Perception of Value

Your constantly-updated definition of Perception of Value and collection of videos and articles
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What is Perception of Value?

Perception of value is a major factor that motivates users to adopt (or reject) a product. Perception of value is composed of financial and non-financial factors alike.

In 2000, Peter Doyle theorized that perception of value is created by combining 4 smaller, more specific subsets of value.

The four subsets of value are:

1. Functional Value – The product must solve a particular problem.

2. Financial Value – The price point appears reasonable when compared with the competition’s price.

3. Social Value – Status is reinforced or the product creates a networking opportunity.

4. Psychological Value – The product reinforces the users' feelings about themselves and creates an emotional value, such as happiness or pleasure.

To determine perception of value, you can do market research and you can identify your target audience’s attitudes towards your products.

Perception of value is extremely important because it attracts potential users to your product. Consumers will, of course, only adopt your product if they see your design as providing value for them.

Literature on Perception of Value

Here’s the entire UX literature on Perception of Value by the Interaction Design Foundation, collated in one place:

Learn more about Perception of Value

Take a deep dive into Perception of Value with our course Get Your Product Used: Adoption and Appropriation .

Designing for user experience and usability is not enough. If products are not used—and it doesn’t matter how good they are—they will be consigned to the trash can of history.

Sony’s Betamax, Coca-Cola’s New Coke, Pepsi’s Crystal Pepsi, and McDonald’s Arch Deluxe are among the most famous products which made it into production but failed to wow their audiences, according to Business Insider. In fact, Harvard Business Review dedicated a long piece to “Why most product launches fail”—so it’s not just big brands that aren’t getting their design process right but a lot of businesses and individuals, too.

So, what is the way forward? Well, once you’re sure that the user experience and usability of your product work the way you want them to, you’ve got to get your designs adopted by users (i.e., they have to start using them). Ideally, you want them to appropriate your designs, too; you want the users to start using your designs in ways you didn’t intend or foresee. How do we get our designs adopted and appropriated? We design for adoption and appropriation.

This course is presented by Alan Dix, a former professor at Lancaster University in the UK and a world-renowned authority in Human-Computer Interaction. Alan is also the author the university-level textbook “Human-Computer Interaction.” It is a short course designed to help you master the concepts and practice of designing for adoption and appropriation. It contains all the basics to get you started on this path and the practical tips to implement the ideas. Alan blends theory and practice to ensure you get to grips with these essential design processes.

All open-source articles on Perception of Value

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