{"id":512,"date":"2017-04-20T12:42:55","date_gmt":"2017-04-20T12:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/conversion.com\/too-many-options\/"},"modified":"2024-08-14T10:14:04","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T10:14:04","slug":"too-many-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conversion.com\/blog\/too-many-options\/","title":{"rendered":"A Guide on How To Stop Overwhelming Visitors with Too Much Choice"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"c-post-content\" data-ref=\"case-content\">\n\t<div class=\"post-content\">\n\t\t<div class=\"post-content__container container container--medium\">\n\t\t\t<aside class=\"post-content__sidebar post-content__sidebar--links\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"sticky-menu\" data-ref=\"case-content-menu\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"sticky-menu__title\">Contents<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"sticky-menu\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t                            \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"sticky-menu__item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"sticky-menu__item-link  active\" href=\"#\" data-ref=\"case-content-menu-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"arrow\"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 16 20\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M10.6875 9.34375V7.34375L13.3438 10L10.6875 12.6562V10.6562H2.65625V9.34375H10.6875Z\" fill=\"#F6876F\"\/><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"sticky-menu__item-text\"><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t                            \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"sticky-menu__item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"sticky-menu__item-link \" href=\"#inthisguideyouwillfindout\" data-ref=\"case-content-menu-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"arrow\"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 16 20\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M10.6875 9.34375V7.34375L13.3438 10L10.6875 12.6562V10.6562H2.65625V9.34375H10.6875Z\" fill=\"#F6876F\"\/><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"sticky-menu__item-text\">In this guide you will find out:<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t                            \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"sticky-menu__item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"sticky-menu__item-link \" href=\"#whyischoiceharmfulforyourbottomline\" data-ref=\"case-content-menu-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"arrow\"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 16 20\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M10.6875 9.34375V7.34375L13.3438 10L10.6875 12.6562V10.6562H2.65625V9.34375H10.6875Z\" fill=\"#F6876F\"\/><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"sticky-menu__item-text\">Why is choice harmful for your bottom-line?<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t                            \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"sticky-menu__item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"sticky-menu__item-link \" href=\"#whyischoicebeneficialforyourbottomline\" data-ref=\"case-content-menu-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"arrow\"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 16 20\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M10.6875 9.34375V7.34375L13.3438 10L10.6875 12.6562V10.6562H2.65625V9.34375H10.6875Z\" fill=\"#F6876F\"\/><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"sticky-menu__item-text\">Why is choice beneficial for your bottom-line?<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t                            \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"sticky-menu__item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"sticky-menu__item-link \" href=\"#tenfactorsthatdrivemitigatechoiceoverload\" data-ref=\"case-content-menu-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"arrow\"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 16 20\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M10.6875 9.34375V7.34375L13.3438 10L10.6875 12.6562V10.6562H2.65625V9.34375H10.6875Z\" fill=\"#F6876F\"\/><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"sticky-menu__item-text\">Ten Factors that drive\/mitigate \u2018choice overload\u2019<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t                            \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"sticky-menu__item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"sticky-menu__item-link \" href=\"#keytakeaways\" data-ref=\"case-content-menu-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"arrow\"><svg viewBox=\"0 0 16 20\" fill=\"none\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"M10.6875 9.34375V7.34375L13.3438 10L10.6875 12.6562V10.6562H2.65625V9.34375H10.6875Z\" fill=\"#F6876F\"\/><\/svg><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"sticky-menu__item-text\">Key Takeaways<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/aside>\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"post-content__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"post-content__sections\">\n\t\t\t\t\t                        \t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"post-content__section\" id=\"\" data-ref=\"case-content-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"post-content__section-content\"><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can you solve a puzzle for me?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Imagine you\u2019re a business selling software that allows busy parents to share photos and videos with their close ones. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When designing your pricing strategy, should you offer your users a single plan? Take it or leave it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1067 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/568image03.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"564\" height=\"260\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Or should you offer 2 different plans, so that everyone can find something that works for them?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1066 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/568image02.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"568\" height=\"264\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back in 2010 the right answer would be: you should offer a single plan. When Ash Maurya <a href=\"http:\/\/venturehacks.com\/articles\/pricing-experiments\">ran<\/a> these tests, he found that less people signed up when they were shown 2 plans, and as a result less people became paying customers. One explanation is that people could not decide which plan to choose. So, they left.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This brings us to the long-time problem that marketers have to solve: what number of options should we offer to our customers? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is large range always better&#8230; <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1076 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/763image16.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"597\" height=\"290\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8230;than a small range?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1098 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1040image38.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"598\" height=\"208\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the one hand, choice plays an important role in our daily lives. More choice can mean customers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/2004\/10\/tail\/\">are more likely<\/a> to find what matches their taste. In fact, we humans love to make choices. Research <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/21931157\">shows<\/a> that the act of choosing activates brain regions associated with motivation and reward.