Pinterest has published a new report that looks at the role that decision paralysis, or overwhelm due to too many options, can play in cart abandonment, and how brands can maximize their listings and approach to reduce consumer stress.

Which Pinterest says primarily comes down to curation, and displaying items in relevant context.

As per Pinterest:

“Over the course of a single day, people make 35,000 decisions - from what to make for dinner to which housewarming gift to buy for a friend. And the digital economy plays a huge role in the proliferation of choices. When faced with so many choices, decision paralysis kicks in: Studies have shown that over 7 out of 10 Gen Z shoppers say that it’s hard to strike the right balance between seeing enough options and getting overwhelmed.”

In order to address this, Pinterest says that curation can help, by ensuring that the options displayed are increasingly relevant to the individual user.

“Curation helps people to narrow their choices and discover the trends or patterns that feel just right for them. At this point of the process, shoppers begin to connect the dots and see how the product fits in their lives. 75% of shoppers say that having the ability to refine their options leads to more confident decisions.”

Pinterest says that providing contextually relevant product matches drives more engagement, and eventually satisfaction, by displaying relevant options aligned to each person’s interests.

And Pinterest’s display algorithms are built around just this purpose:

“At Pinterest we’ve spent years designing a system with curation at its core, fuelled by AI but still grounded in human taste. Our AI-powered Taste Graph is trained on billions of real human interactions and preferences, and evolves over time with shoppers as their tastes and preferences change.”

Indeed, Pinterest says that:

• 90% of Pinterest users say they find products relevant to them
• 39% of Gen Z now start their search on Pinterest
• Pinterest shoppers are 59% more likely to say that they’d buy what they discovered on Pinterest versus a leading social platform

In order to tap into this, Pinterest says that brands should ensure they maintain an up-to-date product catalog, while they should also make creative that feels curated, using different lifestyle imagery, color combinations, etc.

Finally, Pinterest recommends using its Pinterest+ AI-powered ad targeting tools to get your promotions in front of the right people.

Some interesting notes, which could help to refine your Pin strategy.