You may have heard the phrase “analysis paralysis.”
 
Even if you haven’t, you probably know the feeling it describes.
 
Maybe you’ve experienced it at the Cheesecake Factory as you sit down for dinner with friends and you’re confronted with a seemingly endless variety of culinary options: Italian, Chinese, American fare, healthy options, not so healthy options, burgers, seafood. And all this before you even get to the cheesecake part of the menu….
 
Or maybe you feel it when you log into your Netflix or Amazon Prime account and see hundreds of TV shows that sound appealing and a dozen more movies you’re tempted to watch.
 
Having too many options is just plain stressful, and can hamstring your decision-making process. Maybe you don’t make a decision at all. Or maybe you quickly regret the one you did make because you keep thinking about those other options.

More options don’t automatically translate into better or more informed decisions.
 
This is something apartment operators should keep in mind when thinking about the leasing process. The more streamlined you can make it and the fewer opportunities you give prospects to fall prey to analysis paralysis; the happier those prospects will be and the more likely they will be to complete the leasing process – at your community.
 
The Struggle Is Real
The stress of having too many options has been well-documented.
 
A study compared shoppers’ reactions when confronted with a display of 24 different kinds of jam and another display with only six varieties.
 
“The large display attracted more interest than the small one,” writes prominent psychologist Barry Schwartz in the Harvard Business Review. “But when the time came to purchase, people who saw the large display were one-tenth as likely to buy as people who saw the small display.”
 
The jam study was no anomaly, Schwartz added.
 
“Other studies have confirmed this result that more choice is not always better. As the variety of snacks, soft drinks, and beers offered at convenience stores increases, for instance, sales volume and customer satisfaction decrease,” Schwartz writes. “Moreover, as the number of retirement investment options available to employees increases, the chance that they will choose any decreases. These studies and others have shown not only that excessive choice can produce ‘choice paralysis,’ but also that it can reduce people’s satisfaction with their decisions, even if they made good ones.”
 
Creating a Better Leasing Experience
Choice overload is something operators should keep in mind when it comes to the apartment-shopping process.
 
Remember that prospects may have toured a couple of properties, have seen a variety of floor plans and amenities and the stress of all the options could easily raise their cortisol level. Limit the burden of decision making by keeping your amenity package strong, but simple, and focus your prospect on finding an apartment in your community that suits their needs.
 
Another way to reduce the decision-making stress of prospects is simplifying the financial mechanism you use to protect your communities against unit damage, unpaid rent, and lease skips. For example, some apartment communities ask applicants to choose between paying a large upfront security deposit or a surety bond. It may seem beneficial to offer renters different choices, but weighing the pros and cons of such a choice – on top of the many other choices a prospective renter must make – can create the dreaded analysis paralysis.
 
The fewer decisions you require of renters, the smoother your leasing process will be. By eliminating the assortment of financial instruments like security deposits, surety bonds, cosigners, and guarantors and replacing with a simple, automated and affordable instrument like lease insurance, communities get the protection they need without adding another agonizing decision or creating upfront financial burdens for renters.
 
A lease experience that is designed for simplicity may seem insignificant, but removing it can have huge effects on your leasing: fewer decisions, equals a faster process, which equals more leases.
 
Speaking of choices, do you have a few minutes to help me choose what to watch on Netflix?