Why Too Many Choices Are Tanking Your Conversion Rates (Or, How to Stop Stressing Out Your Customers Before They Even Click “Buy”)

Too many options don’t always mean better choices. In fact, they may be killing your conversion rates, driving up customer fatigue and pushing your meticulously optimized marketing funnel into decision paralysis. This article walks through the behavioral science of cognitive load and why the brands that win are often the ones that curate—not overwhelm.

In business, I’m a relatively decisive person. That’s out of necessity—shit has to get done. Deadlines have to be met. But in my personal life? Different story. Given too much time and no looming milestone, I can agonize over choices like I’m selecting a jury not a jacket.

Last time I walked into a sneaker store I was greeted by what felt like a thousand options, each more interesting than the last. I walked out with… nothing. Too many choices short-circuited my must-consider-every-option-decision-making brain. 

And when I do finally choose, I often wonder if I shouldn’t have picked something else entirely. My less than practical solution? When stuck between two options, I often just buy both. Unfortunately, I may have hardwired this affliction into my son. Now when I ask him which one he wants he raises an eyebrow and says, “Both.”  That was charming in the cereal aisle when he was in his tweens. Not so much at the Apple Store in his twenties.

This, my marketing colleagues, is the quiet sabotage known as cognitive load. The mental tax we force onto our customers when we parade too many choices in front of them expecting gratitude and cart completions. It doesn’t work like that. The brands more likely to thrive today are not the ones with the most options—they’re the ones with the smartest filters. They curate. They guide. They make you feel confident not confused.

The Science of Overthinking

Let’s start with the brains behind the term. Cognitive Load Theory was introduced by Australian educational psychologist John Sweller. It refers to the finite mental resources available at any given moment. When those resources are overwhelmed decision-making tanks.

Barry Schwartz’s The Paradox of Choice famously made this behavioral science dinner-party friendly. His claim? While some choice is good, too much leads to anxiety, paralysis and dissatisfaction.

In business terms: a 2020 study published in Harvard Business Review found that reducing the number of product options led to a 20% increase in conversions across multiple industries. Meanwhile, NielsenIQ reported in 2023 that 64% of global consumers feel “overwhelmed” by the number of product choices online. Overwhelmed is not a sales strategy.

DTC Brands and the Death by Dropdown

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands love to show off. Multiple sizes, scents, bundles, one-off editions. But guess what? All those choices can kill momentum.

Take Glossier, the cult-favorite beauty brand that built a community first and a product line second. When it realized customers weren’t replenishing due to decision fatigue it simplified the product menu—and saw a spike in repeat purchases.

Dollar Shave Club, now owned by Unilever, built its billion-dollar exit on three choices: razors, refills and not much else. Shopify data backs this up. Online stores with fewer than 10 product options per page see 25% higher add-to-cart rates. In India skincare brand mCaffeine trimmed its bundles down to curated “hero sets” and saw a 17% lift in average order value.

This isn’t minimalism. It’s smart marketing. A curated approach builds trust. It tells the customer: “We already did the thinking for you.”

Streaming: Infinite Scroll, Zero Chill

You know the feeling. You have 11 minutes to relax. You spend 10.5 of them scrolling.

Netflix figured this out. Their “Top 10 in Your Country” and personalized categories exist to relieve pressure not just serve data. MUBI, a streaming service for indie films and global cinema, takes it further. They only show 30 movies at a time—a rotating curated list of editor’s picks. Decision fatigue? Gone.

According to Accenture, viewers on streaming platforms with more than seven navigation categories take three times longer to make a choice. A YouGov global poll in 2022 found that 57% of people experience “decision fatigue” on streaming services. If your content platform is stressing people out they’ll default to YouTube or TikTok where the next hit auto-plays.

Travel Sites: Decision Paralysis at 35,000 Feet

Online travel booking has long been my favorite form of self-torture. Thirty tabs, each with twenty filters. TripAdvisor reviews. Then back to Google Flights. Then maybe a quick glance at Booking.com’s cancellation policy. Lather, rinse, abandon cart.

Hopper, the travel app, saw a surge in bookings after introducing “Leave it to Us” fares. One click, one price and they choose the flight within your parameters. Google Flights added “Best Departing Flights” to simplify results. The outcome? Fewer bounces, more bookings.

Expedia’s research found that travelers shown fewer than five hotel options were 26% more likely to book within 24 hours. Skift reports that 68% of users abandon travel booking altogether due to cognitive overload.

Sometimes less really is more…vacation.

The Menu Test: Michelin vs Cheesecake Factory

There’s a reason why elite restaurants offer five starters and three mains. It’s not because they’re lazy—it’s because they’re smart. Curation breeds confidence.

