The business world is one that thrives on information. Information for you, as an entrepreneur seeking to improve your business’ productivity; information for your employees, so they can perform their roles to the best of their ability; and information for customers, so they can make educated purchasing decisions and – hopefully – choose your company over your competitors.

 

The flow of information across all of these aspects of business is vital, but it can also be troublesome, and lead to a situation we’re going to term “information overload”. Below, we’ll delve into this subject, exploring what it is, how it can impact your business, and – arguably most importantly of all – what you can do to prevent it from happening.

 

What is information overload?

 

Information overload is more of a concept than a practical consideration. The term is primarily used to describe an overload of information, potentially to the point where the person receiving the information – be they a consumer, an employee, or just you as an entrepreneur – can barely process what they are meant to be learning.

 

Why does this happen?

 

 

Learning and absorbing information is not a particularly quick process. Every time we learn something new, our brain has to effectively forge a new neural pathway in our brain; this allows us to retain the facts we have learned.

 

If people receive information slowly, their brain has time to create these neural pathways one at a time, with all of the information carefully recorded. However, if we try and learn two new pieces of information at a time, the process slows – think of it as running too many programs on an older computer; it’s possible, but it’s undeniably slower. If we try and learn more than two new pieces of information, the process becomes slower still.

 

Eventually, this can lead to a completely stunted learning process, where it’s simply not possible to keep absorbing too much information. Returning to the old computer metaphor, the point at which it’s impossible to learn new information would be a system crash; a point at which our brain can’t take any more information in, even if it’s valuable information we need to know.

 

What problems does this cause?

 

Information overload essentially makes it impossible to learn new things. There’s simply too much to process, which means that mistakes are made. Those neural pathways we all rely on become far less robust, with a few paving slabs missing; or potentially just vanishing entirely.

 

This causes problems for businesses in three distinct areas:

 

You, the entrepreneur

 

The internet, in particular, is full of advice regarding the best way to run a business – there’s guides, videos, webinars, social media content, and so on and so forth. What’s more, all of this information will insist that it’s essential to the success of your business, which can create a sense of urgency – you feel like you have to learn it if you want your business to be a success.

 

Somewhat inevitably, this can cause information overload. You may find yourself reading an article, or watching a video, and failing to truly absorb the information that it provides.

 

Your employees

 

 

The employees of your business are always learning; they’re learning how to do their jobs, how to perform at their best, and how to interact with their colleagues. In addition to this, they’re also taking on new information – perhaps a new strategy that has been put in place, or reflecting on the feedback of their last review. As with entrepreneurial information overload, there is, eventually, a point at which they cannot process the information that is being presented to them.

 

When this happens, your business will suffer: productivity will drop, and the employee’s happiness in their role will likely be compromised.

 

Your customers

 

Compared to entrepreneurs and employees, it seems like customers escape relatively unscathed when it comes to information overload – but this isn’t the case. After all, a customer has to learn how to use your website, understand your pricing plans, learn your pricing policy; all of which they have to achieve before they even place an order.

 

In addition, customers are subjected to a constant bombardment of information in the form of adverts. This is similar to how entrepreneurs are impacted; every single advert, from every single company, focuses on telling consumers that their product or service is the best. For the consumer, this creates confusion and can lead to a point where they are genuinely not sure what the right purchasing decision may be.

 

What are the downsides of information overload?

 

 

Let’s keep this succinct:

• Information overload reduces a person’s ability to learn new information
• Information overload impairs a person’s ability to make strong, effective decisions
• Information overload for entrepreneurs can cause important points to be missed and time to be lost, particularly time spent trying to learn something new that – ultimately – doesn’t “stick” in your memory
• Information overload for employees causes poor rates of productivity and unhappiness
• Information overload for consumers can mean that you, a business owner, effectively waste money on advertising, because your consumers are unable to truly absorb the message you are trying to convey
• It is also worth noting that information overload is inherently stressful for anyone who experiences it

 

What can you do to prevent information overload?

 

We’ll break this down into sections for the sake of clarity.

 

Preventing information overload for entrepreneurs

 

Only regularly consume content that you actively seek. For example, if you have an issue with your business, you could Google for ideas for a solution, and then subsequently read an article. What you need to avoid is the opposite; being presented with a problem, told that it’s important, and then being presented with the solution. It’s okay to browse and consume content just because it spikes your interest, rather than addresses a particular point, on occasion – but for regular content consumption, stay within the limits of areas that are actually important to you and your business.

 

Preventing information overload for employees

 

When it comes to delivering new information to employees, ask yourself two questions:

• When did these employees last learn something new?
• Is it essential I convey this information right now?

 

The answers need to be along the lines of: “some time ago” and “yes”.

 

If you pass this first hurdle, you now need to think about how the information is delivered. A long, two-hour business meeting or 5,000-page document is unlikely to be the best option here. Instead, look for information that is concise and simple, suitable for employees with a busy schedule and short attention spans wherever possible.

 

Finally, consider the relevance of the information you intend to provide. For example, if you are training employees to use new software, then every employee who will use that software needs to be involved in the learning process. However, for employees who won’t use the software – such as cleaning or security staff – there is no need to share this information. It’s often tempting to just spread information company-wide and let employees decide if that information is relevant to their jobs, but this technique can be problematic. Instead, only impart information to those who need to know it at any given time.

 

Preventing information overload for customers

 

Shakespeare wrote that brevity is the soul of wit, but when it comes to your customers, brevity is also the soul of effective messaging.

 

When providing information to your customers, constantly ask yourself if that information is as short and simple as it can be.

• Use short, sharp paragraphs, ideally separated by subheadings, when presenting information online.
• When writing product descriptions, use bullet points to break up the text and focus on the key benefits of the item.
• Use facts as the backbone of your message, rather than selling an idea or a lifestyle.
• When it comes to using your email list, do so infrequently. Online guides may tell you you need to email your list every week – some even go as far to say every day – but this is just as likely to see your emails sent to ‘spam’ as it is to increase custom. Instead, send emails only when you have something new or particularly useful to say.
• Invite your customers to ask for more information if they need it rather than seeking to cover all the possible bases up front. Not only does this step help to prevent customers needing to wade through vast amounts of information in the hope of finding what they need, but it also helps to encourage engagement, which is beneficial when it comes to creating a long-term relationship between your company and your customers.

 

In conclusion

 

 

Information is good for a business; in fact, it’s essential, allowing you to learn from mistakes, react to market trends, train your employees, and attract customers to your company. However, as positive as information is for a business, it is always possible to have too much of a good thing. By keeping the above thoughts in mind, you should be able to find the right balance: access and use of the information your business needs to thrive, but without overloading everyone involved in your operations. Good luck.