People like choice.

Or at least, they like the illusion of choice. They like choice not because it makes them happy. As a matter of fact, choice does not only make people unhappy, it is also highly ineffective. Choices involves choosing. And choosing takes time. Time to learn to know the contents of the different options, time to compare the characteristics and make a decision. Forget about time-efficiency.

Choice also makes people unhappy because of the ‘choosing is loosing’ paradigm. Most people are just not good at leaving things behind, let opportunities slip by or just leave a product in the shop.

Then why do we live in world that acts as if choice is a necessity?

Could it be that people just need to rationalize their choice? They can argument why they choose to buy product X in a rational way: By pointing out it is better that product Y (or cheaper, or faster, or more shining or …). By doing this they avoid to have to explain their most recent buy in light of their own needs and behavior. Maybe you just don’t need that product or service…

So maybe it is not that odd that companies create choice in their own product portfolio.

But what if you take that choice away, would customers really miss it?

What do you think?