3 examples of when ‘the more the merrier’ is not true

As Product Managers, we should present only the required information on the product without overwhelming the users. Excessive information might result in confusion, leading to user errors and thus, delay in users meeting their goals.

In 1952, psychologists William Edmund Hick proposed a law stating that the time taken by a user to take a decision increases logarithmically with the number of choices provided. Thus, the more choices given to the user, the longer it will take to make a decision. This happens because a user’s brain can process only a limited amount of information at once. Hence, when the number of options increases, the overall processing time also increases.

Image Source: FlowMapp

Following are a few examples showcasing how applying Hick’s Law improves usability.

#1 E-commerce (Meesho, Flipkart, Amazon)

E-commerce apps club the Filters into Filter Groups, allowing the user to easily find the type of filter they want to apply, instead of long scrolling among all the filters to search for the required filter.

#2 Service Booking (Urban Company)

Instead of showcasing all the services upfront, UC has clubbed the services in meaningful categories, making it easy for users to find the service they wish to avail. Hence, Product Managers should build meaningful information architecture for their products for easy navigation.