IKEA Effect: Why You Should Know About This

As marketers, we think that customers will always prefer a more convenient product.

Therefore “done-for-you” is always more desirable.

Well, the IKEA effect completely contradicts this belief…

The IKEA Effect explained

The IKEA effect is a “cognitive bias in which consumers place a disproportionately high value on products they partially created”. (wiki)

In other words, people care more about the products for which they had to invest a little bit of effort.

This is especially true if they feel like, by doing so, they got better value for money.

Here is how to leverage the IKEA effect to create a better customer experience:

1/ Feeling more competent

By giving the opportunity to co-create the product, you can give the customer an opportunity to feel more competent.

One of the best examples of this is a service like Blue Apron.

They deliver meal kits (detailed recipe + ingredients) and enable customers to feel positive about their cooking skills.