How to Enhance Perceived Value

You are likely aware that value is subjective.

Consider a bottle of water: it's $1.5 in the grocery, $6 on an airplane, and invaluable in the middle of a desert.

Thinking that way about technology or complex products is a lot trickier.

The subjective forces at play become less apparent as individuals may find appeal in a product for diverse reasons. Moreover, products and technologies are multifaceted entities - unlike a water bottle, they appear differently in various contexts.

With so much complexity, discerning how exactly you should communicate a product's value is very difficult.

Is there a simpler, more certain approach to enhance the perceived value of your product?

Absolutely! Tell a story about it.

Stories serve as markers for value, reflecting the structure of our brains.

This concept might be easier to grasp in music.

What separates music from noise? Both are just frequencies over time.

Technically speaking, music is sounds organized in a sequence that elicits a sense value. No value = noise.

It is a similar thing with language - the perception of something as a story IS a marker that the words have been organized in a 'value-emitting' sequence. For instance:

Sequence 1: worn sale never for shoes baby

Sequence 2: For sale: baby shoes, never worn

By reordering the 6 bits of information (words) toward a story, we shift from 0 value in sequence 1 to some value in sequence 2.

This principle holds true across all scales, from conversations and books to interfaces and presentation decks. The better the story, the more value it 'emits.'

So while I'm not suggesting you recite a sonata in your next pre-sale meeting (but please send a video if you do), you should certainly aim to make your communication more story-like.

Here's the thing

If you want to generate more perceived value you can either improve your product or become a better story teller, the latter tends to be more cost-effective.