Visual preference heuristic
Shoppers prefer image-led assortments and see more variety in them, but large image-led sets are scanned less carefully and feel more overwhelming than text.
Where it applies
Three of the eight page areas.
How to use it
Three ways to put it to work.
- Use image grids for small result sets and visual categories.
- Add text attributes or offer a list view for large or spec-driven result sets.
- Narrow large or spec-driven result sets with filters first.
What the research found
A caution about images at scale, from a single multi-study lab paper.
A caution about images at scale, not an ‘images always win’ finding.
Townsend and Kahn's lab studies, including eye-tracking, found people preferred image-led assortments and saw more variety in them, but scanned images faster and less systematically. With large sets and unclear preferences, images led to more felt complexity and choice overload than text. A caution about images at scale, from a single paper.
Key research
One source, checked.
Last reviewed