How to Help Your Customers Get Over Analysis Paralysis
Sometimes too much of a good thing can make even the simplest decisions difficult.
A friend of mine shared a story the other day.
She and her husband had one of those kitchen multi-timers. It was simple, reliable, easy to use and worked like a charm for years – until one day it didn’t. No big deal, they thought. Timers can’t have changed that much. We’ll just go on Amazon and see if we can get the same one.
Well, did you know that there are 10,475 kitchen timers on Amazon? They count up, they count down. They’re in every color under the sun. They’re digital. They’re manual. Some serve double duty as stopwatches and clocks. Others have alarms that can be heard from other rooms in the house. Some have voice options. Others could be programmed a day in advance. Some resembled paperweights, while others look like cats, ladybugs, tomatoes and necklaces that could be worn wherever you go. They found so many – even a few that simultaneously could time 8 dishes at a time, which admittedly sounded interesting, until they realized they never cook 8 dishes at a time.
A simple task – replacing a simple kitchen timer absorbed almost 2-weeks’ worth of what should have been their downtime. There were so many to choose from. Which one was best? Are we making the right choice? Did we need the one with a clock? I don’t think we need the one with the eraser-board, do you? The upshot was that they ended up shopping locally and getting a simple updated model of their old one and their standing joke has become how 2 intelligent people could overthink a simple task and become the only ones on the planet to take 2 weeks to buy a kitchen timer.
Let me tell you something. They’re not alone. Both as business people and as consumers we do the same thing. It’s called analysis paralysis and we all suffer from it. But one thing we sometimes forget, is that our customers do too. Things are easy when there are just a few to choose from but when confronted with infinite possibilities our brains get befuddled. We’re overwhelmed by choices. We over-think, over-analyze and become paralyzed. We do nothing.
How many times have you seen customers walk out empty-handed because there were so many similar products they simply couldn’t make up their minds and had to ‘think’ about it? Too much of anything – even when the ‘anything’ is good, boggles the mind, makes simple choices confusing, and obfuscates the true need. Which would look better? Which would hold up best? Which would match the rest of the décor (or whatever it is you’re buying). Is it worth going to see if so and so has it at a better price? Why are we so afraid of making the wrong choice? So what if we do? We could return just about anything these days.
So how can we help simplify the selection process for them? It’s easy.
- Establish their needs
- Establish their wants (nice-to-haves but not necessary)
- Is there a discrepancy between the two?
- Establish their budget
- Simplify the selection process. Remove the items that don’t fit the bill off the shelf or segregate them to a different area. People get confused when they see too many things. Narrowing down the choices clearly defines their options.
- Assure them they’re making the best decision for their purposes.
Consumer research shows that people tend to buy when their options are limited. Although it’s tempting to explore all the possibilities, when you get right down to it, satisfying basic needs leads to a quicker sale and a more satisfied customer.
What else can you think of to make your customers’ choices easier?