Do You Have Too Much Choice In Your Offers And Products?

Do you have too much choice and too many offers on your website? Do you talk about your different offers on your social media and find that all you hear are crickets? 

Many marketers assume the more choice, the more likely their customer will find what they need. But more choice is not necessarily better. 

Research has shown that too much choice can make it less likely consumers will buy anything at all. And even if they do buy, they are less likely to be happy with their selection. 

In the age of this fast-growing digital era, you would be forgiven for thinking that more is better. We only have to look at Amazon and the endless choice there!

This is a really interesting TED Talk by Sheena Iyengar on ‘how to make choosing easier’. 

She talks about how Americans are used to choice. In fact, it’s part of their identity. People in the Western world believe in the power of lots of choice, even if it doesn’t necessarily make us feel good all the time. 

But then Eastern Europeans who are used to much less choice, can immediately find having choice fearful, presenting dilemmas.

Sheena says that even Americans feel they have too much choice at times and find it overwhelming. Her research suggests that when people have more than 10 choices, they start making poor choices.

That’s not to say having more choices can’t be good for us. In psychology and business, it’s assumed that having more choices can lead to better autonomy, control and outcomes, and has the potential to leave us better off. 

So whilst more options CAN lead to better outcomes, there’s another outcome of choice to consider. More choice can also lead to increased time and effort, leading to anxiety, extremely high expectations, regret and self-blame, when the ‘wrong’ choice is made. 

It gets to a point when each new option can make your customer feel worse, unless you have a business where more options just work.

Moral of the story? More is not always better. 

It can be challenging to work out how much exactly is too much, but it will be different for every business.

Are the choices you’re offering your customer overwhelming them to inaction or buyer’s regret? Do you have too much choice?

Depending on your business, having a handful of solid attractive offers or products that you feel really good about could be more effective than having loads you’re not too sure of. 

Just food for thought this Friday.

And if you’re interested in building your digital marketing skills and knowledge to help you sell your amazing offers, have a look at my new programme 11:11, where you can gain lifetime access to 11 incredible marketing masterclasses for only £1111! 

That’s just £101 for a wealth of knowledge in each one! 🙌