Why Too Many Options Can Hurt UX: The Concept of 'Decision Tax' Explained

UX designer Ryan Verwey argues that choice overload in interfaces is not simply about the number of options, but about the mental effort users must exert to compare, evaluate, and act — a burden he calls the 'decision tax.' He distinguishes this from Hick's Law, emphasizing that context, user expertise, and interface support all determine when options become overwhelming. Verwey illustrates the point with three camera shoppers — a professional, a first-time buyer, and a time-pressed traveler — who face the same catalog but vastly different decision challenges. He references Iyengar and Lepper's 2000 jam study, which found that shoppers were far more likely to purchase from a set of six options than from twenty-four. His framework, the SCOPE review, aims to help designers preserve meaningful user agency while minimizing unnecessary cognitive load across pricing pages, filters, and onboarding flows.