Limit the Options, Limit the Tears

Kathy stood in the cereal aisle at the grocery store and cried. She was staring at way too many choices. She had lived on a small remote island for the past decade where options were limited to a few choices of this, a couple of that. Made things easy. Now back in Atlanta, she was overwhelmed by the rows and rows of cereal boxes, and the challenge of making the right choice.

There’s something to be said about keeping choices simple for customers, as Henry Ford did, who said, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants, so long as it is black." 

Insty-Prints, one of my first jobs, understood this. Insty-Prints was a quick-print shop that featured the $9.95 Business Card Special: 500 business cards on white or cream linen stock and three ink colors—black, black, or black. A customer could order them by noon on Thursday and pick them up the following Monday. We sold scores of business cards each week because the process was easy and choices were few.

“Can your department or company make the process of decision-making any easier for customers? Look for areas where customers (internal, external...anyone to whom you provide services) get bogged down by too many options.”

Retailers also understand giving the customer choices that are simple to make. Merchandise is offered in Small, Medium, or Large sizes while providing quality that is Good, Better, or Best.

Can your department or company make the process of decision-making any easier for customers? Look for areas where customers (internal, external...anyone to whom you provide services) get bogged down by too many options. Study the data. Chances are, 80% of the people are choosing 20% of what you have to offer. Get rid of unnecessary options with the goal of narrowing them down to a fraction of what is currently available. 

Customization can be a great value-add; however, it can also complicate things, and most people don’t need (or want) all those choices anyway. Your customers, employees, and bottom line will thank you. And, you will make fewer people cry.