Management Practice Insights
DOI: 10.59571/mpi.v3i2.10
Year: 2025, Volume: 3, Issue: 2, Pages: 1-10
Original Article
Dhrithi Mahadevani*
iS.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research
* Corresponding author: [email protected]
Received Date:31 May 2025, Accepted Date:29 October 2025, Published Date:29 October 2025
Default options are widely used to influence customer decisions, whether it’s email subscriptions, menu selections, or delivery modes in food and grocery apps. Managers often assume defaults work simply because they reduce the effort consumers make. But recent research by Nicolette J. Sullivan and a team of collaborators shows this view is incomplete: Defaults don’t just make life easier – They can actually change how customers value options.1
If managers overlook how defaults truly work, they risk missing key opportunities to meaningfully guide customer decisions. Poorly designed defaults can lead to lost chances for premium upgrades, product bundles, or valuable add-ons, which could benefit both the customer and the business. Worse, defaults that feel manipulative or self-serving can damage trust, provoke customer backlash, and invite regulatory scrutiny. Treating defaults as simple shortcuts, when they actually shape how customers evaluate and choose, could lead to wasted design effort and missed revenue.
To capitalize on the new insights, managers must treat defaults as value-shaping tools, not just effort-saving conveniences. Defaults work best when they align with customer goals, are placed in moments of ambiguity, and are not perceived as self-serving. Such a nuanced understanding of defaults is particularly relevant to product managers, designers of user experience, and marketers aiming to build trust and drive better outcomes.
1 Nicolette J. Sullivan et al., “The Golden Halo of Defaults in Simple Choices,” Journal of Marketing Research 62, no. 2 (2025): 386–404, https://doi.org/10.1177/00222437241303738.
2 James J Choi et al., “For Better or for Worse: Default Effects and 401 (k) Savings Behavior,” in Perspectives on the Economics of Aging (University of Chicago Press, 2004).
3 Jingyi Lu et al., “Double Reference Points: The Effects of Social and Financial Reference Points on Decisions under Risk,” Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 28, no. 5 (2015): 451–63.
4 Muhammad Zaman, Workplace Pension Participation and Saving Trends: 2009 to 2019 (UK Department for Work & Pensions, 2025), 17, https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/892841/workplace-pension-participation-and-saving-trends-2009-2019.pdf.
5 UChicago CS News, “The Hidden Cost of Netflix’s Autoplay: A Study on Viewing Patterns and User Control,” Department of Computer Science, February 25, 2025, https://cs.uchicago.edu/news/the-hidden-cost-of-netflixs-autoplay-a-study-on-viewing-patterns-and-user-control/.
6 Justin Worland, “What Companies Can Learn About Climate Action From a Take-Out Cutlery Study,” TIME, September 7, 2023, https://time.com/6311741/how-companies-can-support-climate-friendly-habits/.
7 Thijs Endendijk and WJ Wouter Botzen, “A Default Nudge in Waste Management: Assessing the Impact of Explicit Consent for Unaddressed Mail,” Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy 12, no. 4 (2023): 473–89.
8 Steffen Altmann et al., “Defaults and Donations: Evidence from a Field Experiment,” Review of Economics and Statistics 101, no. 5 (2019): 808–26.
9 Deepinder Goyal, Introducing 100% Plastic Neutral Deliveries, April 22, 2022, https://blog.zomato.com/introducing-100-plastic-neutral-deliveries.
10 Shivi Hyde, “Microlearning: The 10-Minute Habit to Master Any Skill,” Education, Brass Smile, September 26, 2025, https://www.brasssmile.com/microlearning-the-10-minute-habit-to-master-any-skill/.
11 Endendijk and Botzen, “A Default Nudge in Waste Management: Assessing the Impact of Explicit Consent for Unaddressed Mail.”
12 Deepinder Goyal, Introducing 100% Plastic Neutral Deliveries.
© 2025 Published by SPJIMR. This is an open-access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
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