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the other hand, more choice can lead to <a href=\"http:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/journals\/psp\/79\/6\/995\/\">indecisiveness<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/journals\/psp\/79\/6\/995\/\">less satisfaction<\/a> with the made choice and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pnas.org\/content\/108\/17\/6889\">poorer decisions<\/a>. This phenomenon is known as \u201cchoice overload\u201d. Barry Schwartz popularised it in his book, \u201cThe Paradox of Choice\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Since then multiple articles proclaimed choice as a conversion enemy. This even led to some exaggerated statements like the one below:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1071 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/667image22.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"597\" height=\"155\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As always, my job is to separate the wheat from the chaff. As a data-driven marketer you don\u2019t want to follow best practises. You want actual research, so that you can create your own hypotheses and find out what works for your business. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I have done the research for you. <a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/jcr\/article-abstract\/37\/3\/409\/1827647\/Can-There-Ever-Be-Too-Many-Options-A-Meta-Analytic?redirectedFrom=PDF\">Meta-analysis<\/a> by Benjamin Scheibehenne and his colleagues gave me 50 experiments to work with. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"post-content__index\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"post-content__index-title\">Contents<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"post-content__index-links\" data-ref=\"case-content-menu\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"post-content__index-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#\" data-ref=\"case-content-menu-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"post-content__index-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#inthisguideyouwillfindout\" data-ref=\"case-content-menu-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIn this guide you will find out:\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"post-content__index-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#whyischoiceharmfulforyourbottomline\" data-ref=\"case-content-menu-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhy is choice harmful for your bottom-line?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"post-content__index-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#whyischoicebeneficialforyourbottomline\" data-ref=\"case-content-menu-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhy is choice beneficial for your bottom-line?\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"post-content__index-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#tenfactorsthatdrivemitigatechoiceoverload\" data-ref=\"case-content-menu-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTen Factors that drive\/mitigate \u2018choice overload\u2019\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"post-content__index-link\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#keytakeaways\" data-ref=\"case-content-menu-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKey Takeaways\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t                        \t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"post-content__section\" id=\"inthisguideyouwillfindout\" data-ref=\"case-content-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"post-content__section-title\">In this guide you will find out:<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"post-content__section-content\"><ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#harmful-bottom-line\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why is choice harmful for your bottom-line?<\/span><\/a>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#analysis-paralysis\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Analysis paralysis.<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#buyer-remorse\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The buyer\u2019s remorse.<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#decision-fatigue\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Decision fatigue.<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#benefit-bottom-line\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why is choice beneficial for your bottom-line?<\/span><\/a>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#retail-advantage\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perception of better choice can be a competitive advantage for retailers.<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#higher-quality\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Customers associate higher variety with higher quality.<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#higher-aov\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adding decoy options can increase average order value.<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#freedom\">Choice means freedom. Restricting visitors\u2019 freedom might backfire.<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#10-factors\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">10 Factors that drive\/mitigate \u2018choice overload\u2019 (And how can we use that knowledge to mitigate the harm and reap the benefits of choice? 10+ Examples.) <\/span><\/a>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#factor1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1. Users\u2019 preferences towards (and familiarity with) the items in the choice set<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#factor2\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2. Presence of an obviously dominant option in the choice set<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#factor3\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3. Categorization and Option Arrangement<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#factor4\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4. Difficult Trade-offs<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#factor5\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5. Ease of comparison<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#factor6\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6. Information Overload<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#factor7\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">7. Time Pressure<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#factor8\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">8. Maximizing behavior<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#factor9\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">9. Choice Justification<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#factor10\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">10. Simple Decision Heuristics<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"#key-takeaways\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Key Takeaways<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(If all you want is actionable advice, skip straight to the last 2 sections).<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t                        \t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"post-content__section\" id=\"whyischoiceharmfulforyourbottomline\" data-ref=\"case-content-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"post-content__section-title\">Why is choice harmful for your bottom-line?<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"post-content__section-content\"><p id=\"analysis-paralysis\"><strong>Analysis paralysis.