I was building IKEA furniture last week.
Specifically, Kallax shelves for my office. And if you are ever on a Zoom call with me, you will probably see them sitting neatly behind me, looking far more put together than I felt while assembling them.
Because, as always, it was not entirely straightforward. There was the usual moment of questioning the instructions, a brief suspicion that I had done something wrong, and that slight sense of relief when it all finally came together.
And yet, once they were done, I stood back and felt oddly pleased with them. I liked them more than I probably would have if they had just arrived fully built.
And that is the IKEA Effect in action.
What Is the IKEA Effect?
The IKEA Effect is the tendency for people to place a higher value on things they have helped to create. Even when the outcome is not perfect. Even when a professionally made version would arguably be better.
The act of contributing, even in a small way, creates a sense of ownership. And that ownership increases perceived value. It is no longer just something you have received.
It is something you have had a hand in.
Why This Matters in Email (More Than You Might Think)
Email is still, in many cases, treated as a broadcast channel. We send something out, we hope it resonates, and we measure what happens next. But when you look at it through the lens of the IKEA Effect, there is a much bigger opportunity sitting underneath it.
Because the more your audience participates, even in the smallest of ways, the more invested they become in what happens next.That participation does not need to be dramatic. It does not need to be time-consuming. In fact, the most effective forms of it are often almost invisible.
A moment of recognition. A small decision. A feeling of yes, that is me. That is where ownership starts to build.
But What About the Fluency Heuristic?
This is where people sometimes get a little stuck, because on the surface it can feel like these ideas are pulling in different directions.
I just wrote last week about the Fluency Heuristic, where ease and simplicity drive action. And now we are saying that effort and involvement increase value.
So which one is right?
Both are, but they are doing different jobs.
Fluency is about how easy something is to process. It removes friction and allows the reader to move through your email without resistance.
The IKEA Effect is about emotional investment. It gives the reader a reason to care.
So the experience itself should feel effortless, but within that experience there should be moments where the reader feels involved. You are not asking them to work to understand your message. You are inviting them to engage with it.
What This Looks Like in Practice
When you apply this to email, it becomes less about big interactions and more about small, intentional moments.
It might be asking a question that prompts an immediate internal response, even if they never physically answer it. It might be presenting options that allow the reader to mentally choose what is most relevant to them. It might be shaping journeys based on preferences so the reader feels like they are influencing what they receive next.
Even something as simple as writing in a way that allows the reader to see themselves in the scenario you are describing can trigger that sense of participation. They are no longer just reading your email. They are relating to it. And that is a very different experience.
Where Most Emails Miss the Opportunity
A lot of emails are designed to deliver a message as clearly and efficiently as possible. And clarity absolutely matters. This is where fluency does its job.
But when everything is fully formed, with no space for the reader to engage or reflect, there is no sense of ownership. The message is received, processed, and often forgotten just as quickly.
On the other hand, if you push too far in the opposite direction and ask for too much interaction, or make the reader feel like they have to work, engagement drops off just as quickly. So the opportunity sits somewhere in the middle.
Creating emails that are easy to move through, but give the reader small, natural ways to feel involved along the way.
A Simple Way to Think About It
Fluency removes friction.
The IKEA Effect creates investment.
And you need both working together. Because something that is easy to read but does not involve the reader is unlikely to leave a lasting impression. And something that demands too much effort is unlikely to be engaged with at all.
But when an email feels easy and personal, when it allows the reader to see themselves in it or respond to it, even quietly, it starts to carry more weight.
Final Thought
We often focus heavily on what we want to say in our emails, and how we want to say it.
But sometimes the more powerful question is, where can we involve the reader?
Not in a way that feels like work, but in a way that feels natural. Almost effortless.
Because when someone feels like they have had even a small part to play, the outcome starts to matter more to them.
It is no longer just another message in their inbox.
It becomes something they have engaged with, something they recognise, and something they are far more likely to act on.
And this is where design plays a far more important role than most people give it credit for.
Not just in how something looks, but in how it guides the reader. How it creates those small moments of interaction. How it helps someone move through an email without friction, while still feeling involved in what they are reading.
Done well, design is what allows fluency and participation to exist together. It makes the experience feel effortless, while quietly encouraging engagement along the way.
It is also one of the key areas we focus on in the Foundation: Email Design Excellence course, because once you start designing with the reader’s behaviour in mind, rather than just aesthetics, everything changes. Emails become easier to navigate, more engaging to interact with, and ultimately far more effective.
And that is where the real shift happens.
