Amazon Ditches Better Together for Bundles

Get Elastic reader and ecommerce blogger Scott Wilson (aka That Software Guy, The Cart Blog and @thatsoftwareguy) informed me today of a new merchandising tactic on Amazon. It appears Amazon has replaced its “Better Together” cross-sells with bundling. Of course, this could be a split test, but Scott and I both can see this technique in action when we visit Amazon.

Before – Better Together

Screenshot credit: Register Hardware

After – Frequently Bought Together

The customer now has the option to add all 3 to the cart, or pick of the 3. Giving the customer some choice but not too much choice is key here. I imagine the uptake would be far lower if the customer was presented 5 or more choices, simply because it requires too much thinking and could cause a “paradox of choice.”

Word choice: Frequently Bought Together vs. Better Together

Though Better Together sounds more smooth, it could be that there is a higher degree of social trust with “Frequently Bought Together” — it’s more clear on why the cross-sell is presented (rather than head scratchers like marmite and .Mac software. Of course, this could be a short-term test.

I also spotted some product pages pitching “Best Value” cross-sells rather than “Better Together” which may be more appropriate in this economy:

Personally I think this is a great idea, and it’s another reason I’d love to be a fly on the wall in the Amazon web analytics war room.