For many years we’ve all craved choice, believing that having more choices and options is good for us; and many companies have fuelled this belief.  But having too many choices can cause confusion and make decision making more difficult.  

Hick’s Law tells us that the more options we are presented with, the longer it takes us to make a decision - which makes a lot of sense. It’s often applied to user experience as we want users to complete their goals as quickly as possible – we want it to be smooth and frictionless. When we present them with too many options, we cause frustration and slow them down, they may even feel so overwhelmed that they give up and go elsewhere. Limiting the options helps users to complete their goals more quickly.  

And we can help our customers further by using smart defaults. Each time they need to make a choice, we can highlight the most popular option to guide them through. This isn’t about upselling, it’s about creating easy and frictionless experiences. 

The same principle can be applied to many off-line situations too – worth thinking about next time you’re standing in line waiting to order your Grande, decaff, extra hot, soy latte.