Paul Boag on Twitter
Hick’s law states that there is a predictable increase in the time it takes somebody to decide, as the number of options goes up. Yet we regularly bombard users with options on our websites.
Keeping options simple and straightforward on your website rarely works against you. In fact, I believe you are doing your customer a favour by reducing the need for weighing up options before proceeding with a transaction.
Paul’s, tweet reminds me of a post Lou wrote (back in 2015!) called Drowning in Choice.
Barry Schwartz in his book The Paradox of Choice, says that at the point where the effort to make an informed decision overtakes the benefit of having a choice, then “choice no longer liberates but debilitates. It might even be said to tyrannise.”
