Efficiency is the Enemy (Sometimes)
Why cutting “inefficiencies” might be costing you your best customers.
Reading time approx. 5 minutes
Good morning. Let's start this Tuesday together. Because, as always, "It is perfectly possible to be both rational and wrong."
The Power of the Accidental Customer
A woman was walking through a quiet London neighborhood when she saw it: a simple wooden sign that read “For Sale.” Nothing fancy. No branding overhaul, no QR code, no algorithm tracking engagement. Just a name, a number, and a slice of possibility.
She hadn’t planned to move. She wasn't house-hunting. In fact, she was on her way to meet a friend for coffee. But that sign, quietly and without permission, planted an idea. It stuck. Weeks later, she started browsing listings. Six months later, she moved.
This is exactly the kind of behavior traditional business logic doesn't account for. The kind that doesn’t show up in a funnel, doesn’t start with a search, and doesn’t belong to a “target audience.”
And yet, it’s often how real buying decisions start.
That sign may seem like an inefficient relic from the past but in that moment, it did something no digital strategy could. It interrupted someone who wasn’t looking and made them start wanting. That's not inefficiency. That’s serendipity. And if you’re only measuring cost-per-click, you’ll miss it entirely.
How Does It Work? Science, Baby!
Behavioral science offers a clear explanation: we are constantly influenced by contextual triggers and environmental cues. These moments bypass our logical, goal-oriented thinking (System 2) and instead speak directly to our intuitive, emotional side (System 1).
System 1 governs the majority of our decisions, especially the unplanned ones. A “For Sale” sign on a quiet street? That’s a perfect System 1 nudge. It doesn’t demand attention: it invites curiosity. It creates a micro-moment of emotional connection. And it doesn’t require any existing intent.
In contrast, modern businesses have become laser-focused on designing for efficiency. Digital-first funnels, automated conversion flows, optimized journeys. But these models tend to ignore the power of inspiration. They operate under the false assumption that people make purchases after identifying a need and then searching for the cheapest solution.
That’s just not how most people behave. And when companies streamline everything “unnecessary” in the name of cost-cutting, they often end up deleting the very moments that drive emotional engagement and spontaneous desire.
Why This Is Important?
Most customers don’t follow a linear path to purchase. They follow emotional cues, environmental triggers, and random inspiration.
Why is it important to deal with this phenomenon?
Because the obsession with efficiency is shrinking opportunity.
There’s a business story that captures this perfectly. A luxury brand redesigned its digital sales process to make it smoother and more cost-effective. They minimized human involvement and relied on chatbots and emails to guide buyers. Sales dipped. Confused, they did something unorthodox: they added a large “Call Us” button back onto the website.
Now here’s the twist: the people who called? They weren’t the ones the algorithm predicted. They were spontaneous. Curious. Emotional. And they often bought big. They hadn’t followed the “rational” journey at all. They had questions. They needed connection. And they converted faster, and more often, than the digital-first buyers.
This story plays out everywhere. In grocery stores, where candy bars at the checkout still outperform digital coupons. In bookstores, where browsing a shelf leads to unplanned purchases a search bar would never spark. In real estate, where that wooden sign on the lawn sells houses that no one was ever actively looking for.
Efficiency cuts out the waste. But in doing so, it often cuts out the wonder.
If we want to create growth, we have to stop believing that customers only act logically. They don't. And the ones who don’t, who get inspired, who call spontaneously, who fall in love with something they never thought they needed, are often the most valuable of all.
And Now?
How can you use this today?
Start by looking around your own business. What have you “optimized” lately? Have you buried the phone number on your website? Removed physical samples? Automated every interaction?
Now ask: are you designing only for people who already know what they want? Or are you also designing for the person who stumbles across you and suddenly feels something?
Bring back one or two "inefficient" elements this week. Maybe it's a handwritten note. Maybe it’s a real person answering the phone. Maybe it's a physical touchpoint in a digital world. These small “frictions” might not scale but they spark.
And remember: just because something is harder to measure doesn't mean it doesn’t matter. Some of the best marketing moments don’t show up on a dashboard.
Bottom Line
Not everything that creates value is efficient, and not everything efficient creates value.
Checklist for the moment of truth:
Have we eliminated emotional or environmental triggers in the name of streamlining?
Can a curious customer still call a real person?
Are we creating space for inspiration, not just conversion?
What doorways into the brand are we unintentionally closing?
Are we tracking cost or impact?
The goal isn’t just to remove friction. It’s to create emotion. And sometimes, the most valuable purchase starts with a completely irrational idea.
Chief Behavioral Officer wanted
Where are management decisions made every day that are still based on people acting logically? Where can you be a Chief Behavioral Officer yourself this week?
See you next time.
If you would like to send us any tips or feedback, please email us at redaktion@cbo.news. Thank you very much.