Battle of Nudges and Cues: How Competing Visual Cues Influence the Impact of Sustainability Nudges in E-Commerce

E-commerce platforms frequently employ sustainability nudges to promote sustainable consumer behavior, yet these nudges often compete with other visual cues on the platform. Despite extensive research on the effectiveness of sustainability nudges, little is known about how sustainability nudges and visual cues interact when in direct competition. To address this gap, we conducted a scenario-based online experiment with 484 participants to investigate the effects of four common visual cues (popularity, scarcity, retailer recommendation, price discount) on the effectiveness of sustainability nudges to promote sustainable products. Our results indicate that while sustainability nudges generally encourage sustainable product choices, their impact is reduced in the presence of a visual cue on another product. However, products with sustainability nudges still maintain higher purchase rates compared to products with other cues when in direct competition. This study contributes to research and practice by offering valuable insights into the effectiveness of sustainability nudges.