Laws of UX, 2nd Edition

Chapter 6. Peak–End Rule

People judge an experience largely based on how they felt at its peak and at its end, rather than on the total sum or average of every moment of the experience.

Key Takeaways

• Pay close attention to the most intense points and the final moments (the “end”) of the user journey.

• Identify the moments when your product is most helpful, valuable, or entertaining and design to delight the end user.

• Remember that people recall negative experiences more vividly than positive ones.

Overview

An interesting thing happens when we recollect a past event. Instead of considering the entire duration of the experience, we tend to focus on an emotional peak and on the end, regardless of whether those moments were positive or negative. In other words, we remember each of our life experiences as a series of representative snapshots rather than a comprehensive timeline of events. Our feelings during the most emotionally intense moments and at the end are averaged in our minds and heavily influence how we recall the overall experience to determine whether we’d be willing to do it again or recommend it to others. This observation, known as the peak–end rule, strongly suggests we should pay close attention to these critical moments to ensure users evaluate an overall experience positively.

Origins

Evidence for the peak–end rule was first explored in the 1993 paper ...