Having customers do most of the work, feel great about it, and at the same time believe they have helped in some environmentally friendly way is a Holy Grail for more and more companies.
In 1950, General Mills wanted ideas on how to sell more of its Betty Crocker brand of instant cake mixes. It put psychologist Ernest Dichter on the case. His advice: Replace powdered eggs in the cake mix with the requirement to add fresh eggs. All-instant cake mix makes baking too easy. It undervalues the labour and skill of the cake maker. Give the baker more ownership in the result. And the rest is history.
Think of ways you can make use of the IKEA effect as part of your sustainability initiatives:
Employ shoppers
Giving shoppers a little bit (not too much) of work to do helps them take ownership of your brand and the final environmentally friendly result you desire.
Don’t be too convenient
You could give the final solution straight out of the box, but shoppers will value it more if they have to do a token ‘something’, like mix in an egg (and compost the eggshell).
Move over ready meals
Signs are that the “ready-to-create” meal kits, consisting of pre-packaged raw ingredients you prepare and cook yourself are the future. But work with shoppers to minimise and recycle the additional packaging.
While many retailers focus their efforts on speedy deliveries and ready-made, convenient solutions, the Ikea effect suggests the secret to more environmentally friendly success may be to make things a little more challenging.