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Analysis paralysis<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is when a person over-thinks the decision to such an extent that he\/she does not make it. In marketing context, that means the person won\u2019t buy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ryan Engley from Unbounce <a href=\"https:\/\/unbounce.com\/conversion-rate-optimization\/psychology-of-choice-conversion-rates\/\">tested<\/a> removing the number of options for its webinar sign-up form. After reducing the choice down to 3 options he saw a 16.93% increase in conversions. Perhaps this was because people did not get caught up in thinking what day of the week would work best for them. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1102 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1500image25.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"596\" height=\"293\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"buyer-remorse\"><strong>The Buyer&#8217;s Remorse.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>The buyer\u2019s remorse<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is when a person regrets making a purchase. As the number of choices increases, it is <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/journals\/amp\/55\/1\/79\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">easier to imagine<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> a different choice that may have been better than the one selected. As a result, that kind of post-analysis decreases satisfaction with the purchase. <\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1122\" style=\"width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1122\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1122 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/business-share-investment-stockmarkets-stock_markets-stock-16515801_low.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"307\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1122\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/lowres.jantoo.com\/business-share-investment-stockmarkets-stock_markets-stock-16515801_low.jpg\">Image credit<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Iyengar <a href=\"http:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/journals\/psp\/79\/6\/995\/\">showed<\/a> this effect in their 2000 series of experiments. They found that when people had to make a choice from a limited number of options (6 vs 30), they expressed greater satisfaction with the made choice. As researchers explain one of the reasons why is because people regretted their decision less. They measured \u2018satisfaction\u2019 and \u2018regret\u2019 using questionnaires and found that the two were related (r = -.55, p &lt; .0001). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thinking more long-term, more regret could mean that the customer would not become an advocate of your brand. In the worst case scenario she might cancel or return the product.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"decision-fatigue\"><strong>Decision fatigue.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Decision fatigue<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is when we start taking shortcuts as we exhaust our mental energy. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/journals\/psp\/74\/5\/1252\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Research<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> suggests that humans have a limit on how many active, deliberate decisions they can make in a certain time period. The more we exhaust that reserve, the more likely we are to look for shortcuts.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pnas.org\/content\/108\/17\/6889\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">one<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> study researchers analyzed more than 1,100 decisions made by court judges. They found that as the day went by (and judges made more decisions), judges were becoming more likely to <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">take shortcuts<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> when deciding which prisoners to release before their official sentence was over. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Result?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prisoners who appeared at the start of the day received parole about 65% of the time. Those who appeared late in the day received parole less than 10% of the time. Put simply, as judges got tired they used the least-risky option and allowed only a small number of prisoners out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To translate it to business context, consider onboarding process of eHarmony, an online dating website. To register at eHarmony, you need to answer more than 130 questions about yourself. It\u2019s not as simple as &#8220;When you were born?&#8221;. Questions range from estimating how warm, clever, dominant you are, etc. down to how often you felt happy, depressed, etc. in the last month. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1075 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/733image26.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"601\" height=\"246\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you try to have an objective sense of reality, you will likely stress your mental muscles to estimate where you should sit on that scale. After answering 130+ such questions you\u2019ll be exhausted. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By the time you get to the final stage, you might be so tired, there will be no willpower left to figure out why you can\u2019t see anybody\u2019s profiles. The path of least resistance is to abandon the process. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1090 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/952image29.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"238\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the same time you might feel so invested into the process, decision fatigue might be in eHarmony\u2019s favour. After all, you just made an <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/blog\/definitive-guide-foot-door-technique\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">active, effortful and uncoerced commitment<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to meeting a partner online. The alternative shortcut is to pay for a membership. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Decision fatigue will cause customers to take shortcuts in your conversion funnel. The shortcuts might be in your favour, but the opposite might also be true.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t                            <div data-target=\"post-newsletter-anchor\" data-device=\"mobile\"><\/div>\n                        \t\t\t\t\t                        \t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"post-content__section\" id=\"whyischoicebeneficialforyourbottomline\" data-ref=\"case-content-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"post-content__section-title\">Why is choice beneficial for your bottom-line?<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"post-content__section-content\"><p id=\"retail-advantage\"><strong>Perception of better choice can be a competitive advantages for retailers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the <a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/jcr\/article-abstract\/37\/3\/409\/1827647\/Can-There-Ever-Be-Too-Many-Options-A-Meta-Analytic?redirectedFrom=PDF\">review<\/a> by Benjamin Scheibehenn and his colleagues, they write, \u201cretailers in the marketplace who offer more choice seem to have a competitive advantage over those who offer less\u201d. After all, that\u2019s one of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/baymard.com\/blog\/why-people-buy-online\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reasons<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> why we shop at Amazon.