Disney And The Erosion of The Three Dimensions of Ease
Ease is a multi-dimensional concept. Innovators, brands, entrepreneurs, organizations and others must recognize that it is essential to deliver on the Three Dimensions of Ease: ease of choice, ease of use, and ease of mind.
People do not want to feel stupid. If a product or service is too complex or confusing, we do not feel comfortable. If too much effort and or time are required to choose or use, we feel frustrated or defeated. Humans are pain avoidance mammals. Discomfort is painful. We will avoid interacting with products and services that make us feel uneasy.
There is another reason to address the three dimensions of ease. It is based on work conducted by Nobel Prize winner Herbert Simon in 1956. Professor Simon’s focus was the decision-making process. He coined a word, “satisficing” that is a blend of satisfy and suffice.
Satisficing is a decision-making strategy that attempts to meet criteria for adequacy rather than to identify an optimal solution. In situations where there are many choices or many choices are presented one by one, finding the best choice can be a hopeless quest. We become stymied: we will opt for the first choice or opt for a choice that appears to address the most needs. In either case, we do not make the best choice.
Additionally, our inherent desire to make simple, effortless choices in the face of too many, uncertain options, forces us to default to the cheapest, the most expensive, or whatever choice feels satisfactory whether it is best or not.
Brands addressing ease on all three dimensions have an advantage. If a brand loses its ease advantage, that brand will probably become less desired.
This is why the Disney brand’s dilemma is so unfortunate. Disney has finally made its streaming profitable and highly competitive. At the same time, Disney’s park performances are now less stellar.
Marketers need to stop blaming outside events for marketing mismanagement. The reduction of Disney park visits can no longer be blamed on COVID. Nor is the reduction of Disney parks visits only the fault of lower income customers struggling to make ends meet. According to the information from a story in The New York Times, it appears that Disney has defaulted on The Three Dimensions of Ease.
The Three Dimensions of Ease
Ease of choice
Choice should be easy. We want more choice, and more personalization. But, we want choosing to be simple. Making a choice should be easy. It should require a minimum effort, and not take a lot of time. We do not want to spend a lot of time on a choice that should not take huge amount of energy to make. In other words, we do not want increased mental and physical effort.
We do not want decreases in the speed of our decision-making. We live in a world of “now,” and that means we have expectations about making good, satisfying decisions quickly. Our current technologies allow us to swipe an icon to make an immediate purchase on our smartphone. We have become used to “instant” choice satisfaction. The idea of slowing down to make a choice is agonizing. Apps and Amazon have made selection immediate. We are rewarded with immediate gratification.
Under its previous CEO, Disney not only raised prices across the Disney parks’ board, Disney also started charging for products and services that used to be free. The price of a Disney visit skyrocketed.
When Robert Iger returned to run Disney, there was movement on restoring some of the free services and lowering some prices. But, according to The New York Times, the cost of a Disney vacation has skyrocketed. This makes a Disney visit a difficult choice. Can I find a family vacation that will be more affordable and as interesting?
Disney visits used to be “no-brainers” if you had children or if you were a life-long fan. Now, Disney appears to be losing some of its easy-to-choose cachet.
Ease of use
We should live in a user-manual-free world. Service options should not require a lot of explanation. Once we easily choose, use of the product or service should be easy. People have so many things happening in their lives: people do not need to waste precious time and energy on learning how to use or navigate a product or service. It is the role of the provider to take the complexity out of choice as well as the use. Further, overly complicated products and services cause us to feel inept or inadequate and, sometimes, cause us to feel stupid or extremely frustrated.
Ease of use is essential, especially when it involves technology. Many companies get this right. But, then there are those companies that seem to make it more difficult.
Disney seems to be falling into the category of making the technology for ride-decisions difficult. Navigating Disney’s tools for rides changed from an easy-to-use and free Fast pass technology to something called Genie+ which is not free and not easy to use. Then, Genie+ morphed into Lightning Lane Multi Pass at a cost of $30 a day. Again, not easy to use. And, apparently, highly frustrating while requiring a lot of attention and vigilance to continue to score places on popular rides.
Ease of mind
It is not enough to be easy to choose and easy to use. People want to feel comfortable with their decision. They want to feel reassured that they made the right choice. “Am I comfortable with the decision? Now that I am using this product or service, am I satisfied with the choice?” Am I doing the right thing for me? Am I doing the right thing for my family? Am I doing the right thing for my pet? Am I doing the right thing for the community? Am I doing the right thing for future generations? People want to feel right about their decisions rather than feel regret. And, people want to know that the brands and organizations with which they do business are doing the right thing. Are employees treated properly? Is the company a good global citizen? Does the company have my best interests in mind? Is the brand or the company a decent contributor to my communities? Are the brand and corporate leaders making ethical decisions?
There is a concept called Prospect Theory that describes how people tend to prefer making decisions that are defined as “gains” rather than “losses.” In business, this means framing the decisions in terms of profitability. It is similar to the value equation that runs through consumers’ minds. What will I relative to what I will pay?
The costs, complexities and frustrations of a Disney visit seem to be overriding the joy and delight for many, at least the adult payers and planners. When the total brand experience marvel of Disney is marred by the total costs of money, time and effort, Disney’s value equation is thrown out of whack. Disney begins to lose its original vision, mission and purpose:
To be a place where the whole family can have fun and escape from the stresses of the real world. A place where Disney will make a safe, high quality, affordable, magical place appropriate for the whole family. And, create happiness.
Disney just announced that it will expand its offerings in cruises and theme park experiences. The Wall Street Journal wrote that Disney is under “pressure to add new attractions as revenue from the Experiences unit softened recently.” Disney appears to convey that its “moderation of consumer demand” at Disney parks possibly reflects the need for an extreme re-imaging. This means that the Experiences division will be spending money to add new attractions that will “justify” the expense of a Disney visit. Will new experiences generate visits?
Maybe.
Disney should take a look at the entire value equation, remembering that it is the customer who defines value. And, Disney must keep in mind that price is not the only cost customers review when assessing value. In the customer’s value equation, time and effort are also key elements of cost, not just price. If the new Disney park experiences are still difficult to choose, difficult to use and cause frustrating psychic unease, then no matter how extraordinary the re-imaging and anticipated magical delight, customers will still opt for joyfulness and happiness elsewhere.
It does not matter whether your brand is affordable, premium-priced, packaged goods, durable goods, product or service, ignoring The Three Dimensions of Ease is major mismarketing.
