Hey there, Creator! I am Kenzi Wood. Thanks for tuning in, and welcome if you're new to this corner of the internet. I never take your time and attention for granted, and I'm grateful you're here.
TL;DR
The paradox of choice says that people disengage when they have too many choices.
Asking people to follow you across multiple platforms or formats, creating multiple CTAs, and being everywhere at once can be overwhelming for your followers.
✅ The quick answer: Follow only one goal or CTA per post. Create default paths, like newsletter subscriptions. Sequence your asks to jazz up your CTAs. Post fewer formats.
As a creator, you’re probably on, well, every social platform. You probably also have an (almost) infinite number of ways your followers can get in touch with you. 😉
Creators love saying things like:
“Comment, like, save, share, DM me, or click the link in bio!”
“Follow me on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads, my newsletter, my Discord…”
“I do education and entertainment and behind-the-scenes and hot takes and long-form essays and memes.”
On the surface, saying these things might make it look like you’re super helpful and available. But unfortunately, psychology isn’t on your side here. 😬
Offering too many choices actually convinces people to ignore you, not to engage with you. That’s the paradox of choice.
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What is the paradox of choice?
The paradox of choice, popularized by psychologist Barry Schwartz, is the idea that more options don’t make decisions easier—they make them harder.
In one famous study:
Shoppers who saw 24 flavors of jam were more interested…
But shoppers who saw 6 flavors were 10x more likely to actually buy.
Why? It’s because every little choice we have to make comes at a cost. It’s the reason why, if you’re like me and you’re trying to eat healthier, it’s easier in the morning than it is at night. By the end of the day, your brain is exhausted from making decisions about every little thing.
At a certain point, our brains say, “Actually… never mind.” And we walk away.
Attention + confusion = dropoff
Unfortunately, the paradox of choice is already working against you. Social media is overwhelming by design, which means your followers are already pulled in different directions.
They don’t arrive at your content ready to decide. They arrive hoping you’ll decide for them.🤝
But instead, we often hand them a buffet of next steps, like, “If you liked this, you might also like this, or this, or this, or my other platform, or my freebie, or my paid thing…”
That’s the opposite of what your followers want. They’re busy, and if you confuse them, they won’t try to suss out what’s going on. They’re just going to do nothing.
How paradox of choice holds you back
Look, plenty of creators fall into this trap. Here are a few examples of what paradox of choice looks like in the wild.
1. Too many CTAs in one post
“Like, comment, save, share, follow, click the link, reply, DM me.”
Each additional CTA reduces the chance that your followers will act on any of them.
2. Too many content lanes at once
You teach.
You entertain.
You rant.
You sell.
You experiment.
That is cool, but taken together, it’s just a bunch of alphabet soup. 🍲You can’t be everything to everyone, even if you’re really talented.
If someone can’t explain your content in one sentence, their brain struggles to categorize you—and uncategorized content is easier to ignore.
3. Too many “next places” to go
Link trees. Platform hopping. Nested funnels. Every additional destination increases friction.
Followers actually don’t want to choose a journey because they’re busy. All they want is a single obvious next step.🗺️
How to beat the paradox of choice
People say they want more options, but they actually don’t. (Aren’t our brains weird?) That’s why default choices or curated experiences outperform open-ended ones.
Your job is to reduce friction, not offer a buffet of options. Follow these tips to beat paradox of choice.
1. One post, one goal
Before you publish anything, ask yourself, “What is the one action I want someone to take?” Then make everything in the post support that outcome.
For example, if you’re posting about a new course launch, that’s not the time to remind everyone to follow you on Instagram, because that’s an additional CTA. 🙅♀️
2. Create a default path
Defaults remove effort and, spoiler alert, your followers want low-effort ways to engage with you.
Instead of saying, “You can follow me here, or here, or here…”, pick a single default path like, “If you want more of this, subscribe to my newsletter.” (And your newsletter can include links to all of your socials, so people can still find you elsewhere.)
You’re not limiting followers’ freedom; you’re lowering cognitive cost.🧠
3. Collapse choices into sequences
Instead of offering multiple options at once, spread them out over time. This is a mini version of a marketing funnel, and it works great for paid content or products.
For example, at the end of your first post, ask people to comment their favorite outfit you wore. In the next post, ask them to subscribe to your channel. From there, you can invite them to download freebies or buy your products.
4. Use fewer formats
How many content formats do you use on Instagram alone? 📱 There are posts, Reels, Lives, and then Threads. Not only is that a lot of work for you (and for a single platform!), but it also gives your followers way too many places to consume your content.
With paradox of choice, less is more. It’s tempting to be absolutely everywhere online, but you’re shooting yourself in the foot by over-posting.
Instead, choose your most high-performing platforms and formats, and stick to those. I’m not saying you can’t branch out from time to time, but overwhelming people with multi-format content probably won’t make up for the work you’re putting in to produce it.
Your move
As it turns out, the fastest way to help people choose you is to stop asking them to choose at all.
Audit your last five pieces of content. For each one, ask:
How many CTAs did I include?
How many paths did I offer?
Was the next step unmistakably clear?
From there, track your metrics to see if there’s a correlation between the choices you offered and follower engagement rates. If the paradox of choice is at play, you’ll likely see lower engagement rates on posts with lots of options.
If you’re offering too many choices, slow your roll this week. Limit yourself to one CTA per post for the next two weeks, and see what happens. 📈
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Speak soon,
Kenzi
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