One of my favorite restaurants in London (they’ve now got 10 locations, last I counted) is the wildly popular, Burger & Lobster. Guess what’s on the menu? It’s right there in the name—burgers and lobsters. And, before you ask, yes, I sometimes do order both.  But that’s not the point. Their simplicity streamlines operations, high volume purchasing improves margins and fewer choices actually delivers higher customer satisfaction.

Pret A Manger the British café chain slashed 40% of its menu during COVID and decided to keep it that way. Profits per store rose. According to food industry analysts at Technomic fast-casual restaurants with fewer than 12 items on the menu have 15% faster service times and higher repeat visits.

Defaults and Guided Selling: The Hidden Persuaders

If you want to see marketing psychology at its most quietly manipulative and wildly effective, look no further than defaults and guided selling. These aren’t just UX conveniences—they’re persuasion mechanisms dressed up as helpful design.

Defaults are wildly powerful—not because people love them, but because people rarely bother to change them. They take advantage of what behavioral economists call status quo bias: our tendency to stick with whatever option is pre-selected, even when the stakes are high.

Take organ donation. In countries like Austria, Belgium and Spain, where citizens are automatically enrolled as donors (opt-out), participation rates hover around 95%. In contrast, countries like the United States and Germany, which require citizens to opt in, often see rates below 20%. The difference isn’t belief or intent—it’s structure. A single default setting shifts behavior at a massive scale.

The same principle applies to marketing choices like email cadence. Most customers don’t customize their settings—they stick with whatever you choose for them. Set it too aggressively and you risk annoying them into unsubscribing. Set it thoughtfully and it feels intentional, curated, respectful of their time.

Spotify knows this. Their onboarding asks a few quick questions and then—boom—your personal soundtrack awaits. In India, eyewear brand Lenskart added a “Top Picks for Your Face Shape” feature. Engagement skyrocketed.

Salesforce reports that guided selling tools like quizzes and AI-based recommendations increase conversions by up to 30%. When a brand walks the customer through the choice it feels like expertise not manipulation.

UX That Reduces Thinking, Not Just Clicking

Zara, the Spanish fashion giant, redesigned its mobile app to reduce scrolling and friction—and saw a 12% jump in completed purchases. The insight wasn’t revolutionary. It was behavioral. Less effort equals more action.

Muji, the Japanese lifestyle brand, has long built its aesthetic on restraint. But its real genius lies in functional curation. One type of notebook. Four variations. Nothing extra. It’s clarity as a business model.

Google’s UX Playbook for retail found that mobile sites with fewer taps and less scrolling convert 40% higher than those with cluttered, complex layouts. Not because they’re prettier. Because they require less mental effort.

Good UX isn’t about clean lines and white space. It’s about respecting your customer’s cognitive bandwidth. If your design makes them work, they won’t.

Content Counts Too (Even This Article)

The problem isn’t just in product pages or pricing menus. It’s in your blog. Your video library. Your email archive.

HubSpot cut its blog output and focused on “pillar content”—core evergreen pieces—and saw SEO gains. Emirates redesigned its homepage to feature only three deals. Click-throughs doubled.

According to NN Group 79% of users scan rather than read. If your homepage is a novella you’re not educating—you’re exhausting.

So, What Should You Do?

By now you’ve seen the problem. Too many options. Too much noise. Too many chances to walk away instead of check out. The fix isn’t to be minimal—it’s to be intentional. That means curating every part of the journey: what you show, how you show it and when you shut up.

Here’s your cheat sheet:

1. Curate before you communicate – Don’t show everything. Show what matters
2. Kill your darlings – Audit your offerings quarterly and cut the bottom performers
3. Use guided selling tools – AI, quizzes, smart filters. Let users feel seen not sold to
4. Bundle intelligently – Sell the experience not the SKU list
5. Design mobile-first, scroll-last – Compress don’t clutter
6. Obsess over defaults – Set the stage for the “yes”
7. Steal from luxury – Simplicity signals confidence
8. A/B test fewer not more – See how little you can show before conversions drop
9. Teach your team about cognitive load – So they stop asking for more tabs, filters and bundles. On the page, it’s just noise.
10. Market the choice architecture – Curation is a feature. Own it

Less, But Better

We often conflate “giving more” with “doing better.” But marketing isn’t a buffet. It’s a tasting menu. You want people to say, “I’ll take that” not “Let me think about it.”

Let Amazon sedate them with 5,000 near-identical listings. You’re not here to be endless. You’re here to be irresistible.

Sources: Harvard Business Review, 2020, NielsenIQ Global Report, 2023, Shopify Plus, 2023, Accenture, Global Streaming Survey, 2023
YouGov, Global Poll, 2022, Expedia Group Media Solutions, 2022, Skift Travel Industry Trends, 2023, Technomic Menu Trends, 2023, Salesforce State of Marketing, 2023, Google UX Playbook for Retail, 2022, NN Group Usability Reports, 2023.