If you want me to come to your restaurant tell me the cross street.

Last week, I wanted to go out to eat at a restaurant in Manhattan.  Should be easy to find one - right?  Not. 

As all students of marketing know, what makes decision-making hard is having too many choices.  And in Manhattan there are way too many restaurants to choose from.

But what made the process even more frustrating was the wealth of lousy websites out there.  I don't know what's worse, photos that fail to convey the tightness of the locations, or menus that don't download.  But what really makes me nuts is not including the cross street.

I don't get it.  How hard is it to add "between 42nd Street & 41st Street?"  Do they think for some reason that avenue addresses are classier?  More important?  If so, I can't imagine why.  And forcing me to go the extra step and goggle the street address in order to find the cross street is a losing proposition.  Most times I just move on.

But here's the thing.  It's not just me.  Including that cross street could make all the difference, and a map might be even better. 

In Howard Leventhal's seminal research about tetanus shots, follow-through increased by 28% when a map was added to the flier. 

Such a simple fix with such significant effects.  Hopefully the restaurants are reading this. 

Sethi, R. (2011, January 19)  5 fascinating experiments from the world of psychology and persuasion.  businessinsider.com.  Retrieved December 27, 2017, from,

http://www.businessinsider.com/5-fascinating-experiments-from-the-world-of-psychology-and-persuasion-2011-2