In most situations, we don’t help our customers by offering them more choices than they need. We make deciding more difficult.
When attention is the most important thing a potential client or customer can give us, we don’t want to make it hard for them to act. Imagine if I give you several choices versus one. Several choices cause you to pause – while one choice forces you to act. It is binary – you click, or you don’t. Simple wins.
A shoe manufacturer had a revolutionary technology that gave customers remarkable comfort even if you had to stand on your feet for twelve hours. But they couldn’t sell their shoes online because they asked customers to make so many choices (besides size), that few clicked.
When they rethought their approach, they created their shoe in one color, with one shipping option and all you needed to decide your size. Sales exploded.
Their secret wasn’t that they were too worried about choice; they recognized that their mission was to take away the friction and to give customers an easy button.
Simple Wins
- Simplicity wins whether you are selling a product or service. Complexity becomes an excuse not to act.
- Simplicity wins when you finally have a buyer’s attention, and all she must do is click YES.
- Simplicity wins when you provide not ten but just three options – a good, better and best.
- Simplicity wins when you allow customers to act without forcing them to jump through several hoops.
- Simplicity wins when a busy client can pick from a simple menu of options.
The Shoe on the other foot
Think about your purchasing behavior. How do you respond to one thousand choices in a wine shop versus a curation of three great options? When you go to a restaurant, and they offer thirty-two sandwiches, how easy is it for you to choose?
If you are buying carpet, does another eighty seven colors help you decide?
Henry Ford learned almost one-hundred years ago how to drive simplicity through his business model. Simple wins every time. You can have any color car, as long as it is black.
How can you make life easier for the people you want to buy from you?
If you aren’t converting enough leads into wins, maybe your product offering is too complex. Untie the knots in those shoes, and text or call me at 919 720 0995 or email me at jeffslater@themarketingsage.com
I can help you grow your business.
Photo: dayne-topkin-67323 https://unsplash.com/search/shoes?photo=OT1D53cUbnI
