“Less clicks = better UX?” Not always, but stakeholders love to say it. How do you deal with this?

I’m curious, do you guys deal with stakeholders who think fewer clicks always means better UX? I feel like every company I’ve worked at repeats this as if it’s a universal truth. It is a good metric but it’s not the only one.

Which is oversimplifying and it’s a way to appear they know about “ux”.

I’m currently working on complex features where clarity and reducing cognitive load are way more important than cutting out steps. Fewer clicks can sometimes confuse users or overwhelm them with too much at once.

How do you handle this kind of feedback when you know “just reduce clicks” is a bad idea for the user experience? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks