Did you know that limited choice and features leads to happier customers?
Think about three match sticks for a second. Now close your eyes, and imagine three of them in a row. It’s pretty easy, but most people can’t image more than five.
Go ahead and try it. Imagine a row of six match sticks in your mind’s eye. Not two groups of three, but six in a row. Most people can’t.
We have trouble seeing large groups of items. We have trouble deciding.
That’s why waiters never give a kid a menu. They give the adults a menu and ask the kid if they want the hamburger or hotdog.
The number one reason that consumer goods get returned, is because they have too many features. They are too hard to use. Most people want and use only a fraction of what the device is capable of doing.
The same conclusion was reached in a famous Stanford University study, where they sold jam to the public. (The stuff people spread on toast.)
When 20 flavors of jam were sold, people had a hard time deciding what to buy. They bought less, and were unhappy with their purchase decision.
When only six flavors of jam were available, people decided easily. They bought a lot more and were happy with their purchase decision.
(The notable exception to the “too many choices” dilemma is ice cream. When it comes to frozen treats, more variety is always better.)
Based on this research, I ran extensive tests for over two years on my cellular sites. After collecting and analyzing the data, I finally decided on four items, or buttons, on the home page… phones, accessories, customer service and about us.
Even Google recently announced fresh test data, that confirms all our findings,
“We’ve actually found that link units with four terms almost always perform better than five. As a result, we’re reducing the number of topics in all link units to four for horizontal orientations and three for vertical orientations.”
Limit the amount of choices on each webpage, or group the items into batches of six or less. Four or less if you can do it. All the data, including my research and Google, say you’ll make more sales and have happier customers because of it.
Wishing you all the best for success,
Michael
P.S.
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