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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{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks michael, valuable information. i’m a bit confused. What is a link unit? I’m thinking you have the terms that can be seen, horizontal and/or vertical. And then a scroll down list when you put the cursor on one of those terms.
So is it 4 terms horizontal with no more than 4 items in the scroll bar? And the nav bar on the left, is that where you mean vertical orientation? Or is it the vertical scroll down underneath the horizontal terms? Thanks for clarifying.
A Link Unit is an AdSense text ad containing links. You can learn about them from Google.
Yes, it can refer to a list of links, or navigation on your website. If you group them in six or less, it’s easier for people to process and understand.
In the case of my cellular sites, I literally had four buttons on the home page. They followed one and drilled down from there.
If you need a lot of navigation, think of having no more than 6 tabs across, with no more than six items in each. Then if you need more links, you could put them at the bottom of the page, or show a fresh set when people drill down into any category.
Hi Michael,
Does less choice apply to adsense – 1 ad on a page instead of 3 ?
Google was referring to their Ad Units not the display ads. I’ve tested hundreds of layouts and the best ones are in the Ultimate Heatmap report. Most of the highest paying ones have three ads on them.
You can download version 1.0 of the report for free at the Ultimate Heatmap website, along with an interview with Ken McCarthy. Version 2.0 of the report was supposed to be ready a couple of weeks back, but fresh data came in from some new templates and I wanted to include them. I will be putting version 2.0 of the Heatmap Report, inside the Dynamic Media Vault within a week.
That’s totally true. I do the same for my kids. I just give them the choice between two things to eat, or two things to do, no more than that, otherwise they’ll take too long to decide themselves.
This is the case for most adults too. A good take to improve our websites conversion.
Google know this. Everything they do is pretty simple and straightforward.
Franck
You got it Franck. Most adults get overwhelmed too, because there are hundreds of ways to make a living online. Too much choice. They get caught in a never ending cycle of learning with out ever taking action.
Instead of saying to themselves, I could do this, and this, or this. and this… they should just pick one thing, or one method, and get dang good at it.
There’s no substitute for taking action, getting results, which leads to self belief, which leads to potential, then more action. Round and round it goes. But you don’t get that momentum without taking action.
You don’t see very much written up about this subject at all, but I, firsthand, experienced this many times.
Sometimes I will set out to shop for something. When I get in the store and I see the multitude of sales and the many, many varieties of something I want to buy, I end up walking out of the store with nothing.
I have done this a lot in the grocery store where there are ten choices of peach preservers, or whatever it may be.
The same with websites – I search out something. Something simple. Then, when I get to a website, I get so weary and worn out reading about all the bonuses and choices of things to do, I just end up shutting down the page and moving on.
So, Michael, I think you are right on!
Hi Diane, thanks for stopping by to comment. Yes, I don’t make this stuff up.
The research and test results are clear. Too much choice leads to overwhelm and less satisfaction with the purchase decision.
A good example is toothpaste. The two major brands keep coming out with more types and buying more shelf space to display it. Neither has gained any market share by doing it.
Research has shown, that all it does is confuse the consumer. When the consumer finally does switch, it’s not to the main competitor. They are more likely to switch to a new brand, offering fewer choices.
Michael: Very interesting and informative post. I’m wondering, if it’s not good to give prospects too many options, can we also give them too many “reasons why” they should purchase our product or service?
For example, at your Dynamic Media site you list “21 techniques to generate more traffic and close more sales in good times and bad.” I’m wondering if there is a danger in information overload by giving the prospect too many techniques. Have you tested this copy against, say . . . “8 Techniques To Generate More Traffic & Close More Sales”?
I love your stuff, Michael. I purchased your Goobert report a few years ago and found it very educational. By the way, has that product been updated? I’m wondering if the content from three years ago is still relevant today given all the Google updates, including the recent Panda update.
Thanks for the post. I always open your emails because I always learn something from you content. This business needs more people like you.
Best Regards,
Jon Poland
Hi Jon, thank you so much for the kind words. They are greatly appreciated. Glad to hear you like Goobert and the Internet Marketing Secrets.
Yes, I did test a shorter list of benefits against a larger one. The larger one won by a big margin. Selling info products is a little bit different. You never know which benefit will resonate with the reader and inspire the purchase. So usually more is better in an info product salesletter. But always test to be sure.
Goobert was updated a couple of years ago. If you have version 2.0, that’s the latest. (Any one looking for Goobert can find it inside the Vault over at DynamicMedia.com)
It doesn’t matter how Google changes its algo, because Goobert doesn’t rely on SEO at all. It’s conversational marketing and word of mouth, boosted using the power and reach, of the social media networks. Panda has no effect on the Goobert strategy and no search engine ever will.
Goobert was designed as an evergreen marketing strategy. So long as people keep talking to each other, it will keep working.
Timely topic, Michael
Some greater depth for anyone interested in the implications of excessive choice in the book by Barry Schwartz entitled: The Paradox of Choice – Why More is Less.
Hi Peter, thanks for contributing to the blog. Yes, I first learned about Barry Schwartz’s Paradox of Choice in an interview with Jared Spool back in 2006.
I think he was one of the first to talk about curating content. I love this quote from the interview, “now the task is filtering the information for people. People are completely overloaded with information, and the prod, the brass ring is going to go to whoever figures out the best way to provide filters.”
There’s some good advice in there for a business model. Be the filter for your tribe and they will follow.