This was made VERY clear when I stumbled across the subReddit for the Kilby
festival.
The post read:
"I'm 35 years old and going to Kilby. Anyone else as old as me attending? How are you preparing? Are you training for it?"
WTF!
I am.....quite......a.......bit.......older........than.......35
THIRTY-FIVE is now the cutoff for people that need to, evidently, get a doctor's note or pre-game with hydration IVs before a music festival?
OMG. If this is the last edition of The Baer Facts, I guess you'll know why.
I grew up in age of uncertainty. When "I don't know" was an acceptable answer. And when you don't have access to all the world's info on your phone at all times, not having complete answers is just the way you live.
But now, uncertainty creates Information Anxiety.
It's a nagging feeling of fear + unease.
It's like FOMO, but for facts.
In a different Reddit post, Kilby ticket holders were FREAKING OUT that the map of the festival had not yet been posted to the mobile app, 30 days out.
It wasn't THAT long ago that we figured out the layout of the festival grounds when our own feet touched the grass. You
spent your first 30 minutes reconnoitering beer, water, merch, toilets, shade.
Now,
there is an entire online sub-discussion about how wide the VIP+ section might be in front of the Mountain Stage! A month ahead of time!
You may have heard me talk on stage about The Uncertainty Gap, and how you need to answer your customers' question BEFORE they ask.
It's true, and it's important. Information Anxiety costs you money, and you might never even know it.
And the need to push all the information/facts/details/specs way up in the customer journey funnel is more crucial than ever, for two reasons.
First, the patience level of your customers is - unsurprisingly - going down, not up. Needing a festival map 30 days out is a perfect example of this.
Second, conversely, your customers' comfort with getting complete answers from an AI tool is going up, not down. And if they ask an AI tool, will they ever even have the opportunity to buy from
you?
Will you lose them to the tractor beam of AI?