re not telling you, its your choice, right ?

So things are again coming around in twos. Make one purchase of something you need, to be told or tempted to add just a little something else, even though you hadn’t even given it a thought. Go on, they recommend it, just add it to your basket before you check out.
Its what online retailers call AOV, or Average order value. Its how much, on average, someone like you spends in each transaction. Guess what, they want that number to go up, and one way of doing it is to get you to add just one more thing. They recommend it, even though you really don’t need it.

That one extra thing will arrive, take up space, demand more time, need batteries, need setup, need reading, need dusting, and eventually after all that need to be thrown away.

So I recommend you turn off the newsletter options, unsubscribe, remove the bookmarks, and most of all, don’t add anything you didn’t plan to buy, avoid those reviews singing its praises, who cares what everyone else bought. You didn’t want it before, and you don’t want it now.

Avoid the two more things, stick with the one thing you came for. Did you really, really need that, was it just a marketing ploy. Why not just leave it in the basket for today, maybe come back to it another day, or next week, or next month. Maybe, if you leave it long enough. It will be two less things, neither of which I’d recommend.