There’s a restaurant in Copenhagen called Noma.
The name is short for “nordisk mad” — Danish for “Nordic food.”
And while that might not sound too appetizing, Noma is quite a destination for gourmands.
In fact, it’s got two Michelin stars — a pretty rare honor that only a small number of restaurants around the world share.
And yet, in spite of all the Michelin stars, there was a time when Noma wasn’t flush with business.
And then, in 2010, out of the blue, Noma came in at the top of the World’s Best 50 Restaurants.
This is a new restaurant list (unlike the Michelin Guides, which have been around for a century).
It kicked off in 2002 as a lark, but it’s since become more successful than anticipated. In fact, it’s become so powerful that it impacts the tourist industries of entire continents.
And it does wonders for individual restaurants:
The day after Noma got the top spot in the World’s 50 Best, a hundred thousand people tried to book a table. Suddenly, finances weren’t an issue any more.
So what’s going on?
How could the upstart World’s 50 Best do so much more for Noma than 2 prestigious but stupid Michelin stars?
For that, let me quote an interview that I just listened to. It’s with Michael Fishman, one of the world’s most successful list brokers, and a guy who has bushels of experience in direct marketing. Says Michael:
“When you give prospects a choice in direct mail, the danger is that they don’t make a choice and that you lose the order. […] The more choices you give and the more effort you embed in the process, the more likely you are to lose an order.”
I think the same reasoning applies to restaurant guides.
The Michelin system might be prestigious, but it requires effort.
After all, there are multiple restaurants all around the world with two or more Michelin stars.
On the other hand, there’s only one restaurant at the top of the World’s Top 50.
Which means no choice.
No effort required.
No chance to give up and say, “Ah to hell with it.”
Maybe you think I’m stretching this too far. But as Michael Fishman puts it, this idea of effort is “excruciatingly sensitive.” Michael illustrated this with the example of a direct mail reply card that required two perforations instead of one. Even such a tiny bit of extra effort reliably lowered response, compared to the simpler option.
Just something to keep in mind when you are designing your offers.
Or setting up your marketing campaigns.
Or writing to your clients.
Speaking of which, I’ve got a no-choice, no-effort offer for you. If you want a free copy of my upcoming book on email marketing, head on over to the following page, and sign up with your email: