The e-commerce industry is stacked full of different sites for you to choose from, each of which has an endless array of products for you to purchase. That should be a good thing, shouldn’t it? It turns out, though, that this overwhelming amount of options has led to a phenomenon known as choice overload.
Choice overload is a problem, as it can lead shoppers to get stuck and fail to make a purchase at all. Online retailers need to deal with this and ensure that they’re only showing the most relevant items to people.
The online world is packed with endless options
No matter where you look online, variety is the name of the game. The entertainment industry is a great example of a place where people have a vast number of things to choose from. On Netflix, there are more than 2,500 series and 5,000 films. Likewise, the Sky Vegas jackpot selection offers a wide range of games to choose from in different genres, including titles like Cop the Lot and Disco Divas.
These platforms solve the problem of choice overload by using clever algorithms that put the titles that returning users are most likely to want to watch or play at the top of the page. This is based on their past activity, and means they aren’t usually shown irrelevant options. For smaller businesses such as independent online retailers, it’s not as easy to implement such algorithms or AI systems to make recommendations. There are other ways to help people make shopping decisions more easily, though.
Make sure there are good filters on the site
One of the simplest ways to make sure people can easily find the products that are most relevant to them without sifting through loads of different options first is to put good filters on the site. There are a few sites that offer good inspiration about how to do this, with Rapha’s sensible multi-option filters among the best.
When thinking about how to put filters in place, it’s all about helping people zone in on what they are looking for fast. A great way to do this is to put the filters in place after the search on the left-hand side of the page. Then, customers can narrow it down by selecting only the terms that are relevant to them.
Social proof helps influence cChoices
When faced with a few different options and having difficulty choosing, many customers turn to social proof to help them make the final decision. According to an article in BigCommerce, this is essential for e-commerce success. Online shoppers rely on reviews and ratings from real people, as they give credibility to a product.
When presenting different options for people to choose from, it’s crucial to have social proof easily visible. Many retailers do this using stars in the thumbnail for the product, and also highlight the number of people who have reviewed it.
By employing a few simple techniques, it’s easy for online retailers to mitigate the problem of choice overload while still offering a wide array of options. In the future, it’s likely that technology such as AI will be able to help with this as well.
