Very interesting article and great analogy between too much choice in life and ecommerce.

I strongly agree with you re the necessity of a decision making framework to help customers make a choice. I propose adding behavioural targeting to this framework given the nature of the online decision making process.

Most online purchases are completed following some competitive research and more than one visit to the website. Therefore, we need to help customers where they last left. From persistent basket/cart cookies to full blown behavioural targeting engines such as Omniture Test & Target 1:1 (formerly Touch Clarity).

Clearly these tools have their drawbacks and share of controversy at times. But as you said, it is not about the technology, it is about making the purchasing decision as simple as possible.

Cheers,
Michael

Behavioural targeting