The Power of Default Option: How Extensive Choices Impact Consumer Decisions

Abstract

This study explores choice overload and its impact on consumer decision-making, particularly regarding default options. While prior research indicates that gender may influence decision-making, our findings reveal no significant gender effect on the likelihood of selecting default options, satisfaction levels, or decision-making duration. This suggests that choice overload’s effects are applicable across diverse demographic groups. Our research provides important marketing insights, advocating for simplified choice environments to enhance customer satisfaction. Reducing the number of options can alleviate choice fatigue and improve the overall purchasing experience. Conversely, when promoting specific products, creating a choice overload scenario with a designated default option may increase its selection likelihood. The study does, however, recognize limitations, such as the lack of comparisons between scenarios with and without default options and potential participant confusion that may lead to invalid responses. Future research should investigate the role of default options on satisfaction and decision-making time within choice overload contexts and assess whether product categories influence adherence to default options.