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"higher-quality\"><strong>Customers associate higher variety with higher quality.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/pubsonline.informs.org\/doi\/abs\/10.1287\/mksc.1060.0253?journalCode=mksc\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> done at Stanford shows that brands that offer higher variety are perceived as having higher quality by the customers. <\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"higher-aov\"><b>Adding decoy options can increase average order value.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Economist offered 3 subscription plans to its customers:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1062 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/432image12.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"432\" height=\"337\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The middle option seems redundant as it is the same price as the last option. So, from \u201cchoice overload\u201d perspective we should remove it. But what we\u2019ve missed is that the print &amp; web subscription option seems like a real bargain <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">when compared<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to the print subscription option. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s what Dan Ariely found in his experiment with 200 MIT students:<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1083\" style=\"width: 602px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1083\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1083 \" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/825image11.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"592\" height=\"260\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1083\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondcostpluspricing.com\/pricing-resources\/pricing-definitions\/decoy-price\/\">Image credit<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This extra option more than doubled the number of people who chose the more expensive option.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"freedom\"><b>Choice means freedom. Restricting visitors\u2019 freedom might backfire.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">MECLABS Institute <a href=\"http:\/\/www.marketingexperiments.com\/blog\/analytics-testing\/value-choice-decision-making.html\">tried<\/a> to reduce friction on a client\u2019s check-out page. They eliminated one of the options in the choice set. Instead of giving users an ability to choose among different subscription lengths (1 month, 6 months, annual), they only offered a monthly plan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1095 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/963image28.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mike Xiao, research manager at MECLABS Institute, explains that this is what the majority of visitors chose anyways. So, for them, elimination of this step should have only made the checkout process easier. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, instead of seeing the conversions go up, they saw a 40% decrease. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mike\u2019s explanation is similar to the Economist experiment. People preferred the monthly plan when it was presented <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in relation<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to more expensive 6-month and annual plans. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I want to offer another potential explanation to this result. Visitors might have left the funnel because they did not like that a billing method was forced onto them. Choosing how you pay is an important decision to make, especially when 30% of consumers <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.worldpay.com\/uk\/about\/media-centre\/2015-10\/is-fear-of-commitment-stopping-digital-subscribers-in-their-tracks\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">believe<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> subscriptions are bad value for money. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As I explained in my article on the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/blog\/definitive-guide-foot-door-technique\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">foot-in-the-door technique<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, when we feel that someone tries to force us to do something, we often respond in such a way that will re-assert that freedom. In that case, leave the checkout. This process is called psychological reactance and giving customers choice is an effective way to counteract it. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t                        \t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"post-content__section\" id=\"tenfactorsthatdrivemitigatechoiceoverload\" data-ref=\"case-content-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"post-content__section-title\">10 factors that drive\/mitigate \u2018choice overload\u2019<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"post-content__section-content\"><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Research by Benjamin Scheibehenn and his colleagues gives us a good idea of what factors make \u201cchoice overload\u201d less (or more) likely to happen. We can use that knowledge to design better experiences for users while reaping the benefits of offering more choice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All 10 factors are based on sound theories, and some of them have already been validated by research. You should remember though that you will only find out if it works by <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">testing it <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on your own audience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"factor1\"><b>Factor #1. Users\u2019 preferences towards (and familiarity with) the items in the choice set<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If people have strong preference for a particular product, choice won&#8217;t overwhelm them. They will simply choose their favourite option.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2003 Alexander Chernev, a professor of marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, showed that people with clear prior preferences had no problem choosing from larger assortments. The larger the number of options they could choose from, the more likely they were to actually choose something <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to be more satisfied with their choice (study <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/12872891\">1<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/24099205_When_More_Is_Less_and_Less_Is_More_The_Role_of_Ideal_Point_Availability_and_Assortment_in_Consumer_Choice\">2<\/a>). This is the complete opposite of the research we covered above. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another <a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/jcr\/article-abstract\/35\/2\/202\/1806103\/The-Mere-Categorization-Effect-How-the-Presence-of?redirectedFrom=fulltext\">study<\/a> showed that <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">only<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> those people who were unfamiliar with the product category were less likely to be satisfied with their choice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, if I visit SkateHut and know nothing about longboards, I will most certainly be overwhelmed. I don\u2019t have a preference for any brand or type of board. This makes it difficult for me to make a decision.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1079 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/775image31.