The IKEA Effect: The Psychology Behind Better Client Engagement

DIY-ers, I know this one will resonate…

You spend an entire afternoon wrestling with an IKEA flat-pack wardrobe. There are mysterious leftover screws, the instructions appear to have been written in another dimension, and at one point you seriously consider giving up and living out of cardboard boxes forever.

But, when it's finally standing upright, you feel accomplished. You probably value that wardrobe far more than a ready-built one that someone else delivered and assembled for you.

Psychologists call this ‘The IKEA Effect’ – our tendency to place a higher value on things we've helped to create.

And, while it might sound like something that only applies to furniture, it's a powerful principle that all businesses can use to create stronger relationships, increase engagement, and generate better results.

Why does the IKEA Effect work?

You know I love a bit of psychology in marketing!

This one is quite simple: when we invest our time, effort, ideas, or energy into something, we feel a sense of ownership over it. It becomes our project, our solution, or our success.

As humans, we're naturally more committed to things we've helped shape.

This is why the best businesses don't disappear behind the scenes and deliver a finished product - they involve their customers in the process.

In fact, some of the most successful projects I've worked on have been built around co-production rather than consultation.

A great example is my work with Connect, a community created with care-experienced young people. The aim was never to build something for them and hope they liked it. Instead, care-experienced young people were involved in shaping the community from the outset, influencing decisions, sharing ideas, and helping define what success looked like.

The result wasn't just a stronger community - it was a community that people genuinely felt ownership of, because they had helped create it.

Collaborative onboarding

It’s always best to adopt this approach at the start of a new customer relationship, so consider how you can incorporate the IKEA Effect into your onboarding processes.

Compare these two onboarding experiences:

Option A: A client signs a contract and receives a generic welcome email.

Option B: A client completes a tailored questionnaire, shares their goals, challenges, and aspirations, and contributes valuable information that shapes the project from day one.

Which client is likely to feel more invested?

Collaborative onboarding immediately signals that this isn't an off-the-shelf service, it's a partnership. It also gives clients an opportunity to reflect on their objectives, making them more engaged and committed before the real work even begins.

Invite them to the strategy table

Workshops are one of the most effective ways to harness the IKEA Effect.

Whether you're a marketing consultant, business coach, web designer, HR specialist, or accountant, workshops allow clients to contribute their expertise while you bring yours.

Instead of presenting recommendations that feel imposed upon them, clients feel like they've helped build the solution.

They're more likely to support the strategy, champion the ideas internally, and stay engaged throughout delivery.

After all, people rarely argue with their own ideas!

This principle extends beyond client work too.

Businesses can use co-production with customers when developing new services, redesigning websites, improving customer experiences, or launching new products. Rather than relying solely on surveys after the fact, involve customers in the process itself.

For example:

• A gym could invite members to help shape a new class timetable.

• A software company could create a customer advisory group to influence future features.

• A charity could involve beneficiaries in campaign planning and messaging.

• A professional services firm could run customer roundtables before introducing new services.

Not only do you gain valuable insights, but customers become advocates because they can see their fingerprints on the final result.

The power of customer-generated content

The IKEA Effect doesn't just apply to new and existing clients, it can also strengthen relationships with potential customers.

Customer-generated content is a perfect example: testimonials, reviews, case studies, user photos, and success stories all require customers to actively participate in your marketing.

When someone shares their experience, they're investing a small amount of effort into your brand. That investment creates a stronger emotional connection and often increases loyalty.

As an added bonus, content created by real customers is usually more persuasive than content created by marketers (oh how my heart weeps at this!).

The challenge, of course, is that most customers won't create content unless they're invited to.

A few simple ways to encourage customer-generated content include:

• Asking for testimonials at the point of success, when a client has achieved a positive outcome and their enthusiasm is at its highest.

• Making reviews easy to leave by providing direct links and clear instructions.

• Featuring client stories in blogs, newsletters or social media, giving customers an opportunity to share their experiences and expertise.

• Creating branded hashtags or social media campaigns that encourage customers to share photos and updates.

Some businesses take this even further by inviting customers to contribute blog content, participate in podcasts, join advisory panels, or help shape future products and services.

The more meaningful the contribution, the stronger the sense of ownership.

Interactive content

Interactive tools on your website are another great way to get buy-in because they encourage active participation.

Whether it’s a ‘what’s your perfect X’ quiz, a pricing calculator, or a ‘build your own’ configurator, these tools mean users aren’t just consuming information, they’re shaping it with their own data, preferences and insights to create a personalised outcome. That small investment of effort increases engagement and makes the result feel more valuable.

For service businesses, interactive content can be an effective lead generation tool because it provides immediate value while helping potential clients better understand their needs, challenges or opportunities.

It's the digital equivalent of handing someone an Allen key and inviting them to build part of the wardrobe - the more involved people feel in creating the outcome, the more invested they become in the result.

Deliver more than solutions

The best businesses don't just deliver solutions, they create experiences where clients feel involved in building those solutions.

Whether that's through collaborative onboarding, workshops, customer-generated content, quizzes, strategic planning sessions, or genuine co-production, the principle remains the same: people value what they have helped to create.

My experience with Connect reinforced this perfectly. When people are invited to shape something alongside you rather than simply receive it from you, engagement deepens, trust grows, and outcomes improve.

Sometimes, the secret to creating more engaged, loyal clients isn't doing more for them - it's giving them an opportunity to do a little bit more with you.

If you’d like to know more about the results of my collaborative work in building a care-experienced community with Connect, have a read of the case study.

Want to build collaboration into your own business or organisation? Get in touch for a chat.