Chip Heath & Dan Heath in their new book SWITCH (I’ve also read their book MADE TO STICK) talk about decision paralysis. They write: “More options, even good ones, can freeze us.”
This is exactly what can happen to a first-time visitor to your website if you give the person too many choices on the home page or make the navigation too confusing with tons of links.
Here’s a real example of decision paralysis described in the book:
A gourmet food store. The store managers have set up a table where customers can sample imported jams for free. One day, the table showcases 6 different jams. Another day, 24 jams. As you’d expect, the 24-jam display attracts more customers to stop by for a sample — but when it comes time to buy, they can’t make a decision. Shoppers who saw only 6 jams on display are 10 times more likely to buy a jar of jam!
This is a good concept to keep in mind when considering whether to offer your website visitors lots of bells and whistles on the home page of your website. It’s better to provide fewer options at first and then lead visitors to other pages that may interest them.
And this concept also works in other situations. My business partner Yael K. Miller has just created a new tab (labeled Inner Circle) on our company’s power marketing Facebook page that aims to be less confusing for new visitors than if they first see the page’s wall.
We learned how to do this technique from the Crowd Conversion video course of Robert Grant. Check out our new Facebook page tab now and let us know what you think.
(c) 2010 Miller Mosaic, LLC
Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the social media marketing company Miller Mosaic Power Marketing.
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
I’ve always known this. I call it “option paralysis”. It applies to everything.