TLDR: WATCH THE VIDEO (click above)
Choices are a key part of our experiences as consumers. We want more of them, until they become too much to handle. The question is: How can products harness the power of choice while sidestepping its pitfalls? 🤔
Nuuly offers insights into this. And in today’s teardown, I’m out to grab a cartful of them (and also the 6 clothing styles from 300+ brands that my subscription gets me each month). 🧥
Because in a choice-saturated world, Nuuly manages to have their cake and eat it, too. Every month, they load me up with endless choices. But I never experience choice overload. Why?
Choice: A Double-Edged Sword
Choices can be empowering, but also debilitating. Having lots of options lets users find exactly what they want, gives flexibility, and creates pleasure. But the very same set of choices can become a cognitive burden. And when there are too many choices, people often can't decide.
From Jam Jars to Jumpsuits: Decoding Choice Overload
This brings me to the infamous jam experiment (apologies to Sheena Iyengar, whose name I mispronounce in the video 😬). Set out lots of jam flavors, and the more you put on the table, the more people approach—but fewer buy. How come? People purchasing from a large set of options feel less sure and worry that they might regret their decision. The result: indecision. Or even: choice paralysis.
Does this mean that too much choice is always bad? Some say so, but they’re missing the point. Because as Nuuly shows, it’s more about how you present the choices.
The Categorization Effect
But there’s a secret weapon for combating choice overload: categories. In retail, that can mean arranging items in a way that helps shoppers see the variety without getting overwhelmed by every option. Grouping similar things together with clear labels helps people understand what each item is about. Labeling, too, can help guide choices. If two items have the same label, people think they're pretty similar. But if they have different labels, people see them as different.
Nuuly’s Secret: Offer Without Overwhelming
I’m pretty amazed at how well Nuuly navigates the choice overload conundrum. They use 3 main tactics for this:
💡 Filtering and assortments: They give me lots of ways to narrow my choices, so that I never feel like I'm looking at their full assortment. This decreases the complexity of making decisions.
💡 Designing for low stakes: By offering a recurring selection of six items, Nuuly takes the pressure off. If I choose something I don’t like, I can make up for it the next month.
💡 Deadlines: A monthly cycle could be daunting, but Nuuly’s model feels more rhythmic than rigid. It’s a gentle reminder, not a ticking clock.
Watch the teardown to learn:
👗 How to use techniques like categorization to prevent choice overload
👗 Why all choice isn’t bad and the real problem is choice complexity
👗 How to lower the stakes of decision-making for users (& increase conversions)
Truly, Nuuly is jam-packed with lessons that every PM and ‘choice architect’ should be thinking about 🧠Don’t miss!
See you next week 👋
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Questions about your product? Email kristen@irrationallabs.com.
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