More Or Less, This Is The Question

Is it better to give your customers more or less choice?

In previous posts I have mentioned that it is far more profitable to find new products for existing customers, than it is to find new customers for existing products. If you follow this line, you will obviously end up with extensive numbers of products. The challenge here is to make sure that you don't offer your customers all of these products at once through any of your marketing and advertising strategies.

It seems many business owners feel that it is better to offer their customers, or potential customers many choices, in an attempt to get them across the line and make a sale. The truth of the matter is, the more choices you offer the less sales you will make. People are funny animals, when presented with multiple choices, the predominant choice tends to be doing nothing at all.

Check out these numbers from a study done in a supermarket on a jam display. Tests were conducted over different times of the day, and different days of the week, where the display was changed from displaying either 6 Jams to taste test, or 24 Jams to taste test. The results were clear and astonishing. Whenever there were 24 jams on the display, only 3% of people made a purchase. When the display contained only 6 jams, 30% of taste testers purchased.

So whilst it is a good idea to be continually looking for new products for your existing customers, it is important that through your marketing and advertising messages you do not muddy the waters with too many choices.