Labour Looks Smarter

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Last week I shared one of my unhinged theories with you

Many of you rightly pointed out that one study from 2011 is hardly enough to draw lofty conclusions. Fair enough, I've gathered some more evidence.

Starting with an imaginary story from my barbers.

A good barber is a slow barber

Imagine you go to your local barbershop.

Your normal barber is on holiday, so you're assigned to someone new.

Typically your barber spends 45 minutes cutting your hair.

He's not fast; he takes his time. Often stopping to have a chat.

However, this new barber is speedy. He doesn't chat and takes just 5 minutes.

I'm certain that the customer receiving a 5-minute haircut will perceive the haircut as substantially worse, even if it looks identical to his normal trim.

This is because we use time as a proxy for quality.

A window cleaned in 30 seconds might appear dirtier than one cleaned for five minutes, even if both are spotless.

A meal served too quickly at a high-end restaurant might taste worse than one that arrives after a reasonable wait.

The longer something takes to prepare, the more we’ll enjoy it.

Slow apps look smarter

Don't just take my word for it.

In 2022, Tsekouras, Li and Benbasat ran two studies to prove how slower services are subtly preferred¹.

Here 306 participants were shown a search engine for cars, and another 294 participants were shown an online dating app which used a loading wheel to match potential couples.

Half the participants got their recommendations instantly.

The other half saw a spinning loader with the words “calculating results” for seven seconds.

The recommendations themselves were the same. The only difference was seven seconds of a spinner.

Those who were forced to wait rated the recommendation as 52% higher quality than those who got results instantly.

A short wait makes the result seem better quality.

It explains why there is a preference for TV shows that don't release every episode at once.

My desperation to play the long-awaited game GTA IV.

And perhaps even explains why Guinness (the famously slow pint to pour) is my beer of choice.

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Cheers,

​Phill​

P.S. I don't tend to ask for podcast reviews (I hardly ever leave any myself and find the constant hounding a bit grating)... but!

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