Paralyzed by too many choices

June 10, 2010  |  by Cindy Maude

INTRODUCTION
Because women make 80% of all purchasing decisions, Callahan Creek has been monitoring the wants and needs of women since 2001. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the need for options was important to women. But, today women (and men, too) are beginning to say "enough is enough." The number of products on shelves, the number of options we have in our daily lives – from where we eat to what we buy – is beginning to paralyze us. Shoppers are walking out of stores or leaving websites – frustrated, unsatisfied and without buying anything. This has big implications for retailers and marketers.

A HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE
In the 1990s, the marketing buzz was all about women feeling underserved and desiring more – more products specifically made for them and more media choices targeting their interests. Wow, did marketers and media respond! The result, however, was that women started to become overwhelmed by too many choices, and they were unsatisfied with what those choices were. And while shopping had been an escape and a pleasurable experience for women, it was now adding more stress to their lives.

In 2007, Callahan Creek commissioned an update to our research study about women. We looked at how the trends had changed between 2000 and 2007 and found that shopping anxiety was continuing to increase. Sixty-five percent of all women indicated that they were not keeping their overall stress at a manageable level, working women and men found shopping to be a hassle, and 63% of women indicated that they later regretted the product and service selections they’d made.

Women also indicated that they wanted to be able to see through exaggeration and hype. Distrust for marketers’ messages was (and continues to be) on the rise.

LESS IS MORE
We all believe that freedom is important to our well-being. But as Barry Schwartz states in his book The Paradox of Choice, "Increased choice among goods and services may contribute little or nothing to the kind of freedom that matters. Indeed, it may impair freedom by taking time and energy we’d be better off devoting to other matters."¹ 

How many of us have stood in front of a shelf in the grocery store totally confounded by what to purchase? Orange juice with pulp or without? Fortified with calcium and vitamin D or not? Organic or natural? Sugar or no sugar? Low acid, fresh squeezed, original or original with calcium and vitamin D? After a couple of minutes we just grab something because we’re frustrated that we don’t have the time or patience to figure out which product best fits our needs. It gives us a headache, and we just want to get out of the store.

This happens to all of us, and the effects are surprising, often resulting in decision paralysis. Consider this study, which was referenced in both The Paradox of Choice and in Chip and Dan Heath’s book, Switch.

Conducted in a gourmet food store, the study had research assistants dressed as store employees and set up a table where customers could sample imported jams for free. One day, the table showcased six different jams. Another day, 24 jams. As you’d expect, the 24-jam display attracted more customers to stop by for a sample, but when it came time to buy, they couldn’t make a decision. Shoppers who saw only six jams on display were 10 times more likely to buy a jar of jam!²

Shoppers who only saw six jams on display were 10 times more likely to buy a jar of jam!

This study and many others demonstrate that it takes a lot of effort to make a decision. Even simple decisions, like which toothpaste to choose, or whether or not we want to buy a jar of jam, become taxing when we have too many choices to consider. So, we decide not to decide. Or we choose in such a frustrated manner that we don’t enjoy the experience and are ultimately unhappy with our choices. According to Schwartz, "When experiencing dissatisfaction or hassle on a shopping trip, consumers are likely to blame it on something else – surly salespeople, traffic jams, high prices, items out of stock – anything but the overwhelming array of options."³ 

FROM JAM TO SOMETHING A LOT MORE PERSONAL
Last weekend I went shopping for a bra. Not to get into the personal aspects of this, but it’s not really an experience I enjoy. It’s kind of like having a tooth filled. As a matter of fact, I avoid it, probably only doing it every three years or so. Like every person I know, I am time-starved. So why did I drive 40 minutes to go to a particular store and then wait 35 minutes for my turn for a dressing room? Because this store specializes in bras and proper fitting. It was a small specialty store, packed with women on a Sunday afternoon. First they fit you, and then bring in no more than two bras at a time to try. Everyone I observed bought at least one bra. I bought three. After I left, I stopped in a nearby department store (two blocks away) and decided to check out the lingerie department. Not a person was there – not one. Rows and rows of every imaginable kind of bra and not a shopper in sight. What a contrast to the small specialty store with an expertise in fitting the customer properly and only offering a couple of choices at a time. 

IMPLICATIONS
Whether you’re a specialty retailer or a marketing professional, you can take advantage of all this as well as my personal experience by providing simplicity in your messaging to consumers and an enjoyable and productive experience for your shoppers.

1. Build trust. When faced with too many choices that leave them paralyzed, consumers and shoppers will turn to the brands and retailers they trust. Be transparent, frank and accurate. Consumers and shoppers see through the hype and exaggeration, and they’ll reject your brand if you’re not authentic. Know your customers. Women, especially, want to connect with and support companies that know what’s in their hearts and minds.


2. Provide information and expertise. Information is becoming a strong brand benefit for products and services. Provide clear and easy-to-understand labeling, with easy-to-read freshness dating and nutritional information. Train your associates to educate your shoppers and provide them clear reasons to purchase.


3. Simplify your message and your store. When consumers read your ad, do they clearly understand the one thing you want them to do? Or are you trying to include every feature and benefit about your product or service that you can possibly think of? When shoppers walk into your store, are they overwhelmed with where to start? Or is the path to purchase clear, with signage that makes it easy for them to find what they’re looking for? Provide crystal clear communication and direction.


4. Facilitate the sharing of successful solutions. Online and in your store, provide a forum for shoppers (especially women) to share solutions with one another. If you provide solutions, it will make choosing the right thing easier for them and will decrease the level of regret they have about their purchase.


5. Make one change. Start with making one change that would better serve your consumer and shopper, stick with it, and do it really well. Taking on too much at one time puts you in the situation of having to make too many decisions, gives you too many choices, and will paralyze you from action, too.

By the way, the bras fit great and I’ve told at least 10 friends about the store. I wonder how the department store’s sales are looking?

1. Schwartz, Barry: The Paradox of Choice, 2004
2. Excerpted from a study performed by Iyengar, S.S. & Lepper, M.R. (2000) "When Choice is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?" Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 79, 999-1006.
3. Schwartz, op. cit.