Value is relative
The value that a buyer sees and depends on the frame or perception they have about the product. To increase the perceived value of your product, you can influence and change that frame. One way to change it is to show that the product is the result of effort, energy, care, or complexity. Showing the effort behind the product increase the perception of value. Let me share how I learned this.
The perception of effort
I realised this for the first time when I was in Atlantic City. I was a student when I took a summer break from my engineering school in Paris to work in Atlantic City. It as a summer job, and the job was pushing the rolling chairs to push a rolling chair on up and down the boardwalk the the tourists. Tourist hired the chair, sat on it and like a taxi I pushed them away to their destination. Every morning I rented one of those chair for a fixed price and kept the money I earned from the different rides. Sometime I would get a tip on top of the agreed fair, sometime I wouldn’t.
I remember this particular time I took a couple in my chair for a ride. On that day, the sun what hitting hard. The passengers in the chair were in the shade but not me. I was getting hot and sweaty. To make matters worst the chair I had did not roll smoothy. I had to push harder the entire day. Arriving at destination I was dripping sweat.
As the couple paid, the they noticed me sweating and the women said:
“Give him a good tip, he worked hard.”
The good tip was the reward for my sweat. The same ride without the sweat would have been less.
The sweat was the proof of my effort. And because it was visible, the ride was worth more for the passengers.
The perceived value increased with the perception of the effort.
Read more on perceived value here.
