Effort: Medium
What to notice
Save candidates and criteria for later review without deciding immediately.
Where it fits
- Fits
- People comparing products with consequential costs or conditions.
- Use it when
- When criteria can be retained and updates checked later.
- Avoid it when
- When information freshness or deletion cannot be maintained.
How to build it
- Show which candidates and criteria will be saved.
- Explain storage location, expiry and deletion.
- Recheck prices and changed terms on return.
Measure
- Main metric
- Share of eligible comparers reviewing saved information and making a decision
- Guardrail
- Lost saved comparisons and reliance on outdated terms
- How to measure
- Allocate comparison groups before exposure and use equal follow-up and eligibility. Track Share of eligible comparers reviewing saved information and making a decision alongside Lost saved comparisons and reliance on outdated terms.
When it backfires
Saving is not marketing consent and must not trigger unsolicited reminders.
Alternatives
Theory behind it
Bounded rationality
People choose with limited information and time rather than comparing indefinitely.
Practitioner framework
Goal shielding
Focusing on one goal can reduce attention to alternatives.
Limited evidence
Evidence limits: An editorial web application; conversion effects on this interface are unmeasured. This decision model does not justify hiding options to boost sales. Do not substitute business preferences for user criteria.