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"462\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The solution would be to find out if a large proportion of visitors are <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">actually<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> novices (like me). You could do this by using surveys (see example below), examining live chat data and talking to your sales team.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1077 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/766image30.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"606\" height=\"456\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1078 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/766image34.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"603\" height=\"454\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the data shows that yes, there is a significant proportion of customers who are novices, the solution would be to educate them. If users become more familiar with different types of boards and brands, it will be easier for them to navigate through a vast array of options.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, the following SkateHut page ranks first for a keyword \u201clongboards\u201d in Google:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1085 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/850image32.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"602\" height=\"349\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead of sending novices straight to the catalog, SkateHut could offer them educational material first. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1087 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/852image33.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"589\" height=\"340\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Russia I saw ecommerce websites educating visitors with the use of quizzes. Once you are on a product catalog page, there is a quiz at the top that asks you a set of questions. Based on your answers you will be shown products that match your criteria.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1082 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/824image35.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"598\" height=\"177\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The bot asks me, \u201cWho are you choosing a self-balancing scooter for?\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I need to tell if it\u2019s for an adult or a child. As I answer these questions, it explains how I should choose my wheels, why some factors are more important than others, etc. As a result of my answers, it shortlists the whole catalog down to 9 options and I even understand why it shows me those 9 options.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the end I just need to choose the colour I like:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1063 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/441image36.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"441\" height=\"312\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"factor2\"><b>Factor #2. Presence of an obviously dominant option in the choice set<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If there is a clearly dominant option, then choice is unlikely to be complicated. Some offers are so inferior relative to one outstanding offer, people would not need to give it much thought.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At a glance, AQF wrist wraps seem way more superior than other offers in the choice set. They have over 700 reviews, most positive and price-wise it\u2019s a real bargain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1099 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1086image37.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"406\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The term \u201cdominant\u201d is open to interpretation though. In my view, it means that a user can quickly identify which option matches his use case <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> it is clear that the other options are inferior. In the example above, all the other options are inferior because they lose on both the number of reviews and price.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perhaps a better way to think about dominance is through the lenses of elimination. Can a person easily eliminate all the options apart from the one that meets her needs?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In retail review ratings and bestseller tags can act as such filters. We will cover them later.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In SaaS creating plans that match different customer segments can help. Ruben Gamez, the founder of BidSketch, does a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/blog\/ruben-gamez-pricing-jtbd-churn\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">great job<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in simplifying his plans. Users don\u2019t have to make substantial trade-offs when deciding between them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1093 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/957image39.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"601\" height=\"346\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Solopreneur? Then, Solo is for you. Several members using the software? Then, Team or Business. He makes his plans almost mutually exclusive. At its core plans only vary on the number of users.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Important note:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The 2 factors above are <\/span><b>necessary <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">pre-conditions for \u201cchoice overload\u201d to occur. Put simply, if you can ensure that visitors coming to your website have already developed strong preferences for a certain product <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and\/or <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the options are presented in such a way that each customer segment will identify one of them as dominant, you won\u2019t have problems with choice overload. In practise, this is difficult to ensure. That\u2019s why we cover 8 other factors that help us beat \u201cchoice overload\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"factor3\"><b>Factor #3. Categorization and Option Arrangement<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One <a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/jcr\/article-abstract\/35\/2\/202\/1806103\/The-Mere-Categorization-Effect-How-the-Presence-of?redirectedFrom=fulltext\">study<\/a> found that an increase in the number of options decreased satisfaction <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">only<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> if the options were not prearranged into categories. Categories make it easier to navigate the choice set and decrease the cognitive burden of making a choice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HSBC gives its customers only the names of the different credit cards. Unless a person is closely familiar with HSBC credit card offering, those are a poor guide on which credit card is best for you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1091 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/954image40.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"595\" height=\"170\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">FCA carried out research on different motivations of credit card holders. They found that generally there are 4 types of customers:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1105 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/FCA.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"596\" height=\"183\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When either one of these people comes to HSBC website, it won\u2019t be clear what card will help them to achieve their goal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In contrast to HSBC, Barclays groups its credit cards into categories that fit the motivations above.