Table of Contents

• Super Customizers and Everyone Else
• What Is the IKEA Effect?
• Focus on Viable, Lovable, and Doable
• The Measurable Value of Co-Creation
• The Goldilocks Zone
• Beware: Your Labor of Love
• Turn Your Users into Champions

Super Customizers and Everyone ElseDownload

I forget that not everyone wants to customize everything because, as long as I can remember, that is precisely what I have done.

From changing the browser to a non-default option on my computers and devices to changing the color, font, and sounds of any app or piece of tech gear, customizing is not only enjoyable but also a necessary part of my process.

Super-customizers like to change their hair, reveal their personality through style and clothing, and are not afraid to differentiate themselves, even if that means others won't "get it."

My creative coders and engineering friends who love to build assume everyone wants the same level of control. We crave creativity because we live and breathe customization. The reality of most of your customers, however, will fall somewhere in between accepting the defaults and desiring complete creative freedom.

The IKEA Effect is a cognitive bias where people place a disproportionately high value on products they help create themselves.

Named after the Swedish furniture giant whose customers assemble their purchases, researchers Michael Norton, Daniel Mochon, and Dan Ariely first identified this psychological phenomenon.

Their studies found that people were willing to pay 63% more for furniture they assembled compared to identical pre-built pieces.

The core principle is that "labor leads to love." When we invest effort into creating something—even just following assembly instructions—we develop stronger emotional attachments and perceive higher value.

But this goes far beyond furniture assembly...

Observe how people use your product to understand your customer threshold for creative exploration.

Humans explore creative freedom in different ways, but research shows there are distinct categories of customizers and creators:

• Non-Customizers

  In art, they buy prints at IKEA rather than commissioning originals. In business, they choose Teams over Slack and Microsoft over Apple because "everyone knows how it works." They are not lazy—they have decision fatigue from other parts of their lives and want your product to be the calm, predictable constant that gets the job done. Keep it Simple (KISS) for these users and do a job well; they will stick around if your price is right, but don't be surprised when they jump ship for a cheaper alternative, even one with a hideous user interface.

• New Customizers: Picture someone using Canva for the first time after decades of PowerPoint templates. Or the new guitarist who bought their first pedal and keeps tweaking the distortion knob during the entire song. They are fascinated by the possibility but overwhelmed by the breadth of options. They want to customize but need heavy guidance—think guided onboarding, preset themes with minor tweaks, and training wheels you can eventually remove. This is your growth segment if you can cater to their curiosity without overwhelming them.
• Active Customizers: These are your fellow travelers with 47 browser extensions, custom mechanical keyboards, and dotfiles repositories with 200+ commits. In art, they mix their paint colors and build custom easels. Entrepreneurs here have Zapier workflows connecting 15 tools in ways the original developers never imagined. They want APIs; they want to dig into settings menus and feel like co-architects of their experience.
• Lapsing Customizers: Former power users who have hit customization fatigue. Think of a developer who used to configure open-source Linux setup on reconfigured hardware but now wants their MacBook to work without configuration. Or an artist who built elaborate custom studio setups but now prefers simple, reliable tools. They have been burned by complexity before—maybe that custom WordPress theme that broke during an update, the elaborate Notion workspace that became maintenance overhead, or the startup that failed because they over-engineered everything. They still appreciate good design and thoughtful defaults but have learned that sometimes vanilla is best.

Customization preferences reflect a broader pattern in how people approach creative control. While some dive deep into settings and configurations, most users prefer a more guided experience with thoughtful defaults and limited, meaningful choices.

Each type of customizer represents a different relationship between creative control and cognitive load. Build your customization like a good API—simple by default and powerful when needed.

Focus on Viable, Lovable, and Doable

As engineers, we learn early—if we are wise—to put our egos aside and build for the customer. You are not creating an app, service, or product for yourself; you are creating value for one or many people.

Keep your customers in mind and understand how much customization matters for solving their specific problems, both in terms of the app's built-in features and the user's ability to personalize it.

Minimum Viable Product (MVP) means solving the problem the product intended to solve while maintaining usability and accessibility for users. When building viable software solutions, three critical elements must be balanced:

These three elements form an interdependent triangle - changing one affects the others. Finding the right balance ensures the product efficiently addresses core needs without overwhelming users with unnecessary features or complex customization options.

Shifting our perspective from "me" and "you" toward "us"—focusing on the many customers who will love and benefit from your product or service is key when navigating the murky waters of product development and product market fit.

The power of a Most Lovable Product (MLP) lies in its ability to strike that delicate balance between customization and simplicity, creating an experience that resonates with users while maintaining the core functionality they need.

This sweet spot of personalization allows for meaningful engagement without overwhelming users with choice, making your product both accessible and deeply personal.

We are often designing for the massive middle ground of people who want some control and personal touch but not the overwhelming complexity of infinite choice.

