A 26-table beach club in Antalya Lara set the quantity default to 1 for cocktails and 2 for shareable mezes — basket size jumped +9% with no complaint spike. The trick wasn't aggressive defaulting; it was matching defaults to the product's natural serving unit.
The Dark Side of Default 2
Per Amazon's Behavioral Economics Team 2024 report, products with default quantity set to 2 see average basket grow by 11%. But the flip side is painful: customers forget to dial down at add-to-cart, notice at checkout, and bounce. In those cases refunds and complaints multiply 2.8x. NPS drops 14 points and repeat visits erode by 6%.
So "default 2" is not a free growth hack; applied to the wrong category, it's a long-term tax. The defaulting decision must align with the product's natural consumption unit.
Right Pairing: Which Default for Which Product?
The beach club case crystallized a rule: singular consumption defaults to 1, shareable items default to 2. This pairing is now the menu psychology gold standard.
- Default 1: Cocktails, espresso, mains, desserts, smoothies — personal consumption.
- Default 2: Meze plates, nut bowls, sharing pizzas, snack combos, breakfast-for-two.
- Default 4-6: Wedding/corporate packages — group reservation module only.
A/B Test: 14 Days, 1,823 Orders
The club ran 7 days of legacy (everything default 1) and 7 days of new (cocktail 1, meze 2). Total 1,823 orders. New scheme lifted basket average from 847 TRY to 923 TRY. Complaints actually fell from 11 to 9 — because meze duos were already the natural order, the default just accelerated it.
thMenu admin panel exposes a "default quantity" field per product, plus category-level bulk set. Push all mezes to 2 and all drinks to 1 in 30 seconds. Zero margin for error.
FAQ
What if I default everything to 2? Basket spikes short-term but refunds/complaints hit 2.8x; NPS erosion eats the gain within 60 days.
Can I change defaults weekly? Yes — many venues run meze=2 in summer and meze=1 in winter. thMenu supports seasonal presets.
Can the customer drop to 0? No; default minimum is 1. A separate "remove" button clears the cart entry while the quantity selector protects the floor.
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