#7 How does a 76-degree tilt help selling a Macbook? I recently read an article by Nick Hobson, PhD on his in-store experience with buying a new Apple Macbook. A long-time Windows-person, he immediately recognised the psychological elements of the visit that successfully seduced and turned him into an Apple-customer. One of those psychological tricks Apple stores are known for is the positioning of the laptop screens. Macbook screens must be angled at 76-degrees in all stores (https://lnkd.in/g3cVpYrS) Why? Because by tempting people to adjust the screen, they ignite a tactile experience with the product that in turn not only let them feel the nice metal texture and the comfortable hinges but also boosts the endowment effect - our overvaluation of things that we own. I think there is actually one more chain in the link between this technique and the endowment effect: something called the choice-induced preference change (https://lnkd.in/g3wQjwNf). It suggests that arbitrary actions toward items or choices in the world facilitate our preferences toward the given item or choice. That is, our initial, maybe absolutely random interactions with a given item or option might grow into a more stable path dependence in our later choices. What people first do in a store, on a website or in an application can have a surprisingly large impact on what they will do later. That's why designing for the beginning (as well as designing for the ending!) is so crucial! #30days30nudgets is my challenge to write 30 short posts in 30 days unfolding a phenomenon, observation or story with a #behaviouralscience element I came across in the world.
