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Absolute Value: What Really Influences Customers in the Age of (Nearly) Perfect Information Hardcover – February 4, 2014

by Itamar Simonson (Author), Emanuel Rosen (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 93 ratings
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Going against conventional marketing wisdom, Absolute Value reveals what really influences customers today and offers a new framework—the Influence Mix, a totally new way of thinking about consumer decision making and marketing, and about developing more effective business strategies.

How people buy things has changed profoundly—yet the fundamental thinking about consumer decision-making and marketing has not. Most marketers still believe that they can shape consumers’ perception and drive their behavior. In this provocative book, Stanford professor Itamar Simonson and bestselling author Emanuel Rosen show why current mantras are losing their relevance. When consumers base their decisions on reviews from other users, easily accessed expert opinions, price comparison apps, and other emerging technologies, everything changes.

Absolute Value answers the pressing questions of how to influence customers in this new age. Simonson and Rosen point out the old-school marketing concepts that need to change and explain how a company should design its communication strategy, market research program, and segmentation strategy in the new environment. Filled with deep analysis, case studies, and cutting-edge research, this forward-looking book provides a totally new way of thinking about marketing.

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  1. Print length
    256 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harper Business
  4. Publication date
    February 4, 2014
  5. Dimensions
    6 x 0.89 x 9 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0062215671
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0062215673
  8. See all details
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4 out of 5 stars
93 global ratings

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Customers find the book informative and thought-provoking. They describe it as an interesting read for big-time marketers, with good explanations and supporting concepts. Many readers consider it a quality read and a worthwhile purchase.

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16 customers mention "Insight"14 positive2 negative

Customers find the book provides useful insights and concepts about marketing. They find it informative, thought-provoking, and interesting for big-time marketers. The extensive research and discussion provide a useful framework for marketing, giving readers a better opportunity to make better decisions.

"...and the authors do a good job in explaining it and supporting the concept with examples...." Read more

"...the primary demographic, the authors successfully include enough interesting information throughout the novel to engage the average reader...." Read more

"...I like that the book offered a lot of concepts and gave us a view into where the world of marketing is heading...." Read more

"...amounts of information people have a better opportunity than ever to make better decisions...." Read more

11 customers mention "Readability"11 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read. They appreciate the authors' explanations and support for concepts. The book is described as a quality read that summarizes what they should already know.

"...whole concept of absolute value makes sense and the authors do a good job in explaining it and supporting the concept with examples...." Read more

"...also proves to validate any outside research thereby making for a quality read." Read more

"A well thought out book that is a must read for the marketing people at bigger companies...." Read more

"Very worth reading IMHO...." Read more

3 customers mention "Value for money"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's value for money. They say it's a good buy.

"...to cover I highly recommend this book since the whole concept of absolute value makes sense and the authors do a good job in explaining it and..." Read more

"...If you're wondering whether this book is worth the investment, it is!" Read more

"Absolute Buy!..." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Jay Oza
    5.0 out of 5 stars Absolute Value Is Here and Gaining
    Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    After reading this book cover to cover I highly recommend this book since the whole concept of absolute value makes sense and the authors do a good job in explaining it and supporting the concept with examples. They also point out that relative value is not going away but the trend, tools and technology are moving in the absolute value realm.

