I was working on scheduling a late summer mini-vacation so I carved out an afternoon for the planning. There were so many factors to consider (where? when? how long?) on top of juggling all of us coming from different parts of the U.S. The options were staggering and required so much screen time I was just about ready to give up. When did the world at our fingertips become a negative?
I got to thinking about the astronomical number of options Americans have in every aspect of life. I’ll never forget the pivotal scene in the now 40-year-old Robin Williams film, Moscow on the Hudson, when Williams, a Russian defector, faints in an American supermarket because there are too many coffee brands to choose among. In 1984, movie-goers thought that was funny; in 2024, we can all relate.
A few decades ago, the idea that there could ever be too much choice was absurd. That thinking is counter to the American narrative that more is always better. More options offer a better shot at finding exactly what we think we want. That convention doesn’t hold up. Research repeatedly shows when people experience choice overload there are a wide range of negative outcomes – from frustration and confusion to regret, dissatisfaction, and choice paralysis. I felt all of those emotions trying to schedule a stress free vacay. I know you can all identify.
................................ The paradox of choice is a real concern with so many options easily available to us. When the number of choices increase so does the difficulty knowing what is best. Instead of increasing our freedom to have what we want, the paradox of choice suggests that having too many choices actually limits our freedom.
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The paradox of choice is a concept that was introduced by psychologist Barry Schwartz 20 years ago. He suggested that the more options we have the less satisfied we feel with our decision. This phenomenon occurs because having too many choices requires more cognitive effort, leading to decision fatigue and increased regret over our choices. Americans love choice; we equate it with freedom; a belief that greater choice means greater freedom. Businesses often follow this ideology, believing that more choices leads to greater customer utility. But too much choice can be bad for business. When consumers are presented with too many options, like Williams in the coffee aisle, it can be difficult to make a decision which can lead to disengaging from the choice process. The more choices the more mental energy expended. The presence of choice, in theory, is appealing, but, in reality, people might find more choice to be debilitating. Choosing is hard.
There are, of course, strategies to stave off choice paralysis. Keep it simple. Customers can only remember about three chunks of information in short-term memory. Research suggests that the ideal number of choices is between eight and 15, but others say that no more than two or three options should be presented at once. So the next time a buyer walks into your showroom or a customer comes to your store and asks to see what’s new it’s your job to curate those selections so they remember what you show them and don’t swoon or tune out by the abundance of overwhelming options.