Endowment Effect

Owning something changes how a person views its value — if you own it, you tend to think it is worth more and are less likely to give it up. Creating a sense of ownership around a behavior or an item may make it more likely a person continues doing it or keeps it.

Applications

• Consider giving someone a sense that they have already started a process or already own something. It could be a punch card with the ‘first punch free’ so they are already farther along the path.

• Consider creating an immediate feeling of ownership over a process, perhaps by giving a “congratulations, you’re a XXXX” message after an initial interaction.

Considerations

It is not valuing something more because you built or created it — that is the IKEA effect.