Too many options make everything more complicated. Take your pick – brands, KPIs, products – having too many choices and options muddies the water, making it difficult for people to pick or prioritize. In this post, we’re going to focus on companies offering too many products and the effect it has on customers. The same logic can apply to other areas where there are too many options to consider. Sometimes, less is more.
More Options Make Everything More Complicated
For product-centric organizations, sometimes the easiest and most effective way to grow is through developing a broad portfolio of offerings for customers. I beg to differ. Too many companies make the selection process difficult and more complicated for customers. If there are too many options for similar enough products available for customers to choose from, there is a good chance of confusing. Customers might not understand what makes product A different from product B.
The challenge with having tons of options is that customer support teams are often the groups that suffer the most too. With broad product portfolios, the plethora of options available makes support more challenging, depending on a whole of variables such as quality, inventory available, and information content. The goal should be to make it easy for customers to do business with you. Limiting the options can be more effective, saving you time, money, and effort.
Ensure You Have a Clear Focus
Steve Jobs is revered as one of the great business leaders in recent history. At Apple, one of the best things he did upon returning to the company he founded, was eliminating many of the underperforming products from the organization’s portfolio. Limiting the number of options gives internal team members laser-focused clarity. Streamlining options also make it easier for customers to understand what is being offered. When it comes to providing a service or product, I suggest having no more than 2-3 variations max. When possible limit to two options for customers:
- Basic: lower-priced, limited features, providing initial value
- Premium: higher priced to match the value offered with greater features
With products segmented this way, it’s much easier to develop pricing and marketing strategies too. Mixed with targeting the correct customer segment for each product, organizations can be more successful. Unfortunately, many organizations are offering 5+ options, confusing the process overall for customers and employees alike. With too many options to choose from, some customers go with the competition instead.
Specialize vs. Offering Everything Under the Sun
Companies without a lack of focus on what they are delivering to customers in terms of products or services confuse the market. Customers should be clear about what your company is all about. Unfortunately, far too often, there are companies with a short-sighted view, trying to be the catch-all destination for their target customer, offering such a broad and deep portfolio of products, leaving people more confused than anything else. When customers don’t know what you specialize in, you fail to stand out and be a distinctive choice for them.
Staying in your lane is critical as a business. You can’t, nor should you offer every type of product under the sun, that’s loosely connected to your industry or focus. Leaning on new products exclusively for growth is a way to lead to burnout and disengaged employees as well. Be clear and specialize, and you will ensure that you’ll hit the mark. In other words, don’t try to be ok at offering many products. Instead, be excellent in a few specific and targeted ones where you can dominate the market with your strength.
Last Thought
During this article, I focused almost exclusively on products. The same message rings true in many other areas. The more options you have, the more complicated everything is. Limit your options, and your clarity increases, making you more effective overall.
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