Choice overload is one of the most overlooked threats to great customer experience. When brands offer too many options, it can overwhelm customers, slow down decision-making, and lead to frustration—or worse, no purchase at all. Whether you’re selling paint, cars, or service packages, the goal isn’t to offer everything. It’s to offer just enough to make the choice feel easy, empowering, and satisfying.
Finding that balance—between fast and thoughtful, simple and customizable—is a CX superpower.
We’ve all felt it. That moment when a decision that should be simple suddenly turns into a full-blown homework assignment. Like when I went into Home Depot to buy white paint—and was hit with 126 different white swatches. Yes, including one called Santa’s Beard.
What should’ve been a five-minute errand became a confusing, overwhelming ordeal. Because when the differences between options are so small, you don’t even know what to compare. Add in multiple finishes (Eggshell? Satin? Semi-gloss?), and suddenly I was ready to abandon the whole thing.
That’s the impact of choice overload. When there are too many similar options, customers feel paralyzed. A well-known 2000 study showed that people are less likely to make a purchase when faced with too many choices.
But that doesn’t mean you should eliminate all your options and call it a day.
The smartest brands find the Goldilocks amount of choices—not too many, not too few, but just right.
The Right Number Of Choices Is Contextual
In a recent podcast episode, I talked about the balancing act that is customer experience.
My friend Jay Baer talks a lot about the power of speed in customer experience. In many industries, the fastest brand wins. Customers often go with the first business that responds to their query—regardless of price or quality. Speed is CX.
But that doesn’t mean every customer wants everything fast. Expectations are contextual. You expect your drive-thru order in under two minutes. But if you’re dining at a Michelin-star restaurant, a five-minute filet feels rushed. A 45-minute wait? Frustrating.
Like speed, the number of choices is all about context. Too few options can feel limiting and exclusive. Too many? Confusing. The sweet spot lies somewhere in the middle.
How do you find that Goldilocks number? Here are a few practical tips to help you avoid choice overload and create a better customer experience:
Remove Choices That Are Too Similar to Each Other
When your options are nearly identical, you’re not helping customers—you’re confusing them. It’s much harder to choose between two products that seem almost the same than between two clearly different options. (Side eye aimed directly at your paint counter, Home Depot.)
If 75% of your prospects can’t articulate the difference between two choices in under 30 seconds, one of them probably needs to go. Too-similar offerings create decision fatigue, increase the chance of buyer’s remorse, and can even make your brand seem less confident about what it does best.
Think about it like standing in the toothpaste aisle. Do you want Whitening? Ultra Whitening? Advanced Whitening? Deep Clean + Whitening? It all starts to blur together—and instead of feeling empowered, you feel overwhelmed. Streamlining forces clarity, and clarity creates confidence for your customers.
Identify The Most Important Variables to Reduce Choice Overload
To the extent that you can, minimize the number of variables for your product. Keep your focus on the differences that actually matter to your customers.
For example, when buying a mattress, you’ll choose between different sizes, firmness levels, materials, etc. One thing you’re not selecting is the color of your mattress because that would be unnecessary.
I LOVE Dr. Pepper, but even I think there are too many sizing options at Publix. 7.5 oz, 12 oz, 16.9 oz, 20 oz, 1 liter, 2 liter… and that’s before we get into six packs, eight packs, 12 packs, cases… can’t we all just pick like three sizes and agree?!
Choosing between the various flavors is difficult enough, so don’t complicate it further with ten different sizing options! Define the most impactful variables for your product and align your options accordingly.
Categorize Your Options to Make the Decision Process Easier
When you break down choices into clear steps or categories, it reduces friction and makes the process more intuitive.
Maybelline does this well on their website. Start by selecting a finish (matte or luminous), then choose coverage level (light, medium, or full), then pick the shade closest to your skin tone. Each step narrows the pool, reducing choice overload while still maintaining personalization.
SaaS companies often use pricing comparison charts for the same reason: to clearly show the differences between plans and guide customers toward the right fit.
You can easily overwhelm your customers when asking them to make too many different choices at the same time. Guide them through the process by starting big and working your way to smaller variables.
Listen to Customer Feedback to Inform Your Choices
Keeping a close eye on your sales will help you determine which product options you should keep and which ones could be removed. That’s how I narrowed down the keynotes I offer. I used to offer several on a range of topics. Now, it’s just three… and they’re all about customer experience! It’s easier for my customers to decide and gives me the power to really customize the examples in my CX-based presentations for their industries and teams.
You can even run A/B tests to see how different configurations or option counts affect conversion. That kind of data is pure gold when it comes to battling choice overload. Always listen to your customers’ suggestions of products they’d like to see and implement the most common feedback into your future designs.
Final Thoughts on Choice Overload
Finding the right number of choices to offer your prospects is a challenging, yet critical, component of your customer experience. By understanding your target audience and their decision-making process, you can create a simplified buying experience that minimizes choice overload.
When your customers have a seamless buying experience, they’ll be much more likely to advocate on your behalf.
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