DIY Satisfaction

When Betty Crocker first put cake mixes in a box in the mid-1940s they flopped on the market. It was just too easy for the consumer and brought little satisfaction to the homemaker. It was decided to allow the buyer to add a couple of eggs and …bingo…they had a hit on their hands. Give the consumer a part of the task via DIY and the satisfaction is increased. Researchers from Harvard University studied the emotional mechanics of this and found that increasing the labour required by the purchaser leads to a greater appreciation of the product purchased. The researchers refer to this as “The IKEA effect”. Our own labour increases the value of the goods. I have just painted a couple of walls at home and my sense of satisfaction is so much greater than if I had just ‘inherited’ them. I love my walls! The very cheap bookcase that graces our living room took well over an hour to assemble. A very heated hour of labour! It is now overly loved.

These are important findings for marketers and designers. Consumers appear to get satisfaction out of having a part in the construction of their purchases. They do put a caution on this finding – if it gets too complex to put together then the risk is that the consumer will fail and that the task itself will turn them off recommending or buying this product again. I add my own caveat: times of IKEA construction can probably be used in many a divorce hearing! There is obviously a balance issue here. Don’t make it too difficult or complex for the average Joe.

We are designed to create and to build. We are not designed to be merely consumers. We are designed to be beings that build and create a faith life. Where our faith becomes a creative DIY project instead of a ‘just add water’ deal in a cardboard box. There will be difficult times when the pieces just don’t seem to fit together. We have to go back to the instructions, study and try again. Faith is like that. That’s what makes it so satisfying. As The Message translation says in 2 Peter 1, 5 -7 “So don’t lose a minute in building on what you’ve been given , complementing your basic faith with good character, spiritual understanding, alert discipline, passionate patience, reverent wonder, warm friendliness, and generous love, each dimension fitting into and developing the others.” See – add an egg to the basic mix and you will have “no grass growing under your feet, no day will pass without its reward as you mature in your experience of our Master Jesus” (vs. 8).

It might seem easier just to go the basic faith package. Gets you to heaven. But think of the satisfaction of working out your faith with fear and trembling (Phil 2, 12). A bit of effort will increase how you ‘value’ the gift of God. And, as was found in the study, keep it simple.  If we begin to get bogged down in the complexities and mysteries of our faith we can damage our faith. Build only on the basic plan offered through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.