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How to Avoid Choice

Paralysis & Improve Sales

Presented by Liz Allen & Sarah Wilson

Could you be losing sales because users cannot make a decision?

The answer is yes. Fortunately, there is something you can do about it.

The Age of Options

Consumers now have more choices than ever. However, the context in which individuals are given a choice can drastically influence the outcome of their decision.

Americans make 70 different choices a day on average, so it's easy to see why some people can be indecisive.

To Buy, Or Not To Buy

People love to have options. When asked, who wouldn’t prefer to choose from a list of five different items over a list of only two?

Intuitively, people feel that the more options they have, the greater their chances are of finding the best choice.

The illusion of options

But this intuitive assumption turns out to be an illusion –the more options we have, the less likely we are to make a decision at all.

As a business owner, this means having too many options for your consumers on your website could do you more harm than good.

Choice Paralysis

Choice paralysis is a well known problem in retail. Numerous tests in supermarkets have shown that if you offer a customer too many varieties they are less likely to buy than if there are only a few.

Consequences of too many choices

There are 3 main consequences of offering people too many choices

1. Engagement

2. Quality

3. Satisfaction

This is because it is difficult to properly compare all choices – it’s fun to gaze at a full page of products, but how can you really decide which one is best if they’re all similar to one another?

Common mistakes

Too many products in one category.

Complex ways of customizing products.

An overwhelming selection of special offers.

Endless categories and sub categories of products.

Companies that make these mistakes suffer from dismally low conversion rates. Unfortunately website owners often perceive this low conversion as a sign that they’re not giving users what they want. This leads them to add even more choice, which results in further paralysis.

Why more isn’t better

In a now famous supermarket study only 3% of shoppers purchased jam when confronted with 24 varieties, while 30% purchased when given only 6.

27% approached the jam section with a particular jam in mind. They knew what they wanted and went to purchase. However, the range of alternatives actually placed doubt in their mind.

The lesson here is that Choice Paralysis is not just something suffered by those who arrive undecided. It can actually prevent a committed buyer from placing an order.

Op

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Sales

Choice overload

The key is to make the purchasing process easier for your customers.

1. Cut

2. Concretization

3. Categorization

4. Condition for complexity

Similar to getting overwhelmed by choices in a store, your customers feel the same way when you offer too many products on a website.

Reduce the number of choices

Reduce the redundant options. If you can’t tell the difference between 2 products, don’t force customers to choose.

If you’re having trouble removing items, there are a few other things you can do to make things easier for customers.

Virtual Sampling

If you have a few varieties of a particular product, it is always handy to provide a virtual sample for customers.

Using virtual sampling allows the user to see the product come to life, which helps concretize the purchase.

Concretization

Relate a decision in terms that mean something

What’s the difference between these two website banners?

Limited options per row

A good way to avoid cognitive overload is to ensure that no row contains more than three items.

Our brains then register the decision making process as a manageable task, and assign the required cognitive resources.

Take note of the # of items per row and the way the products are categorized.

Suggested items

Providing a ‘default’ or ‘suggested’ option is another proven method of helping customers stay focused. It tells the customer, “This item fulfills all of your basic needs and it is sold for a reasonable price” or “Most of our customers choose this one.”

4imprint.com provides different “suggested” options to help narrow the search for the user.

Social comparison

Social comparison can also be used as a facilitator, as in “Our most popular products are…” or “Our top reviewed products are...”

These sentences are socially oriented, helping the customer to feel like part of a group and thus fulfilling our basic need of wanting to ‘belong.’

What is this website doing right? And what are they doing wrong?

Right: Suggested itemsWrong: The wording

Categorization

Another efficient method is filtering, which allows the customer to drill down to the most relevant options. Consider structuring

choices by brand, purpose or mood.

This is similar to an in-store customer service representative telling you, “Let me know what color and size you need, and I will bring it to you.”

Clearly differentiate between choices

What is the difference between “Technology” and “Geek”?

Clearly differentiating choice has to apply to all aspects of your site from product range to site navigation.

Condition for complexity

Gradually build towards more choices

First allow your customer to sort through categories, filter, select a product and then customize it.

Live Chat

Most people welcome help when making a purchasing decision, as long as it is not pushy.

Live chat is the perfect platform to address these needs, because it allows businesses to provide their customers with appropriate guidance and direction while taking into account their cognitive limitations.

This can help you directly prevent any choice paralysis that they may be facing.

How this helps sales

Summary