Design Pattern #2 : Ingredients/ Materials/ Components

Prathamesh Krisang

The one place to NOT get creative in marketing

If there is one thing that your customers absolutely hate, it is ambiguity. They want to be sure what to expect even before they buy your product.

And if they are not sure, they will simply ignore it and move on.

Ambiguity Bias happens when people prefer an option that has clear outcome as compared to an option with unclear outcome.

That sounds obvious, but you’d be surprise by the number of products that miss out on this basic principle.

While making a purchase decision, especially physical products like food and furniture, we ask a sub-conscious question, “what is this thing made of?” And if your piece of communication is not answering this upfront, you’re losing sales you could have rather converted.

So instead of getting creative, simply show what is your product made of upfront.

Showing Ingredients or Materials your product is made of is a ‘design pattern’ that counters Ambiguity Bias.

For example, showing the ‘ingredients’ of a food product gives you a clear idea about what it should taste like.

Or if you are buying furniture online, looking the materials it is made of gives you a clear idea about the quality of the furniture you are buying.

If you are building a SaaS, show components your SaaS is made of. Snippets of your UI works like magic for improving conversion rate. I am surprised by the number of SaaS websites that are hiding their UIs behind a Demo Call. That’s unnecessary secrecy. Try showing how your SaaS looks upfront.

This closes the gap between the expectations your customers have and the outcome you are delivering to them.

Scroll???? to see some real world examples,