Evaluating
Peak-End Rule
Our brain simplifies complex memories by employing System 1 thinking, which reduces the cognitive resources needed for memory storage. This cognitive shortcut helps manage the vast amount of information we encounter daily. However, this process makes us susceptible to biases such as recency bias, where recent events are remembered more vividly; the representativeness heuristic, where we judge the probability of events based on how much they resemble other events; and memory bias, which can distort our recollections over time. These biases influence how memories are encoded, stored, and recalled, often leading to simplified and sometimes inaccurate representations of our experiences.
For Example
A person goes on vacation and has a wonderful time, enjoying the beach and top-rated restaurants. However, upon returning home, they discover their luggage has been misplaced. When friends ask about the vacation, the person describes it as not that great because of the lost luggage. Despite several highlights during the trip, the negative experience at the end overshadowed their overall perception of the vacation. This demonstrates the impact of recency bias, where recent events disproportionately influence our overall assessment of experiences.
Similar Biases
Similar biases: Recency Effect, Primacy Effect, Von Restorff Effect. Opposing biases: Duration Neglect, Uniformity Bias, Averaging Bias
We tend to remember tasks and goals that are not completed.
The Peak-End Rule, coined by Daniel Kahneman and Barbara Fredrickson, describes how people assess past experiences based primarily on two points: the most emotionally intense moment (the "peak"), and how the experience concluded (the "end"). Surprisingly, the duration or average quality of an experience often matters less than these critical points. In Customer Experience (CX), this means customers form lasting impressions based on emotional highs or lows and the final interactions with brands. Even long, positive interactions can be undermined by negative peaks or disappointing endings, while brief moments of delight or thoughtful closings can leave disproportionately positive lasting impressions. Successful brands deliberately engineer these peaks and endings to maximize customer satisfaction, retention, and advocacy.
The Impact of the Peak-End Rule on Perceived Experience
In an experiment, participants were instructed to submerge their hand in very cold water for 60 seconds. In a subsequent scenario, participants were asked to keep their hand in the same cold water for 60 seconds, followed by an additional 30 seconds during which the water was slightly warmed. When asked to choose which scenario they preferred, most participants opted for the second scenario, despite its longer duration of discomfort. This preference is attributed to the Peak-End Rule, as the warming of the water towards the end of the experience created a more favorable final impression, influencing their overall evaluation.
The Influence of Feedback on Perceived Test Difficulty: Evidence of the Peak-End Rule
In another experiment, children were split into two groups and given two tests. The first group received negative feedback, while the second group received positive feedback. The first test was shorter, and the second was longer and slightly more challenging. After the second test, the group receiving negative feedback experienced the least negative feedback at the end. The results showed that children in the second group found the longer and slightly more challenging test more pleasant and less difficult to process. This outcome highlights the influence of the Peak-End Rule, as the positive feedback at the end improved the overall perception of the experience.
The Peak-End Rule in Pain Perception: Insights from Colonoscopy Procedures
In another experiment, researchers explored the Peak-End Rule in the context of pain perception. Colonoscopy patients were randomly divided into two groups. One group received a typical colonoscopy, while the other group underwent a colonoscopy that included an additional 3 minutes where the scope was not moved, causing discomfort but not pain. Results indicated that the group with the extra three minutes in the procedure reported lower overall levels of pain compared to the group that received the standard colonoscopy. This finding illustrates the Peak-End Rule, where the final moments of the experience, being less painful, significantly influenced the overall perception of the procedure.
Create an Immediate Emotional Connection
Set the tone with early emotional resonance
From the outset, customers form lasting impressions based on emotionally charged moments. If a brand can immediately address their core emotional needs, it establishes a powerful foundation for future engagement. For instance, a healthcare provider who immediately communicates genuine empathy or reassurance when a patient first expresses a health concern creates a lasting positive emotional memory.
CX Application:
- Create immediate emotional connection through empathetic language or personalized messaging.
- Use visual storytelling or powerful messaging to resonate deeply at first interactions.
- Immediately demonstrate understanding and validation of customer needs.
Make Memorable First Impressions
First encounters significantly influence lasting memories
Awareness-stage peaks determine whether customers remember your brand positively. Exceptional, memorable advertising (humorous, emotionally touching, or surprising) strongly imprints the brand in customers' minds. For example, impactful advertisements like Nike’s emotionally charged storytelling establish powerful peak memories right from initial exposure.
CX Application:
- Craft advertisements or first encounters that emotionally engage, surprise, or delight customers.
- Leverage storytelling to build memorable brand introductions.
- Ensure brand visuals and messaging immediately convey the brand’s core values, emotions, and uniqueness.
Highlight Powerful Differentiators
Make your brand stand out through vivid emotional peaks
During consideration, customers remember options that provided distinct emotional or cognitive peaks. When comparing brands, experiences that emotionally resonate—like compelling customer testimonials or visually powerful product demonstrations—create strong positive peaks that influence decisions. Tesla’s vivid demonstrations of autonomous driving often generate emotional peaks, heavily influencing customer consideration.
CX Application:
- Provide emotionally impactful, vivid demonstrations or testimonials.
- Clearly highlight distinctive product or service features to create memorable emotional peaks.
- Ensure standout differentiators are consistently communicated with emotional clarity.
Deliver Unexpected Moments of Delight
Create memorable peaks through delightful surprises
When customers explore a brand or product, unexpected positive interactions form lasting emotional impressions. Apple stores create such peaks by enabling hands-on experimentation in visually and tactilely pleasing environments, delighting customers unexpectedly and memorably.
