Every referencing product is the same, but that’s not because it’s the perfect formula.
Have you ever stopped to question why there are suddenly so many superhero movies? Seriously, there are loads. And it’s weird, because it’s not as if people walk around talking about superheroes.
“I wish there were more superhero movies” is not a sentence that I’ve ever heard anyone say. Have you?
One reason why is the familiarity bias.
And the familiarity bias isn’t a phenomenon reserved for cinema, it’s something my company, Movem, is having to tackle right now.
At Movem, we’ve created a new way of doing things. But people don’t just like the old way, they truly believe it’s the only way. And that’s dangerous.
With the next 862 words, I will do my best to explain how this strange force may be crippling the future of your letting agency.
And no, this doesn’t just relate to my business. It’s applicable to deposit-free alternatives, tenant passports and even our taste for movies.
Let’s start with something I think is fairly obvious: it’s so notoriously difficult to get people to try new ideas, that there’s a term for them — early adopters.
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Why people like what they like
The physicist Max Plank famously said: “A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.”
Or rather: people have views, and like things that align with their views. It’s hard to convince them to change their mind.
It’s the kind of psychology that Cambridge Analytica understood well, and manipulated on behalf of organisations.
It’s also why we see so many superhero movies. They’re fashionable, and palatable. The storylines are almost identical — but that doesn’t matter because we liked the last Avengers, so we’ll watch the new one.
Let me attack this from a PropTech perspective.
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Why people like property portals
Ask yourself: why do all popular property portals look the same?
It’s not because they’ve found the perfect layout to sell a house. Really, it’s not.
Consider this: is it the perfect design because out of every possible combination of variables, this is the absolute best? Or is it perfect because this is the way it’s always looked, and so we can’t imagine something different?
Drumroll please.
The reason is simple and unsatisfying: millions of people are used to it looking like this. They like it this way. They know how to use it. Change is scary. Familiar is comforting.
So, Zoopla designed their site to look familiar enough that you already know how to use it, but different enough that you realise you’re on Zoopla.
To clarify: things are the way they are not because they’re perfect, but because they were done that way before, and we like it that way.
That’s a really important point so it’s worth repeating myself. This is just the way it is, not the way it should be.
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Why people believe they need a traditional reference
This is what happened with tenant referencing. Once upon a time, somebody came up with a way of doing it. And now that’s the way of doing it.
And I’m not just talking about the fields on the form, but the whole process.
- Why do we do the reference after the viewing?
- Why do we speak to the previous landlord ,who is unlikely to give an unbiased view?
- Why do we not factor in the amount of deposit that was previously returned?
- Why do we not meet the tenants in person to reference them, if it’s such an important process? Why can’t it be a physical meeting?
- Why is there an expectation that references take 24 hours at a minimum? Why isn’t it normal for them to be 30 minutes? or 30 days?
But an industry was born.
It’s illogical to think everybody coherently concluded that familiarity is key. Rather that natural selection killed the companies that were different, and those that fit the mould remained.
Pre-existing views and opinions are reinforced, and ink is turned into stone.
It gets even harder to break the mould when you consider that other companies started plugging into this old technology:
- Insurance companies create complimenting products that require references to be done exactly how they were already done.
- Integrations with other companies that share exactly, and only, the information that is stored on a traditional reference.
Imagine how hard it’d be to change the classic UK 3 pin plug to a new 4 pin plug. Even if it was better in every conceivable way. Everything already works with the 3 pin plug, and so any benefit you got of changing would be outweighed (in the short term) by the hassle of rewiring all your plugs.
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Why we need change
And so referencing is this way. Not because it’s best. Not because it’s safest. Not because it’s the cheapest. Not because it’s the most efficient.
Referencing is this way because it once was. And because familiarity is easy and comforting, it continued to be that way.
It’s difficult to imagine something wildly different. And your inner monologue of “maybe” quickly turns to “never” as you consider how challenging a move would be.
But it will happen. I believe it has happened with Movem. If you don’t agree with me yet, wait to see what we have planned.
On the way into work this morning I thought of a phrase. It may already exist somewhere in some other format. Still:
Conquer your familiarity bias, or familiarise yourself with being conquered.
If you want to learn more about what we’re doing at Movem, email me directly on peter@movem.co.uk.
Oh, and next time you sit down to watch a movie, pay attention to how many trailers there are for superhero movies.
