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Home » The Famous Blog » Information Overload – The Curse Of IM Information Products?

Information Overload – The Curse Of IM Information Products?

August 9, 2011 - Last Modified: August 9, 2011 by Beverley Watts

Information Overload

I believe that one of the biggest problems with the way in which information products in the Internet Marketing niche particularly are currently being delivered, is that basically you receive far too much information in one BIG chunk, leading for the most part to complete Information overload!

I’m sure you’ve purchased products which include volumes of PDFs and hours and hours of videos.

Nowadays it seems as though the general rule of thumb is that in order to give purchasers the best possible value for money, the product has to contain vast quantities of information.

But come on, be honest, how do you feel when you’re faced with multiple PDFs together with 20+ hours of video footage and another 10+ hours of audio interviews – and that’s not including the bonuses…!!

You’ve lost the will to live before you’ve even finished downloading the product!

So then you go ahead and open it up and the first thing you think is OMG – I’m going to be up all night (for the next year or so!) Seriously though, you get completely overwhelmed and not only do you not take the recommended action, but you probably don’t even get past the 3rd video!

I have no doubt that the value is in there – for anyone who has hours and hours to spare.

Believe me this is not a dig at the many sincere and hard working internet marketers who put their heart and soul into their products, genuinely concerned to provide their subscribers with the best possible value by making sure that they cover absolutely everything – A to Z – and also of course to ensure that potential customers don’t feel as though they’ve been short changed.

But the simple fact of the matter is that nine times out of ten – it’s just TOO MUCH!

Trying to process too much information at once

And not only that, trying to process too much information at once – leading to information overload – can actually be harmful to your health.

Information Overload internet marketing

The International Stress Management Association’s David Lewis coined the phrase ‘Information Fatigue Syndrome’

Psychologist Dr David Lewis states “We’re often seeing a failure of concentration. We’re seeing a loss of motivation, loss of morale. We’re seeing greater irritability.”

Author David Shenk, looking at psychological studies covering a period of 30 years, has come up with a list of symptoms which can manifest as a result of information overload:

  • Increase in blood pressure causing heightened cardiovascular stress
  • Deteriorating vision (from a Japanese study which has forecast an almost global near-sightedness in the near future.
  • Frustration and confusion created by the feelings of helplessness when faced with a barrage of information.
  • Increased self-doubt when making decisions, sometimes leading to a complete paralysis when forced to make important choices.
  • Reduced efficiency in the work place.
  • A feeling of overconfidence created by impaired judgement
  • Decreased ability to operate with compassion towards others
  • Difficulty in functioning within the family environment with personal relationships suffering.
  • Sleeplessness

Even if you dismiss the dangers of ‘Information Fatigue Syndrome’, it is true to say that to get the most out of any learning environment, the majority of people need to completely understand one instruction before they move on to the next – most of us are simply unable to digest too many instructions in one chunk.

The best way to avoid information overload and optimize the learning experience, is to distribute content in bite-size lessons delivered sequentially over a period of time. This way your brain gets only a small chunk of actionable content to digest at any one time and you are consequently able to FULLY understand and take the necessary action before the next lesson arrives.

And the easiest method to deliver this bite-sized actionable content? In my opinion, via email!

It’s both simple and easily accessible, giving the end user the unaccustomed feeling that they might actually be able to understand and follow the actions because they’re not trying to ‘cram down a week’s worth of food in one sitting!’

By just having one bite sized lesson to consume in one sitting, you can focus all your attention on that one specific piece of actionable content – only moving on to the next piece of the puzzle when you’re completely ready.

Of course it’s important to give customers value for money but ask yourself – how many courses have you got gathering dust on your hard drive because they simply took you too long to figure out?!

Value can be perceived in different ways, but the two most important things to consider are:

  • The learning experience and the feeling of achievement at the end of a course SUCCESSFULLY completed.
  • The ability to actually assimilate the information and, even more importantly, PUT IT INTO PRACTICE

In the internet marketing world, this really can mean the difference between success and failure.

