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Less options for your customer may actually be better in some cases than providing a wide array of choices that they can pick from. Remember that every customer who visits your website is assaulted with so much information within a given page that it is hard to filter all this information all at once.
You always need to compete with time and visibility on the World Wide Web and with less options , you have a better chance of getting noticed.
Why Less is More...
Online businesses are dependent on the amount of time a customer spends on the website.
If there are less options , the likelihood of the customer getting confused is drastically reduced. You may be thinking that less options may seem limiting if you want customers to visit your website and see it as one-stop place for all their related needs.
One way to offer less options without compromising the completeness of your website offerings is by bundling these products. For example, your website can offer printer solutions which includes the printer, paper, an extra cartridge and other accessories like a battery pack and a printer case for taking the printer around.
Another reason why it is better to give customers less options is that it is more cost-efficient for your business. This is especially true if you have an e-commerce site. If you plan to list or illustrate all your offerings on one page, then you need to hire more people for website maintenance alone.
Furthermore, when we say 'less options' we don't only mean less visible options on your web page for visitors to click. We also mean looking at the size of your actual inventory of goods and services. Do you really want to offer 999 products? Why not offer less?
I'm sure you can offer less options through a few selected products without necessarily sacrificing your consumer base. Focus on quality of each page and the usefulness of the offer to the visitor.
Online business experts believe that less options actually makes you more creative in running your website because you will need to continually think of ways of getting ahead of your competitors, not by continually introducing new products but by building on existing ones.
Action Steps to Offering Less Options
- In terms of inventory, list down all your products or services and evaluate if there is anything you should 'give up'.
- In terms of website usability, create a small test group and ask them to go over your site and get their feedback. If they say that the site is too 'cluttered' or that they get confused on your site, talk to your web designer on how you can simplify your site.
Important Points to Offering Less Options
- Too many options - inventory-wise or selections on your website - only serve to confuse visitors.
- Online visitors have very limited patience, if they cannot maneuver your site well soon, they will leave your page.
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