Time Pressure and User Ratings on Consumers’ Choice and Eye Fixations

This study investigated how time pressure and user ratings impacted consumer’s choice behavior and their eye fixation when shopping for online products. Participants were displayed various fictitious brands of the same types of product and were required to choose one that they would purchase. It was found that choices of a product and its associated eye fixations increased with user ratings. Compared to the time-pressure absence condition, the time-pressure presence condition had faster choice decisions and fewer eye fixations. There was also a significant interaction between user ratings and time pressure, for which products with a 5-star rating, not the lower ratings, was chosen more often in the time-pressure presence condition than in the time-pressure absence condition. Lastly, subjective reports showed that more individuals reported they had plenty of time to make their decisions in the time-pressure absence condition than in the time-pressure presence condition. Our results can inform retailers and webpage designers of potential design strategies in consideration of consumers’ behavior while shopping in different conditions of time pressure.