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Filed Under: Marketing, Online Business

About Beverley Watts

Follow @beverleywatts

Beverley is a full time Internet Marketer dedicated to helping others gain success in their online business. You can find her at her Blog

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{ 9 Responses }

  1. Haroun Kola says:
    Great article, not only is it information overload, but when the next great awesome, stupendous, cutting edge thing comes out, everyone will be suckered into buying that new piece of content. We should rather have Google+ Hangouts where we share and work together on our individual business projects in real time. Who's keen?
  2. Wong Chendong aka The Bad Blogger says:
    It's true that when I see a brunch of pdf and videos usually I get bored because sometime I just want to get into the real action part, though it's always good to really learn the basics, but I think is human nature that we always want the action and more fun part, I once brought a product which only consist of a pdf which actually is the same as the 20 videos presentation of how to use Yahoo PPC, and I realize the best way is to print out the whole pdf and then use the video to go through step by step... this way you not only watch the video but you also had a physical stuff on your hands which actually makes turning the page a movement rather then sitting down watching the video that might get you sleepy. Not sure if the above works but it does work for me as physical stuff in hand is better then reading it from the monitor.
  3. Mark says:
    I must say, if any niche could give someone information overload, internet marketing would be it. I read about many people getting stuck in "analysis paralysis" mode shortly after information overload. I (unfortunately) and still slightly stuck in this mode...:( Mark
  4. Nasrul Hanis says:
    This is absolutely a problem. I have experience on buying some information products, take my time to read all those things - and not even apply all of them!
  5. Beverley Watts says:
    Thanks for your comments guys. Information overload is a very real problem in the IM world. I think the key is, as Edgar said, to provide 'actionable information' only. It's so very easy to keep learning but not applying! Cheers Bev
  6. Edgar says:
    The problem that i always find in most info products isn't that they don't have valuable information (as far as i know, all the ones i bought contain a large amount of valuable information). The problem though, is in the way they are presented. I always try to tell people to give others just what they need and nothing more. I know that people are sick of all those explanations about things they will never use. What i prefer though, is to give people an actionable information and let them have time to digest and apply it. This might seem a little extreme, but believe me, the minute i started making money online is when i stopped learning and started applying what i already now.
  7. Ming Jong Tey says:
    Hi Bev, Information overload certainly is one of the most popular problems that lots of people are facing. The cause of that is "losing focus" while you busy to chase and digest the information. Lots of time I bought product which aim to increase my knowledge, not for immediate help of my business. This is a killer. Not only will I be wasting time and distracting because of the "new idea", "new method", but also not focusing on my core business and hence lower my productivity. Great stuff! Cheers, Ming
  8. Carl Likviditet says:
    This is really something i can relate to. For years i worked 10-12 hours shifts in front of the computer which not only made my head spin but caused quite severe insomnia. Now days i take breaks to go to the gym, its really important to stay healthy if your in the IM game. To much time alone and in front of the computer does not do much good. The summery of symptoms from information overload is still something i can avoid no days, perhaps the frustration comes once in a while but thats alright, pushes me even harder. Its hard to avoid when you got several sites up and running and their is always something in our business that can backlash. Getting back on to the subject i think you make a nice point, sizing down the information in more proportional sizes. Often i'm scared to really dig into something or press play because the length or the duration. Hope you come back beverly, intriguing thoughts!
  9. Dave Lucas says:
    Hi Beverly! "Stress is mess!" The info-gurus have created a little cottage industry. They constantly hook PDFs, eBooks and other materials, some of which is out of date; others just re-written and re-hashed. They make you feel like you're going to go down in flames if you don't buy their stuff. They're worse than the old MLM charlatans from the 1980s and 90s! Oh, and did I say they're main motivation is making money - for themselves? I give blogging advice away for free. That stuff people are paying anywhere from $27 to $99 a pop for is only as good as how long the gimmick or system-game behind it lasts. And of course the more people joining whatever the program is, the faster it gets diluted. I like your idea of info via email. Actually, that was the preferred method of getting the word out back in the days of Win95 ---- anybody remember NEWSLETTERS?

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