Beware The Subadditivity Effect*

The Tale of Two Coffee Grinders

Imagine the product marketing manager at Brewtech, staring at the disappointing sales figures for their new premium coffee grinder. Despite packing every feature a coffee enthusiast could want into their marketing message, customers weren't biting.

"We're throwing everything at them at once," they realized one morning, watching their coffee ritual. As they ground their beans, they noticed how each distinct step brought a small joy and decided the next move was to redesign the entire campaign, breaking down the grinder's story into bite-sized moments:

You can almost smell the aroma of each bean in the marketing blend: Monday's email: "Your perfect morning starts with the whisper-quiet grinding that won't wake the house." Wednesday's social post: "40 precise settings mean your French Press and espresso both get their perfect grind." Friday's video: "Smart memory remembers your favorite settings, so tomorrow's coffee is as perfect as today's."

Each message landed with surgical precision. Instead of saying "The ultimate coffee grinder with everything you need," they told stories about peaceful mornings, perfect coffee moments, and daily reliability.

Sales doubled in a month. Customer reviews started mentioning specific features they loved, rather than feeling overwhelmed by the total package.

Sometimes, you have to let people fall in love with your product one feature at a time.

Breaking down a product's value proposition into individual, meaningful benefits can help customers better appreciate its total worth, counteracting their natural tendency to undervalue combined probabilities or features.

*People perceive the total probability of many events as less than the sum of their individual probabilities.