There’s a persistent belief in ecommerce that more features mean better experiences. More filtering options. More personalization. More content. More functionality at every turn.
Often, the opposite is true.
The Accumulation Problem
Features accumulate. Each one makes sense in isolation. A competitor has this feature—we need it too. A customer requested that—let’s add it. The platform supports this—might as well enable it.
But each addition has a cost. Not just development cost—cognitive cost. Every feature is something else for customers to process, evaluate, potentially get confused by.
The result is sites that feel overwhelming. Not because any single element is bad, but because everything together is too much.
Friction Comes from Choices
Every choice you ask a customer to make is friction. Choose a size. Choose a color. Choose a shipping option. Filter by price. Sort by relevance. Compare products.
Some choices are necessary. But many features add choices that don’t help customers reach their goals—they just make companies feel like they’re offering more.
The question isn’t ‘could this feature be useful?’ It’s ‘does this feature help more than it hinders?‘
The Editing Mindset
Great ecommerce experiences are edited, not just built. They ask: what can we remove? What choices can we eliminate? What complexity can we absorb on the customer’s behalf?
This is harder than adding. It requires confidence in your understanding of what customers actually need. It requires saying no to stakeholders who want their pet feature. It requires resisting the urge to match competitors feature-for-feature.
Examples of Good Editing
Instead of extensive filtering, curated collections that group products by actual use case. Instead of complex comparison tools, clear product recommendations that reduce choice anxiety. Instead of walls of reviews, carefully selected testimonials that address specific concerns.
The pattern: do the work so customers don’t have to.
When to Add vs. Subtract
Add when you’ve identified a genuine gap in the customer journey—something they need that they can’t currently do. Subtract when you notice confusion, when analytics show abandonment, when customer feedback mentions overwhelm.
Default to subtraction. The bias should always be toward simplicity. You can add back later if truly needed.
The Goal: Effortless
The best ecommerce experiences feel effortless. Customers find what they need quickly. Decisions feel easy. The path to purchase is clear. This isn’t achieved through features—it’s achieved despite them.
Before adding the next feature, ask: will this make our experience feel more effortless, or less?