What is the Hard-easy Bias?

Do you know what is one of the biggest challenges of marketing? Understanding why customers do what they do and predicting what they will do. While this is not hard science, there are certain typical behaviours that all customers show. These patterns in judgement often made without thinking or without our control, are called cognitive biases.

The hard-easy bias is people’s tendency to overestimate their ability to do complex tasks and underestimate their power to complete simple tasks. Now, why is this useful to someone in marketing or content creation? Remember, a marketing campaign or content strategy aims to convert potential customers into buyers. Here, knowing how people make decisions is essential.

Research shows that people are more likely to buy into solutions and hacks to easy-to-fix problems in familiar situations. However, people overestimate their ability to understand and fix substantial issues. Research shows that they are confident in learning more and getting better at solving complex problems. Therefore, it is good to address the easy solutions and direct fixes that your services offer to people. The hard-easy bias ensures that people are convinced that they need your product or service to fix this common and easy problem in their lives!