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1101 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1491image41.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"602\" height=\"205\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This both lowers the number of options that people have to choose from and ensures that people choose only from those options that are relevant to them. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarly, HostingAdvice.com categorises its web hosting providers based on use cases. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1072 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/669image42.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"599\" height=\"825\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not only that, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ordered<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> assortments can also ease up the burden of making a decision. For example, WhoIsHostingThis.com presents its <a href=\"http:\/\/www.whoishostingthis.com\/hosting-reviews\/\">web hosting providers<\/a> in a ranked order. Ranking makes it easier for the user to make a choice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1081 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/816image13.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"605\" height=\"612\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"factor4\"><b>Factor #4. Difficult Trade-offs<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The more difficult the trade-offs that we need to make between different options, the more likely it is that \u201cchoice overload\u201d will occur. Research <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/227442386_Overchoice_and_Assortment_Type_When_and_Why_Variety_Backfires\">suggests<\/a> that the trade-offs are particularly tough when options have unique features that are not directly comparable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To get our heads around it, let\u2019s consider an example.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What credit card would you choose? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Everything is the same apart from a number of differences:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1112 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/HSBC-credit-card-difference.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"588\" height=\"431\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To decide you will need to make some trade-offs. Is a generous rewards scheme more important than balance transfer and purchase rate offers? Is \u00a3195 annual fee justified by 80,000 (potential) reward points?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s assume that I am looking for rewards, so purchase rate and balance transfer offers are not important. Unfortunately, HSBC provides no guidance for me to figure out if rewards justify the annual fee.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In contrast, Barclays tells me the exact reward value that I will get based on my monthly spending level:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1086 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/852image14.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"317\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This lets me to compare the price of the card with the value that I am likely to get out of it. No burden of making mental calculations in my head. Thank you Barclays!<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"factor5\"><strong>Factor #5. Ease of comparison<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To get to the stage of making those trade-offs I needed to compare 2 cards. If the banks make it hard for me to do this, I might drop out of the funnel even before I get to \u201ctrading\u201d one feature for another.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">HSBC is a bank that certainly does not make it easy. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Continuing with the scenario where I was looking for rewards, I found 2 cards that have them:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1070 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/626image15.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"603\" height=\"836\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those cards have some common and some unique features. Even for the common features I can\u2019t easily compare them. One gives specific information on how many rewards you will get, the other one does not. One gives specific information about its annual fee, the other one does not. One has \u201cenhanced\u201d travel benefits, but it\u2019s unclear how \u201cenhanced\u201d benefits are better than standard benefits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If this was the time of the day when my mental energy had been already exhausted, I would have started looking for shortcuts. I could go to MoneySupermarket.com despite originally starting with my bank. Adi\u00f3s HSBC!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Compare this to what Royal Bank of Scotland is doing. They compare their credit cards in a clear table format:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1084 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/837image17.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"599\" height=\"511\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not only that, they provide guidance on which card would suit which customer best with their \u201cDecide if it\u2019s right for you\u201d section.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"factor6\"><b>Factor #6. Information Overload<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Information overload theory <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S000169180900119X\">points out<\/a> that it is not necessarily the number of available products that causes \u2018choice overload\u2019, but the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">number of factors<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0that you need to consider when making a choice in your head. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, in SaaS the industry\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/onstartups.com\/learn-by-example-38-saas-startup-pricing-pages-analyzed\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">standard<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is to to have between 3 and 4 packages in your pricing grid. It seems like you could have that number, highlight one of the plans as \u201cmost popular\u201d and be ok. But your conclusion will be different if you look at the issue through the lenses of information overload theory. What becomes clear is that it\u2019s not the number of plans that matters, but the amount of information that a person has to consider.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Compare the two pricing pages below. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1092 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/957image18.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"606\" height=\"471\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1104 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1796image19.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"593\" height=\"345\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While both offer 4 plans, BidSketch purposefully presents its users with only 1 factor to consider, number of users. In contrast, Surveygizmo used to give its users 15 factors. According to information overload theory, choosing a plan at Surveygizmo will be more overwhelming than choosing a plan at BidSketch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, what can we learn from that? