If you’ve ever bought or sold a house, you’re probably familiar with the concept of curb appeal. Curb appeal is the visual attractiveness of a house as seen from the street, and it’s what creates a potential buyer’s first impression of the house. Real estate professionals know curb appeal plays a big role in determining how quickly a house will sell and what the selling price will be.
Good first impressions are also important for successful B2B marketing. Today, most potential buyers will form their first impression of your company based on the content you produce. If your content doesn’t create a good first impression, potential buyers will quickly turn elsewhere, and you may not get another chance to connect with those buyers.
In the words attributed to Will Rogers, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
When your content creates a good first impression, potential buyers are more likely to come back for more, and they will be more inclined to view the rest of your content – and your company – favorably.
Enter the Halo Effect
This inclination results from a cognitive phenomenon known as the halo effect. The American Psychological Association defines a halo effect as, “a rating bias in which a general evaluation (usually positive) of a person, or an evaluation of a person on a specific dimension, influences judgments of that person on other specific dimensions.”
Put more plainly, a halo effect exists when we transfer our perceptions about one attribute of a person or an organization to other attributes of that person or organization without having a rational basis for the transfer. In other words, if we perceive that a company is good at “A,” we will tend to think the company is also good at “B,” even though we actually know nothing about the company’s capabilities at “B.”
The halo effect was first identified by psychologist Edward Thorndike in 1920, and it’s been widely studied since that time. Although the halo effect was first applied to the evaluation of people, we now know that halo effects influence how we evaluate inanimate objects including products, services, brands, and companies.
The most important thing to remember about the halo effect is that it magnifies the influence of first impressions beyond what would be justified on a purely rational basis.
Halos Are Everywhere
The halo effect can be found in a wide range of human judgments. For example:
If I meet a likable person, I will be inclined to believe he or she is also generous and ethical, even though I know nothing about the person’s generosity or ethics.