Too Many Choices
A recent MarketingProfs article by Sean D’Souza, The Curse of Choice got me thinking. Especially, this line: “If your brain goes through elimination to get to a single choice, then the more things it has to eliminate, the more difficult it becomes to choose one thing.”
Since the consuming brain has to sort out purchases by saying no to choices to get to the final yes, maybe we marketers should figure out how to present fewer “no” choices before the customer gets to a yes? Sounds like gobbledygook when I put it that way. Let me see if I can come up with an example:
Let’s use the business example of a clothing retailer. What are the layers between the customer and the final product they want to buy, which is a pair of shorts? You are the customer. So, you walk into the store and your eyes can’t stop on any one thing because the place is too cluttered with product and the lighting is bad. There’s one or two “nos.” OK. You walk the floor and finally, with no help from signage, find the section with the type of shorts you are looking for. The rack is really packed so you have trouble locating your size. Another “no.” You finally locate a few different pairs and head to the fitting room to try them on. Wait, where is the fitting room? Another “no.” OK, there it is. You walk in and it is teeny – you can barely turn around to face the mirror. Yet another “no” and so on. FINALLY, you have one hand on your credit card and the other is holding the shorts of your dreams! You have endured many “nos” along the way, but you persevered and the task is done.
What if you didn’t have to wonder where the short section was in that store? One “no” avoided. What if the racks were less packed and finding just your size was a snap? Another “no” avoided. Then, you glance up and the fitting room, or a sign heading you in that direction, is right there. Missed that “no” too.
You get the picture. If a person has to go through too many “nos” to get to their choice, you’ll likely lose the sale or lose their interest altogether, and they won’t return. So, take a walk through the same process you ask your customers to walk through, off or online, and limit the number of times they may have to say “no.”
Your customers will thank you for easing their brain strain. They’ve most likely got to save it to think clearly about more important decisions than shorts.
