Strategy Meets Psychology: The Effort Heuristic in Action

As I delve further into commercial and brand strategy, I’ve come to see them as two sides of the same coin: one governs how a company makes money, the other governs why customers choose it. To see the distinction — and the overlap — it helps to bring in a little behavioral science.

The Effort Heuristic (a bias I’ve shared before) is a well-established principle showing that people place higher value on something if they believe effort went into it. A homemade cake feels more special than a store-bought one; “handcrafted” products command higher prices. Applied commercially, the Effort Heuristic can guide decisions on pricing and customer experience.

Consider a software company, for instance, that introduces a “guided onboarding workshop” instead of a fully automated setup. The extra step signals effort, increases perceived value, and justifies a premium tier. On the brand side, that same company might build its positioning around being a “co-builder” that invests effort upfront to ensure long-term client success. This isn’t just about a product feature — it’s a brand story rooted in care, customization, and shared commitment.

This is the quiet power of validated behavioral principles: they anchor strategy in how people actually think and decide. Commercial strategy asks, How do we capture value? Brand strategy asks, Why will people value us? Behavioral science gives both answers a dose of reality — not certainty, but a near-guarantee that choices will resonate with human psychology. And that makes strategy less abstract, more human, and far more effective.