“More is better” is an illusion. Marketers love to expand. We want more SKUs, more pricing tiers, more options, more CTAs. The logic feels safe: if we offer something for everyone, we’ll win more customers. But behavioral research says the opposite: the more choices you give, the less likely people are to choose at all.
The Science
Psychologists Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper ran a famous experiment in 2000:
A display with 24 jams drew more people over.
A display with 6 jams drove 10x more purchases.
The takeaway: choice attracts attention, but too much choice kills action.
Why It Happens
Choice overload creates:
Decision fatigue: too much cognitive effort required to decide.
Fear of regret: worry about picking the “wrong” option.
Analysis paralysis: when comparing becomes more exhausting than buying.
So instead of choosing, people walk away or delay until they forget. I have done this no less than 6 times on a product I actually want to buy but the checkout experience makes me want to die. Is the product for my cat? Maybe. Of course it is.
Where It Shows Up in Marketing
Pricing pages with endless tiers and feature grids.
E-commerce sites that filter down to 200+ results.
Email CTAs asking readers to “buy now, sign up, learn more, share.”
The intent is inclusivity but the outcome ends up being confusion.
How to Fix It
Limit visible options. You can have depth, but don’t show it all upfront. Surface 3–4 core choices max.
Guide, don’t dump. Use defaults, recommendations, or best-seller tags to reduce effort.
Differentiate clearly. If two options feel too similar, cut one. Clarity > breadth.
Stage the decisions. Break complex journeys into steps (like Apple’s product customizers).
Examples in Action
Each of these brand curates options, rather than overwhelming people with every single thing they offer:
Apple: sells millions of iPhones, but launches with only a handful of models. The clarity is intentional.
Netflix: unlimited content, but personalized recommendations reduce visible choice overload.
Warby Parker: their “Home Try-On” box limits the decision to 5 frames, making the process simple and manageable.
TL;DR
More choice might look like more opportunity, but in practice, too much choice paralyzes people into doing nothing. If you want people to act, guide them toward fewer, clearer options.
Coming Up Next
Mirror Messaging: How to Make Customers Feel Seen at Scale
We’ll look at how brands reflect audience identity back to them — and why that resonance drives loyalty more than clever copy ever could.
What to Know This Week
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