Less is More: Decreasing Distractions to Create Conversions

Recently, I was preparing for a trip to a colder climate and I needed to buy a pair of gloves. As someone who lives in Arizona and hasn’t needed a pair of gloves since a trip I took to Boston back in high school, I don’t have much knowledge in this field. I also do my best to only buy things once. I would much rather spend a bit more on something that will last for years to come even if it’s something I won’t use often. So I began to conduct research. Being that it’s 2020, my natural first instinct was to head to Amazon and type “gloves” into the search bar.

I received over 200,000 results with gloves ranging from vinyl to fire-proof materials. To refine my search, I next searched for “winter gloves.” The results shrank to about 50,000 but I was still presented with an overwhelming number of choices. I’m stubborn and I like a challenge, though, so I wasn’t deterred. I figured out which features I most wanted in a glove, created a list of candidates and a week later and with now more than 8 hours invested in this journey, I was finally ready to make my purchase.

This process was eye-opening for me. Not only was I upset with myself for having spent so much arriving at a decision, but for the first time, I understood first hand a term I had heard so many times before. Analysis paralysis. In theory, having all of the options in the world seems great. Each consumer can find the product best suited for their particular needs. That is, if they are willing to spend the time to sort through tens of thousands of options to do so. I now understand why the sponsored results and those recommended by Amazon are also the items with the most reviews. It isn’t necessarily that they’re the best, it’s just that they’re the easiest option when confronted with an overwhelming number to choose from.

Having experienced this for myself as a buyer, I now see some problems with my own business that I can address as a seller. Giving people too many options can prevent them from making any choice at all. Visitors to your site can’t spend time that they don’t have and attention is a commodity you can’t afford to waste. Decide what matters most to you and focus all of your attention on making those conversions.

The goal should be to remove as many obstacles as possible between your visitors and the completion of your goal. If you operate a store, this might mean reducing your offerings to only your best sellers or those with the highest profit margins. Make these decisions on the back end to make the experience for visitors less overwhelming. Thank you Amazon for teaching me a valuable lesson, hopefully, it can be of some help to you too. By the way, I only wore those gloves four times before I lost them.