Consumer choice behavior is crucial to supporting cleaner production and plays an essential role in low‐carbon development and environmental policy‐making. Therefore, combining system dynamics with an agent‐based model (SD–AB), the present study explores influencing factors on both providers' and consumers' sides. Using empirical data from selected firms and a questionnaire survey of residents in China, the simulation results revealed that consumers' low‐carbon awareness and income have little effect on their willingness to pay for low‐carbon products. In contrast, some factors have an obvious effect on consumers' willingness to pay for low‐carbon products, including the delivery speed of low‐carbon products, consumers' patience and degree of satisfaction. Thus, companies that provide low‐carbon products should be more focused on customer expectations and should ensure timely and efficient delivery to consumers. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment