Cognitive Bias - Analysis Paralysis

When presented with too many choices, your brain has a hard time making a decision. It shuts down.

If you give your prospects too many choices, they will not know what to choose. The pressure of making the wrong choice can lead to not making the choice at all.

You should avoid Analysis Paralysis in places that are crucial for conversions such as landing pages, pricing pages, checkout pages, or product pages.

How to avoid analysis paralysis

• Reduce the number of choices your reader has to make.
• Apply the Rule of One to any promotional material you write: one reader, one offer, one call to action, one goal.
• Make comparison easy.
• Keep the design simple, clean, and uncluttered.
• Use product filtering. Categories and subcategories, filter choices by size, color, price.
• Use social influence to suggest options. Show your reader what others are doing.

Specific actions to avoid analysis paralysis on your pricing pages

• Don’t offer too many pricing plans. A good starting point tends to be three options, but this is something you should definitely test.
• Make the distinction between choices clear. It’s harder to make a decision when the distinction between options is subtle.
• Make the options easy to compare. Help the prospect choose the pricing plan that better suits their needs. You can do this by:
  • Using color to highlight the option.
  • Show the higher price first and the more affordable one next to it. This is called the “anchoring” technique. You compare your preferred option to a more expensive one.
  • Calculate the best plan for your customer.
• Introduce urgency and scarcity so your reader makes the decision right away.