This document summarizes a Ted Talk by Prof. Sheena Iyengar on reducing choice overload when providing options to consumers. The summary discusses how having too many choices (over 70 options on average per day) can decrease engagement, decision quality, and satisfaction. It provides tips on how to reduce choices such as cutting extraneous options, making options more concrete, categorizing them to make comparisons easier, and gradually increasing complexity. The insights suggest that more choices can hurt sales and satisfaction while organizing by category rather than long lists of options can improve the choosing experience.

1. HOW TO MAKE
CHOOSING
EASIER
- TED Talk
by Prof. Sheena
Iyengar

2. •Average no.of
choices in a typical
day -70
•For CEO ‘s – 139
50% decisions < 9 mins
12% decisions >= 1hour

3. Choice overload
problems

4. Is this model of
offering people
these many
choices will work?

5. Engagement – more likely delay
choosing
Decision quality – probability of
making worst choices
Satisfaction – choosing less satisfied
even they are objectively better

6. Fail to do math of comparing and
contrasting
Attracted to
their advertising
End up picking
from that
stunning
display

7. 1) CUT – get rid of extraneous
alternatives
- increase in sales
- decrease in cost
- improvement in
choosing

8. 26 different kinds of
Head & shoulders
reduced to 15 by
P&G sales increased
by 10%
9th largest retailer-ALDI
offers 1400 products

9. Think how these choices
are different from others
HOW TO CUT?

10. 2) CONCRETIZATION – make it real
- understand the consequences
associated with each choice
- product should be felt in vivid
sort way

11. 3)CATEGEORIZATION
- how to tell them apart
- more choice
better choosing
option
- need to say
Something to the
chooser not to the choice-maker
- 400 magazines 20 categories better
Choice than 600 of 10 catgeories

12. 4)Condition for complexity
- one can handle
lot more information
than they think they
can
- gradually increase the
complexity
- start off easy to learn how to
choose

14. 2 most important insights:
1)More choices leads to less sales ,
decrement in satisfaction , choosing
quality
2)Handling more categories than
choices is easy.

15. Relevance of these insights with Indian
managers:
•These insights were related especially
for super markets, book stalls , etc.
•When the customers are provided with
more options their satisfaction level ,
decision quality decreases along with
increase in time which shows a great
impact on sales

16. •When a person want to buy a thing
according to his necessity he will be
having a clear idea about the category
according to his taste and need . So
providing more categories than choices
helps the customer to choose the best.

17. This presentation was made by
G. Hemalatha , NIT Andhra Pradesh
during a marketing internship under
Prof. Sameer Mathur , IIM Lucknow