Now, I know when you do this, you have the right intentions. You’re thinking that if you give the customer what they want, they’ll be happier and they’ll stay with the company longer.
[bctt tweet=”More choice is often a huge detriment to your organization.” username=”EngageColleen”]
I’ve been working with a few clients recently and we couldn’t figure out why there were so many order problems, delivery problems, billing problems, invoicing problems, etc. All these problems arose because the customer was given too many choices on how they ordered products. They could order online, through email, over the phone, by fax, and through text.
The problem with conducting your organization this way is that every time an order came in, it needs to pass through multiple people, systems, or communication devices and that’s where mistakes get made. Products could be put in incorrectly, order quantities may be put in incorrectly, or the order may have only been partially taken.
What we ended up doing for the clients that had difficulties in these areas was look at where the least mistakes were being made and what the most successful processes were when it came to obtaining information. In most cases, we narrowed down the process to 2 or 3 options.
While it took some work to convert everything over, the minute everything was put in place, customer service went up. Customers were much happier and fewer mistakes were being made, meaning less time was wasted internally trying to fix problems.
Don’t make the mistake that more choice is better. Choose the options that are best for you to serve the customer and most efficient for your customer.
Great piece! Making a choice requires effort – and risk (is this the right one?).
So the more choices, the more effort. And the more likely clients are to do nothing. Or chose the wrong option.
All of this leads to lower satisfaction. Barry Schwartz has a great TED talk on the Paradox of choice.