Reducing Cart Abandonment by Mitigating Choice Overload
Completed Purchase Checkout Rate moved from 71.2% to 84.8% — a +13.6 percentage-point (19% relative) change (sample: 45,000 sessions).
Study details
- Challenge
- A financial service platform had low checkout conversion due to displaying 15 different payment options, leading to decision paralysis.
- Intervention
- Simplified the layout to 3 primary options (Credit Card, PayPal, and Express Wallet) while hiding the others behind a clean, secondary 'More Payment Methods' disclosure link.
- Outcome
- Completed Purchase Checkout Rate: 71.2% (control) → 84.8% (treatment); +13.6 pts, 19% relative
- Sample
- 45,000 sessions
- Key takeaway
- Capping immediate visual cognitive load prevents checkout exhaustion. Grouping secondary choices maintains utility while maximizing cognitive ease.
- Biases leveraged
- Choice OverloadDefault Effect
- Source
- Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. R. (2000). When choice is demotivating: Can one desire too much of a good thing? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(6), 995-1006. (Foundational choice-overload evidence underpinning this scenario.)
Cite this page
Behavioral Economics Lab. "Reducing Cart Abandonment by Mitigating Choice Overload." Behavioral Economics Lab, https://behavioraleconomicslab.com/findings/checkout-choice-reduction.
Primary source: Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. R. (2000). When choice is demotivating: Can one desire too much of a good thing? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 79(6), 995-1006. (Foundational choice-overload evidence underpinning this scenario.)