These last few days I have been engaged in an adventure that many people go through in their lives: assembling furniture from Ikea.
When you open the boxes and start taking out boards and screws and start assembling, it is a unique moment, a moment that many people share in different ways: couples who are going to live together, parents and children, friends. The result is always the same, the people who have assembled the furniture are proud of it, and even more so if they have been there from the beginning of the process.
We are going to talk about this feeling of pride in what you have done yourself. We have always heard that when you have to do something that affects many people, it is better to involve them from the beginning so that they feel that what they are doing is theirs and get more involved. It is not a new concept, involving other people in an idea or a project from the beginning helps them to see the logic in it, to see its value and to play a role in it. Added to this, sharing efforts, opinions and moments, the involvement will be maximum and the experience will be enriching in many ways.
This effect of valuing what we do ourselves (whether it is our own project or someone else’s) has a name and it has to do with the furniture at the beginning; it is called the Ikea effect.
The Ikea effect is a term used to describe a phenomenon in which consumers tend to value a product more highly if they have had to invest time and effort in its construction or assembly themselves. This phenomenon, which occurs in many areas, has been so named because the Swedish company Ikea has managed to capitalize on it in a masterful way in its business model. A (bad) joke I heard a long time ago but which reflects the situation:
- You know, I’ve a new job.
- That’s great, and where do you work now?
- At Ikea
- That company where the customer has to move through the aisles, the customer has to take the measurements, the customer has to find the box containing the pieces of furniture, the customer has to take it home and the customer assembles it himself?
- Yes, I work in that company.
- Excuse me, but you don’t work there, the customer works there!
The strategy is simple: Ikea sells furniture and decorative products at low prices and makes customers feel proud to build them themselves. Instead of delivering assembled furniture, customers buy pre-cut and pre-drilled pieces that they assemble at home using basic tools and following the instructions provided. This building process becomes a memorable and satisfying experience for customers who, as we have mentioned, often even share it with family or friends as an activity and make them feel more involved in the creation of their home. They make it their own, it goes from being something tedious to something shared.
What does this achieve? Customer loyalty. When customers have invested time and effort in building their furniture, they feel more committed to the brand and the outcome. In addition, customers who have built their furniture are more likely to buy more of the brand’s products in the future because they have an emotional relationship with the brand.
Thus, Ikea gives the possibility for customers to define how they want to decorate the house to their liking through different modules (customization), and makes them feel proud of the process of assembly and installation, sharing it and creating that emotional bond. If we look at the Billy bookcase, one of the best sellers, we can even find blogs on how to get the best performance out of it, and this happens with other models as well, so it is clear that people get involved and show the emotional commitment they have with the brand.
And what about my business?
This can be taken to many areas of the company. When we involve someone in the process of setting up or creating something from the beginning, they feel it as their own and will get more involved in it to feel proud of what is obtained at the end.
A customer (internal or external) that we involve in the definition of a product or a process and that we evolve it together with him, will be more likely to have good feelings about the result, since it is also partly the result of him and he will have been able to shape it to his liking and knows the work behind it.
For those who are not very skilled in the kitchen, there are companies like Ikea, but for the cooking. In these companies, the customer orders a dish by catalog and receives the ingredients (previously cut and prepared) along with the recipe, so that he only has to follow the steps (no need to use knives), feel proud of the prepared meal and enjoy it in company.
Organizations that offer open source software, such as Linux or WordPress, capitalize on the Ikea effect by allowing users to modify the source code and customize the software to their needs. This creates a more personalized and valuable user experience, which increases user engagement and brand loyalty.
We also have another aspect, which is the sunk cost value bias. This is a phenomenon that makes us justify continuing to invest and dedicate time and resources to something, simply because we have already invested a lot in it, regardless of whether it makes sense or not. That is to say, sometimes, we have been so involved in something and it has cost us so much effort that we continue with it because of the emotional attachment we have to it. It happens with things that have cost us to do and we do not want to get rid of them, with investments that do not seem to pay off but we continue investing and working on them or we continue reading a book even if we do not like it very much because we have already read a lot and it is like throwing away all that time invested.
The Ikea effect is an interesting phenomenon that demonstrates how the perceived value of a product can be influenced by the consumer experience. Ikea’s strategy of having customers build their own furniture has been a great success and an example of cooperation with customers.
In general, any company can capitalize on the Ikea effect by involving customers in the process of creating and producing its products or services. By allowing consumers to play an active role in creating their experience, a more meaningful and valuable connection is created, increasing their engagement and loyalty to the product and brand.