Too Many Options Too Many Problems

Shopping is becoming harder and harder nowadays. Say we wanted to buy yogurt. One would think that this would be a relatively quick and easy process. However, upon entering the dairy section we realize that this may not be the case. There are at least five different brands of yogurt. Do we want Yoplait, or Dannon, or Chobanni; Possibly a generic brand? But then the decisions do not stop there. Do we want our yogurt to be thick or runny? Do we like it creamy? There are also tons of flavors to choose from; from the simple strawberry to the exotic key lime pie. Retailers seem to think that customers want thousands of products to choose from. Where there used to be only a few options to choose from, making things quicker and much easier, there are now so many options, each only slightly different from the other, that it is making it difficult for customers to make a purchase and be happy with their decision.

Having a lot of options is supposed to be favorable over having few or no choices at all. However this is not always true. Many consumer economist argue that having a large variety of choices can actually lead to customer dissatisfaction. Barry Schwartz, a well known consumer economist, is famous for his paradox of choice theory. The paradox of choice argues that having too many options can be counterproductive as it can lead to a temporary cognitive paralysis, self blame, and large amounts of regret. Thus the number of options should be limited.

An enormous number of similar items are available to customers. We search the yogurt aisles and read the labels of multiple items to compare the tiniest of details. How many calories does each one have? Which one has more protein? Is it low fat? What other nutrients are there in it? How many grams of sodium does it have? All of this information is very overwhelming and can produce a temporary cognitive paralysis. This temporary cognitive paralysis can be explained by what social psychologist Ap Dijksterhuis calls the Capacity Principle; that the conscious mind has a limited capacity and cannot process too much information at once. Thus, when consumers are exposed to a large number of choices, their brains literally cannot handle it and do not process everything. As a result it takes customers much longer to make a decision or they put off making one. In extreme cases, the customers may even choose to avoid the cognitive effort and not make a purchase at all.

In addition to causing a temporary cognitive paralysis, having to choose from numerous options can cause self blame and regret. There are consequences for every decision that we make; whether they are good or bad. When there is only one option to choose from or no option at all, we are forced to take it. We have to make the best of what we have and if there are negative attributes or consequences, we see no reason to blame ourselves as we absolutely had to take it. On the other hand, if we were able to decide for ourselves what we wanted from numerous options and there were negative consequences of our choice, we think it is our fault and regret the decision we made. We mentally kick ourselves for not choosing better. Another reason that having a large variety of options causes regret is that it raises expectations. With tons of items to choose from, we would think that the perfect option must exist. However, does perfection actually exist? Now our expectations are unrealistically high, even though it may actually be impossible to buy the perfect item. As a result, when we finally make a purchase, even if it is a good a one, we are disappointed because it is not perfect. This sense of regret and self blame does not sit well with people.

Another reason that customers can be less satisfied with their purchase when they are given numerous options is that many people feel buyer’s remorse. Say we are buying a car and we are choosing from a variety of cars. One of the cars gets good gas mileage, is very comfortable, has a strong engine and has a good turn radius; however it is a bit long. The other car is red, the color that we want, but it has less horsepower and is more expensive. Our better judgment tells us to purchase the first car, which is what we do. However as we are driving around in our comfortable, new car, all we can think about is how big this car is and how much we really wanted a red car. We are experiencing buyer’s remorse. We begin to have second thoughts about the item that we purchased and wonder if any of the rejected alternatives were actually better than the item that we chose. The problem with this is that most people only consider the positive attributes of the rejected alternatives, while dwelling on the negative aspects of the decision they made; causing them to doubt the decision they made and ultimately being less satisfied with the purchase. This is irrational. The positive attributes of the item that they purchased must have outweighed the positive attributes of the alternatives, otherwise the customer would have purchased something else.

In spite of this, all economist do not agree that limiting the amount of options is the smart thing to do. Many economists, including Daniel Mochon and Derek Thompson, believe that less is not actually more; that in fact less is well less. Daniel Mochon counters Barry Schwartz’s paradox of choice theory with his single-option aversion theory. He argues that when given only a single option, a take-it-or-leave-it situation, the customers will “leave it,” even if the item is pretty much what they were looking for. He reasons that this occurs because having only one option makes people interested in searching for comparisons. Customers are looking for the best of the best and are not willing to buy something unless they know that it is the best possible deal that they can get. Unfortunately, Mochon misinterpreted Schwarz’s idea. He wrongly assumed that Barry Schwartz wants to eliminate choice all together; that is not the case. Schwartz argues that having too many choices can create dissatisfaction and thus the number of options should be limited, not that having only one option is the way to go.

In addition, while Mochon argues that having only one option makes people search for comparisons and thus having only one option is insufficient, searching for comparisons is a sign of maximization. Maximizers are customers who are always looking for the perfect option. They are trying to get the maximum benefits from the optimal choice. They do this by analyzing all the alternatives that they can imagine; a very grueling and time consuming task. They tend to be anxious about whether they are in fact making the best choice. Maximizers are also more likely to experience regret as they aim to find perfection and we know that perfection may not even exist. Research has shown that maximizers are more likely to be unhappy and become depressed. Why would we want to be maximizers if we are going to spend our lives anxious and miserable? Yet, having a lot of options compels us to try to maximize the benefits of our choice. So it can be said that having a lot of options leads to misery and anxiety.

Also, the single option aversion theory does not always apply. Many consumers go shopping because they absolutely need an item or service. While they could afford to ‘leave it’ if they were purchasing a television, like the example used by Derek Thompson in the article “More is More: Why the Paradox of Choice Might Be a Myth,” “leaving it” would not be the ideal solution when it comes to purchasing things such as life insurance or health insurance. The same thing could apply to less serious scenarios. Perhaps someone is making cupcakes for his daughter’s birthday and is out of eggs. Even if there is only one type of eggs at the grocery store, they are still eggs and can be used to make the cupcakes. Why would we “leave it” if it would upset a little girl on her special day.

Choice is good. If it came down to it, most people would prefer having some choice over having none at all. However, just because some choice is good, does not mean that more choice is better. At some point having too many choices becomes counterproductive as it can be very overwhelming and cause high levels of regret. While the perfect number of options that should be available to customers is not known and most likely varies depending on the scenario, neither one option nor a million options is the answer.