Term
Progressive Disclosure
Reveal complexity gradually as the user needs it, rather than presenting every option at once.
Progressive disclosure is the practice of showing the minimum a user needs to make their next decision, then revealing more on demand. The classic example is an installer with a “Show advanced options” affordance, but the principle scales from microcopy (“Why we need this”) all the way to multi-step forms.
For premature conversion, progressive disclosure is the antidote to the “everything-at-once” hero. Lead with the value proposition, link to comparison, link from comparison to detail. Each level answers exactly the next question. The user converts (or doesn’t) with full information at each step rather than being asked to weigh the entire offer in one screen.
A related discipline is one thing per page: when the next decision is genuinely complex, give it its own surface. GOV.UK’s question-per-page form pattern is the canonical example.