I was struck by a recent article titled Cut the number of choices you make each day. Your brain will thank you. It describes how reducing everyday decisions is good for our mental health and freeing up precious time.
This directly relates to my eCommerce clients that feature hundreds if not thousands of products. They would be better off narrowing down their catalogs to a small decision set per category, and if their categories number more than about a half dozen, setup category hierarchy.
The author of The Paradox Of Choice states “research shows that having more options can make people anxious, indecisive and, paradoxically, less happy with what they pick”.
Some practical examples were provided:
- Medicare Part D prescription drug plans: People in states with more choices were less likely to choose any of them.
- 401(k) investments: The more options a company had, the less likely employees were to sign up.
- Shoppers at a gourmet grocery store bought more jars of artisanal jam when they were presented with six flavors rather than with a wider array of 24.
- Students were more likely to complete an extra-credit assignment when they were given six topics to choose from instead of 30.
This is an interesting phenonima. The article explains “Problem-solving requires more energy than relying on memory… the mind first searches for what’s worked before.” It recommends “focusing on the purpose of the purchase”.
