Peak-End Rule
Memory of an experience is set by its most intense moment and its ending, not by its length or average; a bad hour with a good finish is remembered fondly, and designers engineer the finish.
An everyday example
A painful sales process that closes with a gift, remembered as pleasant; a great service that ends with a rude cancellation call, remembered as awful.
What it can cost you
Re-purchasing on the memory of the ending rather than the experience; being managed at the peak and the end.
Warning signs
- The ending changed how I feel about the whole thing.
- I do not remember the middle.
One thing to do
Log the experience as it happens; decide on the log, not on how it ended. Merged: peak-end framing strategy.
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