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When I <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/blog\/ruben-gamez-pricing-jtbd-churn\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">interviewed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Ruben Gamez, founder of BidSketch, he explained to me that he purposefully omitted many of their features, to simplify the plans. He identified the \u2018value\u2019 features, i.e. the features that people considered to be most important. He did this using both data from analytics and Jobs-to-be-Done interviews. Not only that he also did \u2018sensitivity testing\u2019, i.e. removing a feature to see if it actually affects conversions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"factor7\"><b>Factor #7. <\/b><b>Time Pressure<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Graeme Haynes, psychologist at University of Western Ontario, <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/phdtree.org\/\/pdf\/25088136-investigating-the-dynamics-of-choice-overload\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">found<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> evidence for choice overload <em>only<\/em> if he constrained the decision makers\u2019 time to make a decision.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thinking of how it applies to the real world, time pressure can be due to seasonal changes (eg. Christmas) or due to time constraints you put on the customer yourself (eg. limiting an offer by a certain number of days). <\/span><\/p>\n<p>In these circumstances, you are in an even higher need to simplify the purchase decision for the customer.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As an example, let\u2019s assume I\u2019m looking for perfume for my girlfriend. It\u2019s 15th of December. As someone who hates queues, I search \u201cfemale fragrance\u201d and come to theperfumeshop.com:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1074 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/687image20.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"603\" height=\"722\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Looking at bestsellers is a not-so-bad shortcut, but obviously \u2018bestseller\u2019 does not mean my girlfriend will like the smell. Product descriptions don\u2019t help either. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1073 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/672image21.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"607\" height=\"189\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, after grilling their customer support for half an hour, here\u2019s how we made progress on what perfume to buy:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Support: Do you know of anything she has liked before?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Support: Do you have a budget in mind?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Around \u00a340<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Support: Her age? <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Early 20s<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Support: Preferences: Floral or oriental?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No idea. I would describe her current perfume as having a rich smell, but at the same time light (in a sense that you can smell it, but it&#8217;s not overwhelming)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Support: Paco Rabanne Lady Million \u201cIt is a warm scent that lingers nicely on the skin but not overpowering\u201d or Gucci Guilty \u201cfeminine fragrance that is very distinct\u201d<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not sure which one to choose, both have good reviews.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Support: Would you like to visit a local store and try them or you could get a gift card instead?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Perfect! Gift card is a risk-free option.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now imagine analyzing hundreds or thousands of such dialogues. We could reverse engineer them into a feature that would help novice customers like myself make similar progress:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1088 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/863image05.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"599\" height=\"291\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this industry visitors are likely to feel \u2018choice overload\u2019 because the products are difficult (if not impossible) to compare. After all, you need to smell them. Time pressure during Christmas <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">escalates<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that problem. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead, the feature above could simplify the choice down to answering a couple of questions. And even if the answers are not perfect, the visitor would still feel like he is making progress. At the end he might end up going to the local The Perfume Shop store or buying a gift certificate. All thanks to not being overwhelmed with choice and closing the website.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"factor8\"><b> Factor #8. Maximizing behavior<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maximisers are those who search for the best option, not just the one that is \u201cgood enough\u201d. It is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/jcr\/article-abstract\/37\/3\/409\/1827647\/Can-There-Ever-Be-Too-Many-Options-A-Meta-Analytic?redirectedFrom=fulltext\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">assumed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that maximisers would consider more factors, overcomplicate their decision-making and thus be at a higher risk of choice overload.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I believe that maximising behaviors can be identified. For example, imagine a user of Match.com, an online dating website. Instead of contacting a set of matches who have been presented first to him by default, he continues to scroll down, loading all the profiles, analyzing who he should contact first.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1096 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/991image00.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"593\" height=\"357\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We could identify users with such behavior and guide them to take action. Otherwise, they might get caught up in analysis paralysis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, we could show a pop-up box to everyone who loads more than 5 extra pages of profiles. The message will prompt them to start a conversation rather than to keep scrolling through.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1097 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/995image06.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"591\" height=\"428\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(By the way, that research is somewhat true. Read <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/psycnet.apa.org\/psycinfo\/2012-06624-003\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this paper<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"factor9\"><b> Factor #9. Choice Justification<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scheibehenne <a href=\"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/mar.20271\/abstract\">found<\/a> an effect of \u201ctoo many options\u201d when people knew that they would have to justify their choice later on. Perhaps this effect will most likely occur when a purchase involves several people. For example, you work in an industry where one person will be the user of the product, but above them is a person who approves the budget. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Or it\u2019s a purchase that will be likely discussed with peers (eg. new clothes or a new car).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That means that your role as a marketer is to help customers justify their choices. