An offer can accumulate features while leaving buyers without a criterion for choosing. Commercial difference emerges by resolving a relevant difficulty and explaining what work changes, under which conditions and with what preparation. Adjectives add little when product and delivery cannot support the explanation.
More options do not guarantee easier decisions
Coveo and Arlington Research’s December 2025 survey published through Statista records too many choices or difficult or irrelevant filtering as a frequent problem for 31% of 4,000 adult online shoppers in the US and UK. Difficult search or browsing receives 30%, and irrelevant recommendations 28%. This identifies neither a single cause nor the effect of reducing a catalog.
US and UK: difficulties guiding online product choice
N 4,000 online shoppers aged 18+, online survey December 14–19, 2025; combined countries.
Tap or hover for details. All values are also available in the data table.
Collapse notes
Coveo / Arlington Research / Statista. Multiple answers, without summation or causal redesign effects. Statista cites p. 17 of the 2026 report; original landing confirms N and countries, full gated PDF not independently accessed. Combined choice/filter item is not separated, and country Ns are not inferred. Not a diagnosis of a specific offer.
Explore the data table
| Category | Mentions the problem |
|---|---|
| Too many choices or difficult/irrelevant filters | 31.0% |
| Difficult search or browsing | 30.0% |
| Irrelevant recommendations | 28.0% |
Differentiation does not require systematically removing options. It identifies a buying situation and presents a criterion supporting fit. Urgency, exploration and curiosity can generate similar visits while requiring different explanations.
The GOV.UK user-needs guide recommends researching the task and its current approach before selecting solutions. Its public-service setting supplies a research method rather than commercial uplift or a universal positioning formula.
Users and purchase approvers can require different evidence
Edelman and LinkedIn asked a US subgroup of final RFP decision-makers about vendor criteria in 2025. Statista records understanding business needs at 85%, strategic fit at 68% and safest choice at 41%, combining very or moderately important. These are stated criteria rather than purchase probabilities or a brand’s achieved advantage.
United States 2025: B2B criteria the explanation needs to distinguish
Less visible final RFP decision-makers, online March 17–April 3, 2025.
Tap or hover for details. All values are also available in the data table.
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Edelman / LinkedIn / Statista. Original p. 4–5 and 22 confirms roles, four-option scale and top-2 values. Total N 1,934, exact subgroup base unknown. Neither commercial outcomes, trust in this offer nor willingness to pay. Criteria are not added or numerically compared with Coveo consumers.
Explore the data table
| Category | Very or moderately important |
|---|---|
| Understand business needs | 85.0% |
| Strategic fit | 68.0% |
| Safest choice | 41.0% |
A difference serves everyday work and can be explained to those coordinating, administering or approving expense. The promise stays shared while evidence answers each responsibility. Removing repeated preparation, clarifying compatibility and delimiting assistance are possibilities selected through documented obstacles rather than invented demand.
The chosen difference describes a deliverable change
Simple does not explain the customer’s completed task. The explanation names inputs, service actions, output and conditions. Exceptional expert intervention does not establish routine capability. Current availability and future plans stay separate, retaining external dependencies and customer preparation before purchase.
The FTC requires evidence for advertising claims within its jurisdiction . Here it supports rigor: capability demonstrations are not presented as customer outcomes, and comparisons or promised savings need appropriate evidence and conditions. Specific legal application depends on offer and market.
Price, unit, scope, duration, cancellation and additional work belong within usefulness. Assistance can mean a short answer or full execution; steps identify ownership. Technical depth answers genuine questions without hiding conditions necessary to understand the proposition.
Transition belongs within the cost of choosing
Data preparation, learning, coordination and migration consume resources beyond payment. Accepting a format does not ensure retained structure, permissions or history. Explanation distinguishes transferred information, required review and remaining manual work. Initial help has an objective, endpoint and cost rather than unlimited availability.
Departure explains information preservation and continuing commitments. A promised transition requires delivery capacity. Preparation or scope rejection does not necessarily need a discount; changed conditions retain cost and delivery consequences.
Choice is assessed beside initial usefulness
Valid purchases relate to eligible opportunities receiving the same offer within the window. The denominator retains refusals and prior criteria rather than subsequently removing people questioning a condition. Voluntary reasons allow multiple answers and unknown cause; silence does not establish disinterest.
Activation asks whether eligible cohort purchases reach an initial useful task within the window. More sales with less activation calls for promise and fit review. Price, audience, channel and message can change together; subsequent development does not itself identify clarity’s effect.
Delivery cost and exceptions complete the interpretation. An appealing difference that cannot be sustained is not ready to expand. Growth requires purchase understanding to continue matching completed work: a concrete difficulty resolved repeatedly offers a commercial criterion that a superiority phrase cannot replace.
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Marian Vasile
Marian Vasile is a MarTech and growth professional. His work spans product marketing, SEO, paid advertising and deep online tracking, including behavioral analytics and attribution.