Why You Should NOT Give Customers Too Much Choice...

By Anna Johnson

For years direct marketers have said that giving prospects too many choices PREVENTS them from buying. That it actually DECREASES sales.

Well, now this claim is backed up by science.

A team at Swarthmore College conducted a study where they offered, firstly, 24 different varieties of jam to a group of prospects, and then only 6 varieties.

When only 6 varieties were offered, sales increased by 10 times (that's 10,000%!)

Two reasons were cited as to why people don't buy when there's too much choice:

1. Fear of greater loss - the greater the choices, the greater the number of choices that a buyer must reject; and

2. The average person can't mentally handle too many choices. It's like asking someone to remember 20 things. The average person can only remember around 5-9 items at any one time.

Now increasing choice DOES increase sales... but only to a point. Once you start offering "too many" choices, sales decrease.

What's an optimal number of choices? That'll depend on the category. So I can't tell you what's too many for YOUR business. This is something you'll have to test.

However, here's a tip: if you have to "work" at explaining or remembering all the variations yourself... or if you tell a friend all your options and they ask you to repeat yourself... that's probably too much choice!