The paradox of choice: Why fewer options = MORE sales!

Simple marketing works.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say that keeping everything in business simple works.

For example, why did Google beat Yahoo in the early days of search engines?

And why is Google still the number one search engine in the world?

Yes, Google does provide more accurate search results – and that’s probably the biggest reason why it’s the number one search engine.

But another reason it became so popular, especially in the early days, was its simplicity.

If you look at Yahoo’s homepage, it bombards you with so many different options (entertainment, email, news, etc).

What about Google?

They have one main option on their homepage: the search box.

Simple marketing works.

Another great example is Apple. Apple keeps its products, features and marketing simple too.

People like simple. People understand simple. People buy things that are simple.

But is there actually any real data to back this up?

Yes!

Keep reading to find out.

By the way… If you’d like to learn how to get 10, 15, 30 or more sales appointments each month then watch my free online Masterclass training by clicking here.

In this training, I’ll show you how to focus on the 20% of the work that actually generates 80% of the results in your business.

Ok with that out of the way… Let’s get started!

Simplify your products and services

I recently watched a documentary on Vsauce called “Freedom of choice”.

(I highly recommend you check it out if you haven’t already.)

In this video, they conducted a study to see how keeping things simple affects sales in a business.

Here are two interesting observations from this experiment:

Observation #1: More choice = Less sales

The study by Vsauce found that if you offer people multiple options (or lots of packages to choose from), people will be less likely to make a buying decision.

How did they research this?

A study compared two different store displays. One with 6 varieties of Jam and the other with 24.

Although fewer consumers stopped to look at jam at the display with limited choices, a full 30% of them made a purchase. 

By contrast, only 3% of the consumers who stopped at the display with more options actually bought a jam.

This is called “Choice Paralysis,” and there have been many similar studies with the same results.

What does this mean for your business?

Offer your potential customers fewer options.

If you offer packages, focus on only a few.

No more than 2-3 is best.

The less the better.

When you’re on a sales call, it’s also a good idea to present only one or two main options.

Observation #2: People are happier when you make the choice for them

The second experiment conducted by Vsauce found that people are happier when you make the choice for them.

What does this mean?

Your potential customers want to be guided and told what to do. This is why many websites with multiple packages always have a “recommended” package. Even restaurants do this on menus.

Without a “recommended” option, the customer doesn’t know if he is making the right choice and might later regret it.

How did they research this?

Volunteers were invited to a game show. Half of these people were given a choice between herbal tea, to help them relax, or black tea, to give them energy. The rest of the volunteers were given no choice, and the game show selected what tea they would have.

At the end of the game show, they were asked, ‘how well do you think you performed?’

The people that had a choice all said they think they performed badly because they should have chosen the other tea (this was regardless of how well they performed or not).

For example, people who choose black tea said they should have selected herbal tea to make them relax. The people who chose herbal tea later regretted their decision and said they should have chosen black tea to give them more energy. In contrast, the people that were not given a choice over what tea to consume were all happy with their performance.

Why is this?

Sometimes the pressure to make a decision can cause you to dwell on the options you didn’t choose, hindering your performance.

What does this mean for your business?

Instead of giving lots of options to your potential customers and letting them choose one for themselves, limit the number of options and then recommend a decision they should make.

Does choosing what your customers sign up for increasing sales?

In my personal experience, I’ve definitely found this to be true.

A few years ago, we used to offer new clients the option of choosing lead generation on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and/or Instagram.

We would tell them the pros and cons for each social media channel and let them make the decision.

The problem with that is that clients don’t always know the right social media channel for them.

Now, whenever we win a new client, we choose the best lead generation channels for them.

Fewer decisions = happier clients

By limiting the number of choices customers have and by making the choice for them (or at least strongly recommending what they should do next), we’ve seen a substantial increase in sales and much happier clients.

Do you let clients decide what they need themselves, or do you guide and push them in the right direction?

The latter will definitely help increase your sales and customer happiness.

On top of that, recommending what the best choice for your clients is will help position you as a leader and expert in your industry.

Simplify your marketing

Now that you’ve simplified your products and services and how you offer them, the next step to increase your sales appointments is to simplify your marketing.

How can you simplify your marketing?

Whenever you create content, reach out to potential clients on social media, or send out follow up emails to leads, ask yourself one simple question:

“Is this easy to understand?”

Less is more. So remove anything that isn’t absolutely necessary for them to know.

This is especially true when creating YouTube videos to generate leads.

If your video is too long, people will lose interest and stop watching.

Don’t overcomplicate keeping it simple

Simplifying your business isn’t something that will happen overnight – so don’t get stressed out or overcomplicate things on your journey to keep your digital marketing simple.

I haven’t perfected everything we do, and I’m sure there are many areas of my business that I could still simplify further.

But that’s okay!

Why?

Because I know we have made huge progress and we are improving all the time.

So don’t aim for perfection immediately or let a lack of perfection hold you back.

Start by taking action and do what you realistically can to simplify your business today.

How to learn more

If you’d like to learn how to generate 10, 15, 30 or more high quality sales appointments with your ideal clients each month using ONE ridiculously simple strategy, then click here to watch the free video I’ve recorded.