CX Application:
- Include unexpected product interactions, personalized demos, or surprise enhancements.
- Engineer exploration environments to consistently deliver delightful surprises.
- Prioritize intuitive, seamless interactions to create memorable positive emotional peaks.
Reinforce Trust Through Memorable Assurance
Establish clear, memorable peak experiences of trust and reliability
During the research phase, customers strongly remember interactions that provide emotional reassurance or vivid demonstrations of reliability. Insurance companies, for instance, often emphasize customer stories about successfully resolved claims, creating strong emotional peaks of reassurance during research.
CX Application:
- Highlight clear, compelling customer success stories.
- Provide easy access to powerful, emotionally reassuring reviews or testimonials.
- Demonstrate reliability and trustworthiness through visual proof and emotionally engaging content.
Solidify Decisions Through Strong Emotional Peaks
Memorably affirm customers’ choices
At selection, the emotional intensity of the decision can create strong positive or negative memories. Brands should actively engineer emotional peaks—such as personalized congratulatory messages or immediate confirmation rewards—to strengthen satisfaction and reduce potential anxiety. Airbnb congratulates users immediately upon booking, affirming and emotionally reinforcing their choice.
CX Application:
- Use personalized, emotional messaging to celebrate customers' decisions.
- Provide immediate confirmation that creates emotional gratification.
- Minimize anxiety by clearly affirming positive outcomes of customer choices.
Ensure Memorable Endings
Leave customers with a final positive impression
At the point of purchase, how the experience ends significantly shapes customers' overall memory. Smooth, emotionally satisfying checkout processes, personalized acknowledgments ("Thank you, Sarah!"), and thoughtful final touches (such as instant digital confirmation or complimentary perks) deeply influence lasting customer satisfaction. Starbucks’ mobile app provides seamless checkout and personalized thank-you notifications, leaving customers with strong positive ending memories.
CX Application:
- Optimize checkout to create a frictionless, pleasant conclusion.
- Provide personalized messaging or small, unexpected bonuses at purchase completion.
- Ensure clear, immediate confirmation of transaction completion to solidify positive memory.
Create Lasting Positive Impressions
Thoughtfully conclude interactions to optimize long-term memories
Customers’ final interactions after purchase disproportionately affect overall memory. Thoughtful gestures—such as personalized follow-up communications, proactive problem resolutions, or memorable customer care interactions—create powerful, enduring positive memories. Hotels that send personalized thank-you notes after stays or follow-up with special loyalty offers significantly enhance overall customer impressions.
CX Application:
- Send personalized, emotionally engaging follow-up communications.
- Actively anticipate and resolve customer concerns quickly and thoughtfully.
- Provide memorable post-purchase benefits or appreciation gestures to solidify lasting positive impressions.
Customer Experience Challenges
Typical challenges in CX where the bias can be used
- Control: Customers negatively perceive manufactured emotional peaks. CX must authentically and subtly engineer memorable interactions without seeming manipulative, preserving customer autonomy and comfort.
- Confidence: Negative peaks strongly erode trust. CX must quickly and effectively resolve negative interactions, replacing them with memorable positive resolutions.
- Risk: Negative experiences overshadow positive ones due to intensity. CX must actively minimize or quickly manage negative peaks to safeguard overall customer impressions.
- Selection: Poorly handled endings lead customers to reconsider future engagement. CX should consistently provide satisfying conclusions, reassuring customers and reinforcing their choices.
- Information: Unclear communication during peak or end moments frustrates customers. CX must clearly communicate during these critical stages to positively reinforce the overall experience.
Customer Experience Pillars
Renascence CX pillars where it can be applied most efficiently
- Integrity: Genuine emotional peaks and authentically positive endings significantly enhance brand trust and reinforce brand integrity, creating lasting customer loyalty.
- Expectations: Clearly managed peaks and emotionally positive endings ensure realistic yet satisfying customer expectations, enhancing overall satisfaction.
- Resolution: Effective, emotionally satisfying resolutions at critical end-points strongly enhance positive customer memories, even after negative interactions.
- Effort: Effortless experiences during peak moments and at endings significantly improve overall customer perception, reinforcing ease and satisfaction.
- Emotions: Emotional peaks and endings deeply shape customer relationships, creating powerful emotional connections that drive loyalty and advocacy.
Customer Experience Interfaces
Interfaces & touchpoints where it can be applied most efficiently
- Digital: Provide positive peak moments online (personalized messages, surprise discounts) and seamless final interactions (smooth checkout and confirmation emails) to solidify customer satisfaction.
- Voice: Train customer support teams to conclude calls positively, ensuring a clear resolution and friendly farewell, leaving lasting favorable impressions.
- Promo: Structure promotions to include emotionally resonant peaks (exclusive surprises) and clearly communicated endings, reinforcing positive overall impressions.
- Product: Ensure product usage includes memorable highlights (unexpected features, positive surprises) and ends with ease or satisfaction, significantly enhancing recall and loyalty.
- Shelf: Arrange products to create visually appealing high points (peaks) and convenient purchasing processes (endings), boosting positive memories.
Renascence Tip
The Peak-End Rule underscores the importance of deliberately designing emotionally positive peak experiences and satisfying endings. Brands must intentionally engineer memorable, delightful, or unexpectedly positive moments throughout interactions, especially at final touchpoints. Even challenging interactions can result in positive overall memories if the final moments are managed exceptionally well. CX teams should continuously evaluate and optimize peaks and endings, intentionally shaping powerful emotional narratives that customers vividly recall and enthusiastically share.