    This book was quit readable and if you take your time, you will get a lot out of reading this book.
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  • EmilyJaneRoss
    4.0 out of 5 stars Four stars but with a pinch of salt...
    Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    This book is at the cutting edge of marketing theory. It addresses fundamental changes in the marketing mix led by the convergence of consumer connectedness. However, it does at times take a rather naive view of the platforms that publish content - and is overly simplistic in some assumptions about the volume of false reviews that abound.
    The main premise is startlingly well conveyed though - that brand is no where near as powerful in todays marketing mix.
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Quality Read!
    Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2016
    Verified Purchase
    After reading this novel for Professor Fauld's Social Media Marketing course at the University of Louisville, I was able to understand why he recommended the book so highly. With the incorporation of just enough marketing terminology to satisfy the primary demographic, the authors successfully include enough interesting information throughout the novel to engage the average reader. Along with extensive research, the novel also proves to validate any outside research thereby making for a quality read.
    One person found this helpful
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  • johannes klinkhamer
    3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read for big time marketeers but it does not tell the whole story.
    Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    A well thought out book that is a must read for the marketing people at bigger companies. For those who already, through the internet, reap the fruits of reviews and profit from fact that this also enables much smaller companies to be profitable, it is maybe not so spectacular. The book starts with a failed Google product to indicate that no company is safe. While this is certainly a truism I don't think that Google as a company is a good example in this case. What do companies like Google and Amazon have in common? They want to conquer the world with the means accessible to them and stay way ahead of a competition that has not even got a chance to start. (True, Google slew AltaVista, but who is going to slay them?) So far Google and Amazon have been extremely successful in this. So have, for instance, online travel agencies and companies like Tripadvisor, Uber and Airbnb. The book points this out. What it does not point out, however, is that these companies operate essentially risk free. They don't produce anything themselves, they are but intermediaries. They get paid for that, of course, and they offer great value and many opportunities for smaller entrepreneurs. That is the considerable up side. The down side and the paradigm shift is that the entrepreneurs completely lose their say over the marketing techniques used by these intermediaries and bigger companies often profit more than smaller ones. It used to be that when you pay you have a say. But not with these companies, who in fact appear to defend the consumer much more than the companies they represent on line. However, the bill is footed by the companies by paying provision fees to the intermediaries on line. During the first industrial revolution, power and money implied owning the means of production. These days, owning the means of production is for suckers. Ask Apple.
    One person found this helpful
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  • Nino
    2.0 out of 5 stars A good idea gone wild
    Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    The authors take a good idea and then stretch it beyond reasonable. The book introduces the concept of the "influence mix". There are three components of the "influence mix": prior preferences and experience (P), other people and information resources (O), and marketers (M). The central idea of the book is that in an era of abundant information from users and experts, the O's role increases, while the roles of P, and especially M, decrease. There are plenty of statements in the book that is easy to agree with:
    - In an increasing number of categories, brands are losing their role as proxies for quality.
    - A consumer's past satisfaction is not as important as it used to be in making purchase decisions.
    - Consumers' loyalty is declining and is a weaker driver of future purchases.
    - Positioning and persuasion techniques are less effective than in the past.
    - Sales tactics that try to capitalize on consumer "irrationality" and preference instability don't work as effectively as one would expect from reading books and articles on the subject.
    - Emotional appeals face tougher competition from the abundant "rational" information.

    And then there is the overreach. For example, the authors write that "consumers have limited insight into their real preferences". For a book that celebrates consumer rationality over irrationality, this is a strange statement. Based on this statement, the authors declare market research mostly useless since it attempts to determine consumers' own preferences. For example, the authors argue that conjoint analysis that determines the utilities of different product features cannot predict a fictional Jim's actual buying behavior because in reality Jim may be attracted to the products with highest ratings and scores on the web and not to the products that have the features Jim actually likes and prefers. Of course, Jim will be influenced by reviews but this does not mean he'll radically change his own preferences and that these preferences become largely irrelevant. Also, isn't it reasonable to believe that the products with the highest consumer ratings will be the ones that have features that most people prefer, and therefore, these preferences are the common latent variable that drives both consumer ratings and conjoint utilities higher? It is not unreasonable to believe that if a product has great features that people like in conjoint analysis, these same features will drive consumers ratings and scores high, and therefore, conjoint could be predictive of the actual market success and of the consumer ratings.
    The authors write that market research is not "of great help for more radical, unfamiliar changes" in products and they give an example how market research did not predict the success of the iPhone. This, along with the availability of customer reviews on the web, lead the authors to advocate that marketers "cut their their market research budgets and, rather than waste their time on measuring individual consumer's preferences, expectations, satisfaction, and loyalty, rely on readily available public information".
    Even if it is true that most of the time market research has trouble predicting consumers' reaction to radical product changes, the reality is that 95% of the time Product Development departments work not on introducing radical changes but rather incremental changes and market research is quite good at measuring and predicting how customers react to incremental changes.
    Tracking the unsolicited feedback that companies can find on the different websites is a perfectly good idea but believing that this can replace completely market research is unrealistic. This is exactly what the authors advocate though: replace market research with reading product reviews on the web. This is simply unrealistic for most products. For example, I bought recently an Infinity bookshelf speaker. The product has 59 reviews on Amazon. I am writing this review on February 17, 2014 and so far the product has had a total of 5 reviews on Amazon.com this year. If I were the brand manager for this product at Infinity, I would be worried that five reviews is just not enough for me to give me timely feedback about my product. Even the total of 59 reviews over the last 3 years is not enough feedback to guide my marketing and new product development.
    The authors mention several times a book by Al and Laura Ries that was written about 10 years ago "The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR". Ten years later advertising is still alive and well, and PR has not overtaken it. Al and Laura Ries took a good idea and overreached. SImonson and Rosen make the same mistake in "Absolute Value". Too bad because the idea has merits.
    20 people found this helpful
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  • yugantar ballal
    5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Book
    Reviewed in India on May 3, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    Very useful book in era of web 2.0
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  • Manageris
    4.0 out of 5 stars A lire en profondeur
    Reviewed in France on August 18, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Les actions de marketing traditionnelles deviennent moins efficaces. Les auteurs analysent ces évolutions, avec beaucoup de nuances. Ils encouragent à voir différemment ce métier, à réorienter ses efforts et ses budgets vers de nouveaux outils d'influence.
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  • Emanuele
    2.0 out of 5 stars Niente di nuovo, prolisso e ripetitivo
    Reviewed in Italy on July 28, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    Si tratta di un libro che ha sicuramente degli spunti interessanti legati alle modifiche dei pattern comportamentali di acquisto dei consumatori che grazie alla rivoluzione digitale hanno avuto modo di evolversi e continuano a farlo.

