IKEA Effect
People value what they helped make, even a little, far above what was handed to them.
What it is
Effort invested in creating something inflates its perceived worth. A dashboard the user configured, a plan they customised, a profile they filled in. Each becomes theirs in a way a finished product never does, and they defend it, keep it and pay for it accordingly.
The research
Participants who assembled IKEA boxes, folded origami or built Lego valued their creations far more than identical items built by others, and expected others to share the valuation.
Norton, Mochon and Ariely, 2012
How to use it
Let people configure, within limits
A choice of layout, a named workspace, a chosen colour. Small acts of making, big rise in attachment.
Co-create the strategy
In a consulting engagement, a plan built in a workshop with the client survives. One delivered as a deck does not.
Related
Sources that shaped this entry: growth.design.