Novelty Overrides Ratings
A Pizza story
Hi friend,
How are you? I hope February is treating you well.
Here is a fresh insight I came across from a truly unexpected place.
I generally eat a healthy diet of vegetables and fruits, avoid processed foods, and occasionally eat meat.
It’s a typical Flexitarian approach, where I try to keep ingredients one degree from the source.
If you recall, a while ago, I shared a related story with you:
On a pleasant Tuesday evening, for some reason, we craved pizza—a comfort food we rarely eat these days.
We fired up Google Maps and searched for local places. There was one in the Grove that seemed nice, but parking was impossible.
Then right under our noses, we found a New York-style pizzeria next door to our local supermarket. We see the place whenever we go shopping but have never paid attention to it.
The downside was - it got only a 4.2 rating.
Pretty low. We had hoped for 4.7+.
Nevertheless, I figured the fact that we haven’t had a pizza for quite a while would override this low rating.
And guess what? This is exactly what happened.
The pizza arrived scalding hot, with a very thin yet crisp crust - a classic plain New Yorker!
The way I un-plain it is by adding the “holy trinity;” of oregano, red pepper, and garlic.
You know it’s the real deal when you hold the slice, and the firm crust stays up and doesn’t collapse.
I lived in New York in two rounds, so I know and love those pizzas.
Yet, after taking the first bite, for some reason, I was time-travelled to my childhood pizzeria.
A whole scene had visually materialized:
After braving the long line with hordes of other kids, I finally get my slice.
I can’t wait to let it cool off.
I sink my teeth in, first hitting the soft, lava-hot cheese that burns the roof of my mouth and then confidently making a home run at the crispy crust to complete the soft-hard journey.
Yessssss!
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As you can see, sometimes the novelty effect can override what other people think about a certain topic.
Why?
We all carry our unique bag of past experiences.
In this case, I bet some people eat pizza twice a week, so their standards may be more refined.
Others - like me - seldom. So the experience is stronger.
Frequency is key.
The novelty effect is also related to the rule of Diminishing Marginal Utility.
The law states that as you consume more of an item, each additional unit provides less satisfaction.
From my college years, I still remember the ethics professor’s vivid example: “The first orange tastes amazing, the 10th one - not so much…”
For this exact reason, my first pizza bite was memorable.
As for ratings, I’m not saying you should go to market with a suboptimal product; quality is still essential.
But what I do say is that based on your customer research, see if you can introduce novelty that can delight your audience in new ways.
The classic use case is, of course, the launch of the iPad back in 2010.
Customers didn’t realize they needed a new device that sits between a mobile phone and a laptop.
And then they so much did.
How are you leveraging the power of surprising novelty to excite your audience? Drop your stories below.
See you next time!
Best,
- Shlomi
Shlomi Ron
Chief Storytelling Officer
shlomi@visualstorytell.com
Visual Storytelling Institute
story > visual > emotion > experience
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