Set Better Default Options

Welcome to another edition of Quick Checkout Tips!

Today's quick tip is something you can implement in minutes (even before your BFCM "code freeze" ??).

Let's talk about default options.

A simple pre-selection can have more of an impact than you'd think.

In one popularized study, researchers studying the differences in the European countries’ organ donation participation found something interesting: in countries where the default option was to be an organ donor the donation consent rate was very high at 82%, whereas in countries where people had to opt-in to be a donor it was almost half at a 42% donation consent rate.

Apparently it's attributed to something called the Status Quo Bias. That just means that people very often just go along with the default options presented to them. It's a fascinating peek into human psychology and our tendency to be overwhelmed by decision-making, so much so that we instead opt to keep whatever the status quo is.

I bring this up because we saw similar behavior patterns in eCommerce shoppers' behavior.

One use case particularly stands out: shoppers' selection of shipping options.

Here's one example: a brand wanted to nudge more shoppers to choose a more premium shipping option, so we introduced a 99ï¿  delivery option with an arrival date and set it as the default selected option: A full 57% left it on the premium paid option, netting this brand 6 figures in additional annual revenue.

For another brand, we similarly added a premium shipping option and made it more appealing with an accurate delivery arrival date and enticing copy. It boosted the overall ARPC (average revenue per checkout) by $0.20, which is pretty good.

But when that shipping option was pre-chosen? Its selection shot up, increasing the ARPC by a massive $3.37 (and even higher for certain segments like traffic from paid ads).

It's a simple hack, and it can be applied to many many things in your shop: from sorting of your products to pre-ticking an order protection checkbox.

The list of possibilities is as long as the options offered on your site.

That's all for today, until next time! ??

P.S.

Can you imagine the potential impact of a preselected voting ballot?