    Come anticipato nel titolo della recensione, non si tratta di una vera e propria scoperta. Il tema è sicuramente interessante ma viene affrontato in maniera ripetitiva, cercando di mitigare continuamente la reale portata delle implicazioni degli autori (il contesto sta cambiando però... anche se è vero che ci sono delle modifiche nel comportamento dei consumatori, questo non è sempre riscontrabile... e via dicendo).

    Leggendolo ho avuto l'impressione che gli autori abbiano cercato di allungare un po' il brodo. Mi trovo molto in accordo con una recensione precedente sullo stesso testo secondo la quale la tesi degli autori si sarebbe potuta condensare tranquillamente in un articolo senza la necessità di scrivere 200 pagine prolisse.

    Non mi ha molto soddisfatto nonostante alcuni ottimi spunti di riflessione sul tema.
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  • ami
    2.0 out of 5 stars wichtiges buch für marketer
    Reviewed in Germany on May 15, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    emanuel rosen hat schon einmal ein standardwerk verfasst (the anatomy of buzz) -- dieses hier soll online marketern helfen, zu verstehen wodurch kunden bei der kaufentscheidung beeinflusst werden.

    die drei wichtigsten erkenntnisse:
    1- es werden (wohl) weniger rezensionen gefälscht als angenommen. darf angezweifelt werden, aber wenn man sich anschaut wie rigoros manche anbieter (z.b. yelp nach der übernahme von qype) "verdächtige rezensionen" löschen, denke ich auch dass es nicht mehr als 10-15% sind. selbst wenn man diese rezensionen mit einbezieht, verfälschen sie angeblich kaum das ergebnis.
    2- schlechte bewertungen sind NICHT immer schädlich. im gegenteil: wenn z.b. bei einer einfachen consumer camera angegeben wird "leicht zu bedienen, aber eine kamera mit 5 megapixel ist für mich als profi fotograf völlig ungeeignet" - sagt eher etwas positives FÜR EINE EINFACHE kamera aus. viele leute achten ohnehin eher darauf, ob ein rezensent so denkt wie sie selbst und lesen bei einem produkt mit 30 sehr guten bewertungen und 3 sehr schlechten bewertungen welche rezensionen? genau.
    3- kunden achten bei vielen produkten auf den *absoluten* wert, man vergleicht (aufgrund der distanz) in erster linie fakten mit fakten. dadurch wird der kunde bei neuanschaffungen häufig illoyal, weil er eben weniger darauf achtet ob da jetzt samsung oder LG oder apple auf dem gerät steht, sondern was andere kunden (=glaubwürdiger) darüber sagen.

    aber, und das ist fast mal wieder logisch für solch ein buch: es gibt natürlich auch produkte, die nicht so stark von bewertungen abhängig sind, d.h. für manche produkte wie z.b. restaurants oder consumer produkte ist der gesamte ansatz eher zu benutzen als z.b. services, die von einem mitarbeiter abhängig sind (finanzprodukte, reisen).
    fazit: interessant für alle, die sich um kunden-entwicklung gedanken machen, aber für mich als marketing experte nicht unbedingt viel neues ;)
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  • Island lover
    5.0 out of 5 stars Essential reading for all of us in Marketing
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    This book is the best marketing book I have read in over a decade, in fact it is the best business book I have read as well. The authors clearly explain how consumer decision making has changed due to the advent of the internet, social media and direct consumer feedback. They then take you on a journey to explain how this change in customer decision making completely turns marketing on its head, destroying many cherished ideas and beliefs. If you are in marketing and want to secure your future I would recommend you read this book from cover to cover, and then start again with a notebook - which is what I am off to do now!
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