Why do users often fail to make the most reasonable choice?

Why do people still prefer to buy iPhone even though there are phones with better performance than iPhone on the market? Why do people still buy McDonald 's food even though they know it's unhealthy?

These user decision-making questions, which seem very personal and emotional, seem difficult to give a specific answer. But after some time of thinking and researching, I realized that it has to do with the way people see things. I also gradually understood the reasons behind people choosing these brands : these brands and products can help users eliminate the negative impact of the decision-making process as quickly as possible.

Reduce the negative impact of products

People always get anxious for various strange reasons and then refuse to buy products, so when designing products, we should try to reduce the negative impact as much as possible. To explain this phenomenon, two economic terms must be introduced: satisfaction and maximization.

Satisfaction and maximization

Nobel Prize winner in Economics Herbert Simon is the creator of these two concepts, and the concepts of satisfaction and maximization are closely related to human behavior.

maximize

If you are planning your own wedding, in this case, you usually choose the most celebratory day and a hotel that is decent enough to host your guests, and you definitely won't choose McDonald's. Or when you are shopping for a new car, you will try to compare different attributes and parameters such as fuel consumption, speed, comfort, etc. The above two situations are typical examples of maximizing choices and decisions.

When we choose to maximize, we try to choose the best and most reasonable option. Typically, decision makers rely on external resources to make evaluations. Rather than simply choosing based on their own preferences, most people will make decisions based on external parameters such as fame, status, and other factors.

Satisfaction

Suppose you are in a completely unfamiliar city, your cell phone is out of battery, you have been hungry for most of the day, your stomach is aching from hunger, and you urgently need to eat something. At this time, few people would carefully consider whether to eat Japanese hot pot or find a French restaurant. If there is a McDonald's on the side of the road, you will go in immediately instead of thinking over and over again whether you should eat something else that is healthier. At this moment, McDonald's can relieve your hunger and your satisfaction will reach the highest level.

Of course, McDonald's doesn't make for the best experience, but under the circumstances, the meal was satisfying. You should keep this in mind because when you are satisfied, you are not necessarily enjoying the optimal or best meal under the circumstances . In this situation, most people would only consider "how to avoid food poisoning" or "try not to eat bad food." In other words, "McDonald's is satisfying enough."

However, when the situation is not urgent, we usually look for food that is as good as possible within an acceptable range, and even spend time looking for the "best" restaurant. On the contrary, McDonald's may not necessarily satisfy everyone.

Understand user behavior

"Why does McDonald's still exist even though it tastes so bad?" some people may ask this question. That's because it meets the satisfaction needs of a section of people . It’s true that there are better restaurants around, but many people are afraid of the unknown, and most of us are very subjective when judging the quality of food. As humans, we are not prone to making complex decisions, we will always choose what is familiar and acceptable.

As designers, one of our job responsibilities is to eliminate the many psychological barriers that users face when purchasing products. In addition to design, our other job is to understand human nature and users as much as possible. Only in this way can we bring products that users can accept, want, and even urgently want to buy. That's it.

There are only two choices: either you can change people and the environment, or you have to change the product so that people will buy it actively.

“Quality and performance” are actually subjective perceptions

The motorcycle purchasing group is very interesting. When they buy, they will measure the product to the maximum extent possible, and measure the speed differences, performance, fuel consumption, and comfort between different models through research. But in the end, what they pursue after buying a motorcycle is actually the excitement brought by extreme speed, rather than reasonable vehicle configuration. Motorcycling is more of a hobby than a means of transportation .

So, let's say you decide to buy a TV, but most people aren't familiar with all the brands and differences between the various models on the market. Normally, you would choose from the most famous and advanced brands on the market, such as LG, Sony or Philips, rather than a TV branded as Bobby. There won’t be any big problems no matter which one you choose from these big-name TVs, right? I have never heard of the brand Bobby.

Of course, design alone makes it difficult to distinguish products from brands such as LG, Sony, Philips and Bobby.

However, as a designer, there are two things that must be taken into consideration. The first is to give the product a clear positioning and design the product with a clear direction. The second is to eliminate negative impacts, minimize users' concerns in all aspects, and reduce anxiety. Therefore, the key point of the designer's work is not to strongly attract users to buy a Sony TV, but to make users have no concerns when buying Bobby TV.

Designers and users actually have the same anxiety. In fact, most of the time, what we strive to do is to make everything look not strange and make people feel acceptable. Eliminating negative emotions and potential anxiety is a very important direction and point. Because there are too many worrying details. It's like buying a Bobby brand TV; the name itself seems a bit silly.

Potential Problems in Market Research

In fact, market research often fails to effectively reflect the situation. Suppose you are doing market research on Samsung 's Galaxy tablet and Apple's iPad. Usually, the research will compare the parameters. The Galaxy series tablets seem to be better than the iPad in all aspects. Then you can use the comparison parameters to ask users: "Which one would you buy?"

In this case, the vast majority of people will subconsciously make the maximal decision, and many people who do not have a deep understanding of the two brands and products will largely choose Samsung tablets. In fact, the survey did prove this to be the case. What's strange is that a few days later, many users will return to the carrier 's store, return their Galaxy tablets, and buy iPads instead. Why is this happening?

If there is a logical answer, we have usually found it. ——Rory Sutherland

The same thinking process actually applies to other products. What really influences users to make secondary decisions is not the rational part of the brain. Many people have purchased Samsung's Galaxy tablets. After returning home, many relatives and friends who own tablets or know a little about them will question them: "Why did you buy a Samsung tablet instead of an iPad?" This causes users' anxiety and uneasiness. In other words, the shortcomings and defects of the product itself will actually be continuously magnified and fermented among the user base.

User Decision: Avoiding Embarrassment

If you buy a Mercedes or a BMW and it breaks down, nine out of ten of your friends will feel sorry for you. If your car is an Alfa Romeo, your friend's attitude might be "What can you expect from a brand like this? Buy a more durable Ford or Volkswagen next time."

In fact, when users make product purchasing decisions, avoiding embarrassment is very important.

You don't want to look stupid in the eyes of your friends or colleagues. If you buy an iPhone, no one will think there is anything wrong with it (the same is true for some specific groups where using Huawei phones is a trend). If you buy an LG phone, or a more niche copycat phone, then you will more or less encounter some strange looks. Of course, some people don't care, but most people will pay more attention. But the people who don’t care are a minority, maybe only 10%?

The mentality of avoiding embarrassment also exists in the investment field. I once read in a book the advice given by a senior broker to a novice in the industry: "You can't go wrong buying or selling IBM stock. Because if something really goes wrong, it means that something is wrong with the entire market." To put it more simply, if you don't want your investment to look stupid, it's always a good idea to recommend some proven big names, even if they are on a downward trend.

In fact, this behavioral trend of users can be understood as sacrificing some performance or technical advantages in order to maintain their inherent image.

Not everything that is measured matters, and not everything that matters can be measured. ——Rory Sutherland

Source: Eugen Eşanu