In a thought provoking talk, Professor Barry Schwartz. author of The Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less presented research with profound implications for publishers in his work on the effects of simply having too many choices. A supermarket study found that a choice of 6 jams resulted in more actual purchases than having a choice of 24 jams. Extend this out to 401(k) retirement plans where adding additional options results in reducing the participation, or the choices in health care providers, and the implications are profound. For information providers and website owners, this means limiting options can actually increase sales, and keep the customer better satisfied; complex may be satisfying for content developers, but is not good for sales!!!

Providing B2B tools to make buying decisions quickly with an fair assurance of making a good choice is the role of the Produce Reporter/Blue Book Services for the fresh produce industry. Jim Bartelson described the descriptive ratings they provide to help their customers save time by eliminating phone calls, so they can find the right producers, and then reduce their credit losses by a ranking system. This has high value in this industry which consists of perishable products with a seven day window of marketability, and whose products don't provide sufficient security for banks to finance.

Healthcare Grades provides decision making tools for both consumers and the businesses providing healthcare services, so they have to reach two constituencies. John Morrow described their mission, which is to improve the quality of health care, but while this means improving "cost and quality" for the providers, it means "positive experience" for the consumer. Branding is a major issue for them to communicate their value in providing relevant information to evaluate available choices. Their primary tool is communication through the media, particularly daily news, such as newspapers and television, i.e. using lists of top hospitals in a city.

For both the produce industry and the healthcare industry, establishing credibility and providing objective information is a challenge. Overall, this type of service is very effective in improving quality within the industry. Witness the effect of Consumer Reports, which now is now finding that most products are quite good, so now consumers have to determine the functions they really need, again the paradox of choice!