Unlock the secret to winning your customers' hearts with a straightforward psychological trick. Dive into the fascinating world of consumer psychology and discover how to make your product irresistible, fostering a deep and enduring connection with your audience.
Kristina Durante believes that products should be designed around surprise rather than curation
It’s why she’s a fan of the design behind subscription boxes and Netflix’s new random “Play Something” feature, but she’s not so bullish on dating apps that simply list endless people to meet.
- Do we really enjoy things more when they’re serendipitous discoveries rather than something we carefully choose ourselves?
The Ethics of a Surprise
The more serendipitous an interaction, the less insight a user has into how and why it was made.
- For example, Facebook and YouTube may recommend great stories and clips to watch, but they’ve also guided us to content supporting alt-right conspiracy theories.
- In doing so, they create hostile, opaque systems that are difficult to scrutinize.
The paradox of choice
While people say they want options and the opportunity to shape their own destiny, the truth is that deciding between a long list of products or menu items can actually cause a lot of stress and make us unhappy
- With serendipity, you don’t choose, you just accept what you get, and you end up liking it more because there’s no engagement in overthinking
- More companies should adopt this approach, as research suggests that customers will enjoy their products more for it
The limits of serendipity
If someone likes what they stumble upon, they will usually like it more than if they’d chosen it themselves.
- However, if they don’t like it, then it doesn’t help
- Serendipity affects people with a lot of subject matter expertise. For instance, if you know a lot about smartphones, would you want a surprise Samsung Galaxy or Mr. Coffee machine?
