There is a Chinese saying that goes, “The florist would always praise his own flowers.” Basically, it means that businesses are very unlikely to shoot themselves in the foot by highlighting the flaws and limitations of their own offering, which at the same time are important data points for the consumer who wants to make the best purchase decision. Marketing communications are useful for conveying objective information (e.g. “100% cotton”), not subjective information (e.g. “comfortable”). This proposition also explains why consumers largely distrust advertisements, no matter how effective they are at generating awareness.

We simply need to observe our own purchase behavior to confirm this point. Personally, I cannot recall the last time I bought something after being “convinced” by an advertisement. Advertisements and most traditional forms of marketing have as much credibility as job seekers who list qualities like “diligence” and “resourcefulness” on their resumes (read: no credibility whatsoever). A catchy or beautifully-crafted advertisement laden with adjectives may work for relatively low-ticket purchases, such as food or toiletries, but little else. Things like usability and durability are for the consumers themselves to decide; it makes no sense for heavily-biased sellers to make bold, presumptuous, judgment-based claims.

In fact, introducing opinions into marketing messages substantially erodes seller credibility. Consumers need both facts and opinions to do purchase planning, but it is only the former that consumers need from sellers. Indeed, it is only the former that sellers are adequately-equipped to provide. Ad hominem argument or not, a seller’s opinion is invalid to consumers; it is the opinions of people from the same camp (other consumers) that are treated as valid references for shopping research.

To tackle the “opinion” limb of marketing, businesses have no better alternative than to fully leverage word-of-mouth marketing while communicating with consumers like a third-party observer. Give consumers facts, not opinions. Businesses can still deliver their messages and achieve their marketing objectives by providing facts that allow consumers to draw their own conclusions as to its subjective characteristics. In other words, opinions substantiated with facts are keys to influencing consumer behavior. Still, while opinions with facts are good, facts alone are better.

If the facts alone are insufficient to generate demand, perhaps the offering is not that compelling after all. This marketing approach also uncovers the offering in its bare-bones state without superfluous marketing sugar-coating that creates confusion instead of confidence. Ultimately, this practice produces a win-win situation: consumers deal with less salesy nonsense, allowing them to make smarter buying decisions, while sellers and manufacturers get to discover root problems related to the offering without the intervening variable of marketing and improve the offering more effectively to truly meet customers’ needs.