6 Factors Consumers Use To Evaluate Simplicity

Make it simple. Sure. But what does that mean?

You will often see new product pitches make the following claim: “This is the simplest way to do X.” But how do you actually design a product to improve the likelihood that a target set of consumers will perceive it to be simpler than how they use an existing solution to execute a job-to-be-done now?

Dr. B.J. Fogg, from Stanford, does the best at describing what simple actually means in the mind of consumer. He says:

“Simplicity is a function of your scarcest resource at that moment.”

Ok well what does that mean?

There is where I think he does innovators a great service by identifying 6 factors (i.e. your scarce resources) that consumers will use to evaluate if something is simple:

Time: If the target behavior requires time that is not available right now, then the behavior is not simple.

Money: It’s simpler to hire a gardener than to maintain landscaping yourself. But if you don’t have the money, it’s not simple.

Physical Effort: I have to move the boxes from Ikea to home and up the stairs. Delivery eliminates this but costs money. I can buy a toliet at Home Depot, lug it home and install it. Or I can outsource the whole thing and pay more. Simplicity depends on the person and situation.

Brain Cycles: Sometimes referred to as cognitive load. This one is huge. How much do I have to think vs. just making a quick judgement using my gut/intuition? I’m going to download a new app that let’s me shop for groceries online. It’s advertised as “simple to use.” But the first thing you think of is: How much effort is going to be required to learn this thing to get it to do what I want? Fogg says: “But for the most part, we overestimate how much everyday people want to think.” This doesn’t mean that requiring brain cycles is always a negative. I can buy a bike at the bike store or I can buy it online and save $150 dollars. It will take more brain cycles to put it together, and time. Which is simpler? Depends…

Social Deviance: Is the solution going against the norm? As BJ Fogg says: “…breaking the rules of society.” It might be easier to wear a swimsuit to a local neighborhood evening party but people would question you on that decision.

Non-Routine: Starbucks is at the end of my street and has lots of parking. Philz is better coffee but it’s in the wrong commute direction and terrible parking. I go to Starbucks. I get gas next to the Starbucks, even though it costs more. The cheap gas is 1 mile away on a road I don’t drive on very often.

Consumers have different approaches and weighting to these factors in different situations. So, your scariest resource will depend on the situation and circumstances.

For example, I want to go bike riding in the park. It’s cheaper to bring my bike than to rent at the park. But it’s more physical effort to get the bike in to or on the car and over to the park.

As an innovator, you can’t just say: we are going to make this the simplest solution to use. Use these factors to know what you are saying. Box your statement into the factors in a situation so you don’t force unnecessary work on the designers and engineers.

As Applied in Jobs to be Done

We know that consumers hire a solution to get a job done. The Job causes people to purchase. And, after purchasing the first solution, some consumers switch to new solutions to better execute the stable job.

These 6 simplicity factors can play a role in the hiring and firing of a solution for a job. The current solution might be fine but as it is used in more situations, some of the simplicity factors could be more costly.

If I’m using Safari to manage passwords on my Mac, it passes the simple threshold on most of these factors. But if I’m then trying to use passwords I created on my Mac (for your online banking, for example) and then try to log in to my banking app on my smartphone (new situation), Safari won’t help me. The time and brain cycles are going way up to get the Safari passwords available to use in the associated mobile apps….with proper security. Meaning, I don’t use abc123 as my password everywhere to get over the Mac to mobile password problem.

The word simplicity and the phrase: make it simple are subject to wide interpretation and can be a mechanism to hide biases in design and development decision making. Expose those biases with the 6 factors.

Try these factors for yourself. Next time you are making a purchase decision in a certain situation, apply the 6 factors to see which ones you are mentally applying and were not even aware of it.

The 6 simplicity factors are part of BJ Fogg’s Behavioral Model. The model has more interesting points about how to drive behavior change. I find the simplicity factors to be the most useful and “simplest” mental model to carry around and apply every time you here someone say: make it simple.

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