For as long as I can remember we have been taught that choice is a good thing.

It has never been more easy to get what you want, in the colour you want, in the size you want, in the quantity you want, when you want and at the price you want.

And that’s a good thing… Right?

Yes in many ways it is – certainly for the consumer. But as a business there is the danger you can offer too much choice.

You see, while offering choices can increase the probability of a sale, it can also work against you and cause the reverse to happen – you can actually LOSE sales.

For the majority of people, too much choice actually makes it difficult for them to make any choice at all.

Let’s look at Starbucks.

You can have a Cappuccino, or a Mocha, or a Caramel Macchiato or a Latte, or maybe an Americano. You can have hot drinks or cold drinks like a Coffee Frappuccino. You have a choice of size, Tall, Grande or Venti. You can have all manor of syrups added, including Hazelnut, chocolate or vanilla. Even the milk used comes with a choice from non-fat, low-fat, soya, even organic.

You have all this choice – just for a cup of coffee!

Ignoring the fact that it takes so much time to look through the menu to make your choice, why is it that the majority of people typically stick to the same one or two things?

I find myself doing it all the time.

Unless I’m in a REAL hurry, I almost always look through the menu board but then resort to my usual Grande Cappuccino. It’s the same when you go grocery shopping. So much choice, yet you find yourself buying the same items you usually do.

I recently read somewhere that the average large super market stocks 40,000 to 50,000 different products, yet the average shopper only buys 168…

Think about it for a moment. All that choice, yet the shopper stays with the products they are most comfortable with. When was the last time you tried a different brand of something?

So when it comes to selling to your clients, how much choice do you offer them? Enough to make it easy for them to buy from you or are you offering too much choice, killing your sales?

Now obviously you want people to buy from you, and you want to make it as easy as you can, but you also don’t want to switch people off.

So what do you do?

If we just look at an example call-to-action I saw recently:

“…so if you are interested, please give us a call on 01234 567890 or you can email us on info@abc.com. Alternatively you can visit our website www.abc.com or send a fax to 01234 098765.”

So what’s happening here? It’s confusing as to what the reader is supposed to do next. It’s not obvious. The reader has to think about it too much.

Are they likely to be getting a response? Yes – providing they get the right message with a good offer targeted to the right prospect, then they are likely to generate a response – but it’ll almost certainly be costing them some as well.

Research has shown that, in the majority of cases, you get a better overall response rate if you only offer ONE method of response, than if you offer alternatives. There is no confusion – there is no decision to be made other than to buy or not.

If you tell them to email you, then all they need to think about is whether they want to email you or not. If you’ve done your job right with the market, message and media used, then you should get some response.

That said, different people respond to different methods.

Some prefer to pick up the phone and speak to a “real-live-person”. Others prefer to send an email. Yet other prefer to order online.

Which method should you use? Only testing will tell for sure, but to speed things up try creating different versions of the same promotion, but with each one offering a different method of response. Measure the response you get to each version to see which method your target prospects prefer.

So, if you want to maximise the response of your marketing message you need to get specific with the offer – and limit the choice to ONE response method.

If you want to deal with any enquiries by phone, then ask them to call.

If you want them to visit your website, then move them to your website landing page.

Actually, that reminds me of another thing – your website.

Most websites offer too many options available to click. This tends to overwhelm the visitor, resulting in high “bounce rates” [where the visitor hits the "back" button after they land on your site, because they don't immediately see what they are looking for and/or there is no clear direction as to what to do next].

Ultimately this means they don’t hang around much.

The more focused you are with the path you want your prospects to take, the more likely they are to follow what you want.

People are like sheep and like to be told what to do next.

So make your life easier and make your marketing work for you – lead your prospects where you want them to go.

Now, onwards…

… To your success!

Jez