Finding this balance requires both empathy and data - understanding your users' needs through research while measuring how different levels of customization impact engagement and satisfaction.

Most users prefer a guided experience with thoughtful defaults and limited, meaningful choices. When building with customization in mind, remain anchored in customer needs rather than engineer preferences.

Smart defaults paired with discoverable customization features often yield the best results.

The IKEA Effect relies on the successful completion of a laborious task. If users cannot complete their customization or if their efforts are undone—such as building something only to see it destroyed—the psychological value linked to their effort disappears.

Back to the interdependent triangle of engineering principles, the scope is all about the work being doable. This is a metric only experience can teach you. Your effort, however impressive, is limited by the throughput you can deliver. As the adage goes, under promise, over deliver.

Doable is very important for the customer too. The Ikea effect collapses under the weight of too much effort. If your customers cannot finish their work, they will move on. If the barrier to entry feels too steep for the return on investment of time, users will realize the juice is not worth the squeeze and move on. Make it easier for your customer, keep it doable, and allow for discoverable levels of complexity for those power-customizers, but that does not have to be your MVP!

The IKEA Effect explains something every maker already knows: people value stuff more when they help create it.

In a recent interview for the TheTechMargin podcast, photographer Stephen Kennedy shared how the transition from film to digital photography in 2000 marked a transformative shift in his creative process. As he explained, "I needed less of everything. I needed fewer lenses, I needed fewer lights... at the time, I had an assistant who traveled with me because I had so much equipment."

Less customization and less equipment allowed Stephen to focus on the essential parts of his practice: the artists he photographs, the practice of storytelling, and the emotional resonance of the subject. Listen to the whole conversation about embracing digital tools while maintaining artistic integrity:

TheTechMargin Podcast Episode: Stephen Kennedy on Digital Transformation in Photography

People have always wanted to put their fingerprints on what they buy.

Successful customization starts with human desire and then removes friction.

AI makes customization accessible to a massive middle segment of consumers—those who want personal touches without becoming product designers. For those of us building consumer applications, AI-powered co-creation is becoming the gold standard for customer experience. Be mindful, however, of the exhaustion we all feel when decision fatigue sets in. We all lead busy lives, and the customizing middle segment of consumers has a threshold of options they can handle enjoyably before analysis paralysis kicks in. They leave your product for a simpler, easier option.

Quick Tip: You Have to Let People Finish: The psychological effect disappears if users cannot complete the customization task.

Quick Tip: Do not Challenge People Too Much: Make it too complicated, and you will frustrate people instead of engaging them. Your AI should adapt complexity to skill level and desire for personalization balanced with functionality.

Quick Tip: Provide Structure, Not Chaos: Unlimited creativity sounds good in theory but often overwhelms people. Sometimes, boundaries help.

Quick Tip: Overcome the Setup Resistance: 92% of people say they prefer to pay more for pre-assembled products when you ask them upfront. But after they build something themselves, they value it more. Optimize your product to make the co-creation process so seamless and valuable that it overcomes that initial "just give me the finished thing" impulse.

Be aware of the self-inflicted IKEA Effect in your applications and services. The bias can lead to several pitfalls when the builder is not aware of the effect.

Warning: Mismatched Value Perception with Users: App developers often overvalue their self-developed features and complex customization options due to their investment in creating them. Meanwhile, users may find these same features unnecessary, confusing, or misaligned with their needs. This disconnect can lead to reduced app adoption and user satisfaction.

Warning: Ineffective Product Design: When developers overvalue their work, they risk creating products that reflect their preferences rather than solving real customer problems. This results in unnecessary features and overly complex customization options.

Warning: Decision Fatigue for Users: Developers who overvalue their customizable features might include too many options, causing user decision fatigue and analysis paralysis—ultimately driving users toward simpler alternatives.

Warning: Resistance to Feedback and Intervention: The IKEA Effect influences managerial behavior through the "sunk costs effect" and "not invented here" syndrome, making developers reluctant to abandon or modify projects they've heavily invested in, even when those projects are failing or inferior. A developer might resist critical feedback or avoid pivoting away from cherished features due to their emotional investment, even when changes would improve market outcomes.

• Start with Smart Defaults: Implement thoughtful, research-backed default settings that work for most users while keeping customization options discoverable.
• Guide the Experience: Create pathways for different user types, from non-customizers to power users, ensuring each group feels supported.
• Limit Choice Meaningfully: Offer 3-5 primary customization options per feature to prevent decision fatigue while maintaining user engagement.
• Enable Progressive Complexity: Layer customization features so users can dig deeper as their comfort and needs evolve.
• Optimize for Task Completion: Design customization flows that users can complete in one session, ensuring they experience the satisfaction of finishing their personalization journey.
• Measure Impact: Track how different levels of customization affect user satisfaction and engagement to refine the balance between flexibility and simplicity continuously.