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Customers are the lifeblood of any business. And the best way to convert leads into customers and retain them is by offering fewer choices.
Why? Fewer options give customers an easy time to make a purchasing decision. For example, if business A offers 10 varied options while B offers only five options, which one would you buy from? That’s called the psychology of choice.
Businesses that learn to use the psychology of choice have higher chances of attaining their goals. Fortunately, this guide will explain how businesses can influence customers’ decisions through the psychology of choice.
Understanding the Psychology of Choice
The psychology of choice is a concept of studying consumers’ responses to varied options. It was coined in 2000 by two psychologists, Sheena Lyengar and Mark Lepper.
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In their taste test experiment, Sheena and Mark used 24 jam brands with a $1 coupon and six varieties without a coupon. The results indicated that shoppers presented with six jam varieties were more likely to make a purchase.
Many varied options complicate the decision-making process. As a result, customers end up not making a consumption decision. So, the real deal is offering fewer options. For example, in gambling, online casino comparison sites only list the country’s best online casinos, be that in Canada, the US, or anywhere else. This way, gambling enthusiasts have fewer options and can decide what platform to join the quickest.
How Businesses Can Leverage the Psychology of Choice to Their Advantage
The psychology of choice is your ultimate weapon to convert leads and retain customers. Here’s how to make the best out of the psychology of choice:
1. Remove Unnecessary Choices from Your Listing
Make a list of all your service or product line offerings and decide which one you can eliminate. Removing unnecessary offerings helps you streamline your choices. This gives customers a seamless user experience, increasing their chances of purchasing from your business.
For example, if you have 10 ways customers can contact you, you can eliminate five options. Remaining with fewer and better options makes it easier for customers to reach out to your business, boosting its credibility and reputation.
2. Narrow Your Choices to Five at a Time
Having fewer options available to customers, preferably five at a time, is ideal. From a psychologist’s perspective, the human brain can efficiently handle up to five choices. Any more than that results in choice overload. Choice overload may shut down a customer’s brain, preventing them from making a choice.
3. Provide a Default Option
What is better than seeing your customers make the right purchase decision? Suggesting choices that best resonate with your customers’ tastes and preferences gives them purchasing confidence. They feel they are buying the optimal and standard variety of your choices
You can spice things up by personalizing the choices. This way, customers feel part of your business, and rest assured you understand their unique needs.
4. Offer Three Pricing Models
Providing three pricing options is a better way of building a future-oriented company. Three models give customers an element of instant comparison. They don’t need to compare your products or services with your competitors’. Instead, they make purchasing judgments based on the pricing models you offer. This increases the likelihood of the customers buying from your store.
5. Remember that Less is More
Making choices simpler for your clients is the quickest way to boost your conversation rates. Remember, customers are likely to buy from a store with fewer options. So, make your brand more authoritative and valuable by offering easier choices.
6. Make One Offer in Email Marketing Campaigns
Would you read and decide what to buy from an email with multiple options? The power of presenting one offer in emails is unbeatable. It gives the target audience one choice, increasing their odds of buying the product or service.
7. Research the Best Times to Send Correspondence
At what time is your target audience active? Knowing when to send correspondence increases the odds of customers interacting with your emails. Marketing experts recommend sending promotional messages very early in the morning.
Customers will likely check their emails immediately after waking up or during breaks. At this time, customers may read your emails and make decisions before the end of the day.
8. Make Your Website Simple
Customers will likely buy from your business again if their first experience is intuitive. To attain this, make your website user-friendly. Write down a goal for every page and only include essential information. Customers can find important content about a particular product on its dedicated page.
9. List Social Comparisons of the Product
Another way to help customers narrow their choices is by providing social comparisons. Naturally, we all want to know what others have previously bought and their experiences. We can make informed purchasing decisions by knowing what other customers like or buy.
Amazon, for example, leverages social comparisons to help customers filter through the many choices. It shows related products customers like or buy to help other users narrow their options.
Grow Your Business with the Psychology of Choice
When options are many, customers develop the fear of making the wrong decision. So, many end up not choosing an option from the long list, ultimately hurting a business. Luckily, businesses can leverage the psychology of choice to influence customers’ purchasing decisions. This is possible by offering customers fewer, simple, personalized options to help them make firm decisions.
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