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3D printing is an industry where multiple stakeholders are often involved in the purchase decision. iMakr, a 3D printing store, not only categorises its printers by the use case\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1089 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/886image07.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"599\" height=\"308\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8230;it also compares 3D printers in each category, making it easier to justify the choice for a particular 3D printer. For example, B9 Core 530 seems to be the ultimate 3D printer in the jewellery category:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1103 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1535image08.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"597\" height=\"133\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">iMakr also gives guidance on who a particular 3D printer is right for, again helping to justify the choice:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1069 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/622image09.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"601\" height=\"141\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It all goes back to helping the user find the \u2018dominant\u2019 option.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"factor10\"><b>Factor #10. <\/b><b>Simple Decision Heuristics<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/jcr\/article-abstract\/37\/3\/409\/1827647\/Can-There-Ever-Be-Too-Many-Options-A-Meta-Analytic?redirectedFrom=fulltext\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">studies<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> have shown that users cope with excessive choice by using mental shortcuts that often guarantee \u201cgood enough\u201d decisions. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some heuristics are useful to know if you\u2019re a marketer:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the elimination-by-aspects strategy that quickly screens out unattractive options<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the choice of a default option<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>The elimination-by-aspects strategy<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Retailers give customers an ability to screen out some options from the others by providing such cues as review ratings and bestseller tags:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1100 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1417image10.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"601\" height=\"355\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Search filters play an equally important role where users can screen out all the options that don\u2019t match their criteria:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1080 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/810image01.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"597\" height=\"278\" \/><\/p>\n<p><b>The choice of a default option<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Charities use default options on their donation forms to both simplify the decision-making and increase revenue. A 2014 <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cens.uni-bonn.de\/team\/board\/armin-falk\/afhj-defaults-and-donations-v14-dp.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> found that donations closely corresponded to the default amount that was set. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the same spirit SaaS companies make certain options default. Instead of explicitly asking users how often would they prefer to pay (choose monthly or yearly), they default users to one or the other:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1094 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/conversion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/959image23.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"601\" height=\"168\" \/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t                        \t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"post-content__section\" id=\"keytakeaways\" data-ref=\"case-content-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"post-content__section-title\">Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"post-content__section-content\"><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(Think about advice below as ideas to test)<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Educate users about your products, so that they can easily navigate a large set of options and develop preferences for particular products. This could be done with the use of chatbots, targeted tutorials, etc.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Help customers to identify the dominant option in the choice set:<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This could mean making it easier for users to eliminate \u201cinferior\u201d options in the choice set (review ratings, bestseller tags and filters).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This could mean designing products for distinct segments, so that users would not need to make complicated trade-offs between products. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Categorize and order large choice sets in a meaningful way, so that users can quickly find what they are looking for.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make it easy for users to compare different products (eg. add a feature where users can compare products in a table format).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Assist users with making the trade-offs between different types of products. <\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This can be done through educating users about what\u2019s more important to \u201cget right\u201d in your product. For example, chatbot for the self-balancing scooters explained to me that wheels is the most crucial part of the decision. Incorrectly chosen wheels can result in a terrible driving experience.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This can be done through performing all the calculations <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the user if quantitative factors need to be weighed in.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Provide guidance on which product would be right for the user (think of RBS example).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Think about not only reducing the number of options in the choice set, but also the number of factors that users need to consider when making a decision.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the conditions of scarce time, users are more likely to look for shortcuts in their decision-making. Give them an opportunity to take <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">educated<\/span><\/i> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">shortcuts<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (think about The Perfume Shop Christmas feature).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Identify perfectionists who try to make the best decision possible and guide them to take action.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make certain options \u201cdefault\u201d instead of explicitly asking the user to make a choice.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t                            <div data-target=\"post-newsletter-anchor\" data-device=\"mobile\"><\/div>\n                        \t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<aside class=\"post-content__sidebar post-content__sidebar--form\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"sticky-newsletter\" data-target=\"post-newsletter-anchor\" data-device=\"desktop\">\n                \t<div class=\"post-newsletter\" data-target=\"post-newsletter\">\n    <h4 class=\"post-newsletter__title\">Real-world growth experiments. 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