Can Offering Too Much Choice Ever Be Bad For Business?

Every entrepreneur and new business owner has one key objective in mind — to make their enterprise successful. There are many factors that go into influencing this outcome, including the product or service, dedication and commitment, and even the economic conditions.

There’s another element that many businesses feel is essential —  offering their customers as wide a choice as possible. The logic is simple; the more options that people have, the greater the appeal will be. However, this approach is not as straightforward as it may first appear.

For online businesses, offering a plethora of choice will often be a very successful strategy. One example of this is casino provider https://games.paddypower.com/c/slots. On this site, one of the most popular game styles is slots, and this is likely down to the wide choice on offer. When customers know they can access a wide variety of content on one site, they are likely to stick around.

There are games that appeal to virtually every kind of player, whether they’re interested in titles that are themed around Ancient Egypt or that involve chasing the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. There are also a wide number of different variations on these games that, for example, need a lower stake to win smaller prizes or a bigger one to go for substantial jackpots. Add in generous welcome offers to encourage new players and it’s easy to see that this is an example where choice is good.

In other sectors, this may not always be the case. Several studies on consumer behavior have been carried out in recent years, including one by psychologist and professor of social theory, Barry Schwartz. In a TED Talk that has been viewed over 16 million times, Schwartz explains the conclusion that his research has delivered. The bottom line of this is that when we have so much choice, especially when there is little difference between options, a sort of paralysis can occur. Then, when we have finally chosen, there can be a considerable feeling of unease that we may not have made the best choice after all.

The Slovenian philosopher and theorist Renata Salecl further backs up this theory in her book titled The Tyranny of Choice. She points out that having too much choice can provoke several emotions, including fear of failure, guilt for not being more decisive and, ultimately, regret over the choice we eventually make.

For an online business, how the different options are presented can help to offset too much choice, both by offering logical filters and combining these with the steps suggested in https://www.tycoonstory.com/technology/digital-management-trends/.

However, it’s certainly one element of any business offering that needs to be considered carefully if you don’t want to ultimately put off customers from dealing with you. It’s simply a question of getting that balance right and offering enough options to answer their every need, but without overwhelming them in the process.