Hi Reader,
Have you heard about the famous jam experiment?
In a study published in 2000, researchers Sheena Iyengar (Columbia) and Mark Lepper (Stanford) set up a tasting display in a supermarket, alternating between 24 varieties of jam and a smaller selection of 6.
The larger selection attracted more people to stop and look. But the smaller selection persuaded more of those people to buy.
More choice attracted attention, but less choice led to more purchases.
💡Tip: read that last sentence again...👆...that's where the gold lies! |
Among shoppers who stopped at the display, around 3% bought jam after seeing the larger selection, compared with 30% after seeing the smaller one.
That’s a significant difference, and an example of what’s often called choice overload, closely associated with the paradox of choice.
I accept that it doesn’t necessarily mean fewer options always lead to more sales. But it does raise a useful question - can giving people more to choose from make buying harder?
Why can too much choice be a problem?
Three psychological mechanisms that help explain it.
- The effort of comparing: When the differences between options aren’t obvious, working through them can feel like too much work.
- Uncertainty about what matters: Someone who doesn’t know what they need may struggle to recognise which option suits them best.
- Fear of regretting the decision: Worrying about choosing badly can make postponing the decision feel easier than committing.
What does this mean for us in an email-first business?
Imagine you’re a coach or consultant offering six different services.
A subscriber visits your website, sees all six and struggles to understand which one is right for them.
They might be interested in working with you, but because choosing requires too much effort, they leave without taking action.
Now imagine giving that same subscriber one recommendation:
If you're struggling to turn email subscribers into paying customers, start with my 90-minute consultation.
You’ve given them a starting point, a reason to choose it and a clear next step.
You haven’t removed any services, you’ve just helped them understand where to begin.
The same principle applies to your emails.
Rather than finishing with three competing calls to action, try recommending one next step that follows naturally from what you’ve just explained.
The interesting twist...
The lesson is to make choosing easier, whether that means offering fewer options or helping people understand which one suits them best.
A knowledgeable customer might appreciate having ten options, whilst a beginner could find three overwhelming.
The number of options is only part of the picture. How clearly people understand them matters too.
That’s where a well-designed email-first system can help. Through replies, preferences and previous purchases, you can learn more about your subscribers and make more useful recommendations.
Instead of showing everybody everything you sell, you can help each person identify a relevant next step.
Take a look at your latest email or sales page. Is the next step obvious to someone who doesn’t already understand your business?
If it isn’t, try recommending one starting point and explaining who it’s for.
I was the "24 jams" guy... 🙋🏻♂️
A few years ago, I was offering a list of services longer than anyone would reasonably want to work through. I thought I was being flexible, but I was leaving people to figure out what they needed.
That was a big mistake! 🤦🏻♂️
These days, I organise my support around four different needs:
- Want to learn and build it yourself, with support? The Hub Community gives you training, resources and access to me as your mentor and Kit expert.
- Need focused help with a particular problem or decision? A Kit Consultation gives us 90 minutes to work through it together.
- Know what you want and need someone to build it? My Email Marketing System Design & Build service takes care of the design, build and launch.
- Want ongoing help developing your email-first business? Private Build With John gives us six months to work through the strategy and implementation together.
Having four offers helps, but the more useful change is explaining where each one fits. Someone should be able to recognise their situation without having to understand every detail of every service.
You can see how I present them on my website.
How about your business? Where might a potential customer need a little more help choosing their next step?
Hit reply and let me know. I’d be interested to hear what you spot.
Cheers,
John