Choice overload describes how, when given more options to choose from, people tend to have a harder time deciding, are less satisfied with their choice, and are more likely to experience regret.
It's estimated that the average adult makes more than 35,000 decisions per day.
35,000It's estimated that the average adult makes about 35,000 remotely conscious decisions each day. Each decision, of course, carries certain consequences with it that are both good and bad.
Research Estimates Adults Make 35,000 Decisions a Day.
1,500 decisionsAccording to data collected by busyteacher.org, the average teacher makes 1,500 decisions per day. For those of us who aren't math teachers, that's four decisions per minute.
The average person will make 773,618 decisions over a lifetime – and will come to regret 143,262 of them. The average person will make 773,618 decisions over a lifetime – and will come to regret 143,262 of them.
1,500 decisionsTeachers make about 1,500 decisions per day, which can lead to decision fatigue, a situation in which the brain is so exhausted and overloaded with decisions that it either looks for shortcuts or stops working altogether.
Various internet sources estimate that an adult makes about 35,000 remotely conscious decisions each day [in contrast a child makes about 3,000] (Sahakian & Labuzetta, 2013).
The negative effects of Choice Overload. The negative effects of choice can be more severe than a missed sale. Research shows that when there are too many options, customers feel anxious, will disengage, and can even become depressed. The adverse effects of too much choice is down to a behavioral science principle known as Choice Overload.
But once the number of choices gets too high, a person’s happiness goes down. Having a variety of options is good. It drives customer consideration. But once the number of choices gets too high, a person’s happiness goes down via @choicehacking. Click to Tweet.
If you reduce the number of options available, you also reduce complexity for the customer.
A brand’s good intentions — giving customers lots of options — can backfire and become a barrier to sales. According to recent research from Episerver, 46% of customers have failed to complete a purchase online due to overwhelming choices.
Satisficers settle for an option that’s “good enough” and move on. Gretchen Rubin, author of “The Happiness Project” described them this way:
As Barry Schwartz writes in “The Paradox of Choice”: BARRY SCHWARTZ. “The existence of multiple alternatives makes it easy for us to imagine alternatives that don’t exist — alternatives that combine the attractive features of the ones that do exist.
The problem is, the more options you have, the harder it is to make a comparison across products . If you have to compare an item across 50 dimensions instead of 3, there’s a risk you’re missing out on “the one.”