Quick Definition: Salience describes how prominent or emotionally striking something is. If an element seems to jump out from its environment, itโs salient.
These tiny engravings were incredibly effective. The flies reduced spillage by 80% and total cleaning costs by 8%. As Klaus Reichardt, a member of the team who invented the solution put it:
โGuys are simple-minded and love to play with their urine stream, so you put something in the toilet bowl and theyโll aim at that. It could be anything. Iโve seen a golf flag, a bee, a little tree. It just happens that at Schiphol itโs a fly.โ
But why did such a simple solution work so well? Itโs down to a behavioral science principle known as salience bias.
What is Salience Bias?
Salience describes how prominent or emotionally striking something is. If an element seems to jump out from its environment, itโs salient. If it blends into the background and takes a while to find, itโs not. Salience Bias states that the brain prefers to pay attention to salient elements of an experience.
Salience describes the prominence or emotional resonance of an element.
What Makes Something Salient?
Let's define makes something salient. Salience works by creating whatโs called cognitive ease. This means making it simple for people to process information. So what elements create salient features?
1. Luminance
The intensity of light emitted from an object. For example, a glowing effect around an element will make it stand out from the background.
2. Texture
Patterns that add more visual information. For example, fried chicken is more salient than grilled chicken because its crunchy texture draws attention. Any type of angular or interesting texture attracts attention.
3. Contrast
How different two colors are to one another. For example, black text on a yellow background is a combination often used for road signs. Yellow contrasts with the surrounding environment, and black contrasts with the yellow background. This results in a clear message, thatโs also easy for drivers to notice.
4. Size and Scale
The size of one element in comparison to another. In some cases, a clientโs request to โmake the logo biggerโ is correct (at least when it comes to salience).
How to Apply Salience Bias to Customer Experience
The purpose of an experience is to drive action. Hereโs how the best brands use salience to shape their customer experience:
1. Apple: Apply Salience Bias by keeping it simple
Ruthlessly product-focused, Apple stores set the bar for simple retail experiences. Rather than confusing customers with lots of information and options, Apple lets its products persuade.
The product-first strategy is also clear in Appleโs digital experience. Simple design and minimal information make it easy for Appleโs products to get 100% of the customerโs attention.
2. Netflix: Apply Salience Bias by creating clarity from complex information
Customers love Netflix because they have lots of content, but having lots of content means it can be hard to find what you want. Netflixโs UX team has a difficult jobโโโthey have to turn this endless content into an easy-to-navigate experience. Here are a few ways they accomplish this:
- Content personalization algorithm: Research has shown that personalized content is more salient to customers. Netflix describes itself as โcustomer-obsessedโ and strives to deliver a totally personalized experience. Their โTop Picks forโฆโ category is a prime example of this philosophy in action. More than 80% of Netflix shows customers watched in the last two years have been as a direct result of Netflixโs recommendation engine. Not someone searching for a specific piece of content.
- Top 10 lists: Netflix leverages the โTop-10 Effectโ in its new, content ranking section. This effect states that people naturally group things into round-number groups, and everything outside of these groups is inferior. In other words, top 10 lists are incredibly salient for customersโโโthey naturally grab peopleโs attention.
3. Google: Design for decision-making
Which of the options below do you think Google wants users to buy?
If you said the G Suite Business plan, Iโd have to agree with you. So how does Google use salience to make that strategy clear?
- Contrast: Google uses contrasting design elements to create distinctiveness from other products.
- The โCenter Stage Effectโ: This effect states that people are more likely to pick the middle option, even if itโs the worst option. By putting their preferred choice in the center, Google uses this user bias to create more salience for its Business plan.
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Salience Bias: The Bottom Line
Clearly, salience is one of the most important elements when designing customer experiences. We can use it to make better design decisions and create more effective experiences.
Ask yourself:
- In key moments in our customer journey, whatโs the one action we want customers to take?
- Whatโs the context of our physical experience? Is it vying for too much of our customerโs attention?
- Whatโs the context of our digital experience? Do we have irrelevant information or too many design elements?