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🧠 What IKEA, Apple, and your website have in common: The Endowment Effect

🧠 What IKEA, Apple, and your website have in common: The Endowment Effect

You’re not selling. You’re letting people own. That’s the secret behind IKEA, Apple, and every site that feels “sticky” without trying.

Redona Dida
May 14, 2025

🔍 PSYCHOLOGY HACK

Why we love what we "own" even if we don’t really own it.

The Endowment Effect is our brain’s way of saying: “It’s mine, I value it more.”
Once someone feels personal ownership over something effort, customization, or interaction they’re far less likely to let it go.

✅ Build in moments where users “claim” or “create” something

(Keep scrolling 👇)

🛠️ IKEA EFFECT

Effort = Attachment

When you assemble your own bookshelf, it’s not just furniture it’s yours.
IKEA turns labor into love by making customers part of the product creation process.

✅ Let users invest effort it makes the result feel priceless.

Coming up: How Apple gets you to commit before you buy 👇

🍏 APPLE STORE MAGIC

Touch = Take

Apple wants you to play. Try the iPhone, snap a selfie, swipe around.
This hands-on freedom triggers a feeling of ownership before you ever hit “purchase.”

✅ Offer zero-pressure interaction so users feel like it’s already theirs.

Next up: The invisible loyalty engine hiding in your website 👇

🌐 Websites: Design for micro-ownership

Websites can use this same bias digitally.

Here’s how:

• Show progress bars
• Let people personalize the interface
• Save their past actions
• Use "you" language to make it feel personal

These little nudges make people think:
“This is mine. I’ve already started.”

🔑 Takeaway:
Let users see their fingerprints on the experience.

The Endowment Effect is about emotionally owning an experience.

If people feel like something’s theirs, they’ll fight harder to keep it, or pay more to get it.

So:
Don’t just deliver value.
Let people participate in it.

Did this spark an idea?
Hit reply and tell me which example hit hardest or forward this to someone who’s building something worth owning.

Whenever you feel ready, here are 3 ways I can help:

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