IKEA Effect – Why we value our ideas over others.

I remember the days when I started my career as a sales trainee in a company that was well established as a tyre company but they were about to launch home appliances. During one of the brain storming sessions with head marketing, on designing the launch strategy we were told that each one of us has to propose a few ideas on the business and launch strategy. The best ideas would be selected and made a part of the national launch plan strategy.

 We all got charged up and started to work on our own mini projects, in the evening we presented our ideas to head marketing. Someone else’s idea was selected over mine. I literally went into a shell as I had worked very hard on my idea.

Years later I read about a concept called “IKEA Effect” and this made me understand – why I felt bad when my idea was turned down (Rejected).

Have you ever felt that if you get anything without putting in hard work the value for the same goes down or in other words you tend to take it for granted? Many times we see that in brainstorming sessions good leaders tend to encourage others to contribute to the discussion and suggest ideas. The simplest reason for this is that when you contribute to the building process you start owing the same and by default start valuing it more.

The IKEA effect was identified and named by Michael I. Norton. In simple words as per IKEA Effect the labor alone can be sufficient to induce greater liking for the fruits of one’s labor. In fact IKEA works on this concept of “Do It Yourself (DIT)”. When a customer assembles his own furniture (modular Furniture) he values it more than any other item.

This is one feature that has been used by many marketers over the years to help create brand loyalty and increase customer engagement. When manufacturers came up with the idea of instant cake mixes in the 1950s, no one got excited. The general impression was that this will make cake baking too easy and the taste might not be that good. In fact, were these even cakes? But then, somebody hit upon a brilliant idea: Include, in the instructions, the use of an egg to be supplied by the customer. Simply making customers break an egg into the mix was enough to convince them they were now actually baking a cake. Would you imagine: Instant cake mixes became a hit – IKEA Effect in play.

To make your ideas a success with your team and customers so that they own up your ideas or products, engage them, make them part of the process. You will see the results will be very different.

Also Read – Why Some People Grow and Some Don’t