How to Use Psychological Tricks to Bring Numbers to Life

It’s easy to visualize placing 10 chairs in a room, but it’s difficult to visualize 1,000 chairs. In order to acquire an accurate frame-of-reference, most of us would need to start by sketching out a diagram. Understanding this and applying it to business, the last thing you want is for your customer to have to hunt down a pen, paper and calculator in order to understand your numerically-based product features - don’t assign homework. Captivate customer attention by applying these clever ways to convert numbers into things people care about. 

In mathematics; time, distance, space, capacity, weight, or even price, are communicated using an agreed upon fixed set of numerical units: numbers. When you’re attempting to market this information, however, there are countless ways to communicate a single number. While the number or unit might be exact, there are a myriad of ways to convey them into words and visuals that matter to your customer. The easier you make it for someone to interpret your number-based features, the easier it will be for them to understand what it means to their experience, and ultimately - why they need your product or service.

What if I told you there is more than one way to represent a given number or unit? Morongo, a casino and resort - maybe near-ish to Palm Springs? - maybe I’ve seen it on the way to Vegas? - is located in a relatively unknown city in Southern California. Not too long ago, they ran a popular, local television commercial providing a taste of the casino razzle-dazzle. 

They didn’t say “located in Cabazon, CA,” (where is that?” Or “94 miles from Downtown LA,” (I’m sorry, almost 100 miles?!). Instead, Morongo offered that it was “less than 90 minutes from wherever you are!” They transformed ambiguous ‘distance’ into the more compelling ‘time’ to better illustrate how the drive to have fun could be quick and convenient.

83.4 million people traveled through Chicago’s O’Hare Airport in 2018. This can be described as the rough population of Germany, or 10 of those busy, bustling New York Citys! 

People are more able to process and visualize numbers if you provide them with the “totems” to do so. A study by Cornell University demonstrated that 68% of people believed information that was presented in pure words or numbers, but 97% believed a number if it was paired with a visualization tool. By providing customers with a recognizable visualization, or  ‘totem,’ you’re able to give more meaning to your numerically-based product features.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">This week is <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RailSafetyWeek?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RailSafetyWeek</a> Remember that it can take a train up to a Mile to stop! That&#39;s the length of 18 football fields. Train Tracks are not play grounds. <a href="https://t.co/xR4kZVvjTV">pic.twitter.com/xR4kZVvjTV</a></p>&mdash; KDOT (@KDOTHQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/KDOTHQ/status/1044632628455002114?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 25, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> 

As numbers get even larger, we tend to play brain games to bring them down to a reasonable size. "Our cognitive systems are very much tied to our perceptions," said Daniel Ansari, a researcher at the Numerical Cognition Laboratory at Western University in Canada. "The main obstacle is that we're dealing with numbers that are too large for us to have experienced perceptually." That’s why we say things like, “the Empire State Building is 2,000 No.2 pencils tall,” or, “the Golden Gate Bridge is the length of 30 football fields.” It’s why politicians love to tell us that a new spending bill will only cost us “one less Starbucks coffee per week.” By inserting these ‘totems,’ we are able to give a frame-of-reference to better visualize increasingly large numbers.

They say if we tried to imagine Graham’s Number, you wouldn’t just run out of every pen in the world, but your head would actually collapse into small black hole!

It takes about 330 minutes to get from Los Angeles to New York City by flight. Now, say you were able to invent a new, revolutionary way to fly that could get passengers across the country in only 30 minutes. We talk a lot about ways to convert dry, -er words (faster, smaller, more efficient) into more tangible benefits that people care about. Simply saying your product is faster, 30% faster or 900% faster doesn’t immediately resonate. 

You could say it is ‘the fastest’ or ‘900% faster,’ but this doesn’t provide a totem as to what this speed really means. You could say: 

• The time it takes you to commute to work
• Get there faster than you can drive to the Santa Monica Pier
• You’ll be in New York before dinner is even ready!

Intel does this well. They don’t just list their Core Processors as “fast,” but they provide a frame-of-reference to show the speed of their latest models. A clear example: Editing 4K videos used to take about 6 minutes, but can now be done in just under a single minute. They break down what ’10.5X faster’ really means to their target customer.

What are some other examples on how we can convert numerical units into concepts customers can visualize?

ROKA: Converts VLT into Real World Light Conditions

VLT is used to measure the percentage of light that can penetrate a lens. Lenses with a lower VLT have a darker tint and are ideal for bright conditions, while lenses with a higher VLT have a lighter tint better for low-light conditions. Some sunglass and goggle companies list lens VLT and expect the customer to sort the differences. Goggle manufacturer ROKA has 10 different lens tints, and instead provides visuals for the conditions each model's ideal conditions.

For example, Light Vermilion is “great for low light, green backdrops, enhances orange and red buoys,” or Jade Mirror is ideal for “direct sun, enhances yellow and orange buoys.” Additionally, the images they use aren’t just any old stock photography - they’re effective totems. They are shots of popular swim courses easily recognizable by their target market of triathletes. This provides meaning to the unit of VLT.

Command: Convert Weight into Everyday Objects

If you’ve ever strolled around the Home Improvement aisle of Target, you’ve likely come across the long aisle of Command strips. These adhesive-backed hooks are primed and ready to hang just about anything, each with a unique weight capacity. Instead of saying the Jumbo Utility Hooks can hold up to 7.5 lbs, they convert weight into everyday objects. The Jumbo Utility Hook can hold a standard bag of coffee beans, while the Small Utility Hook can hold a gallon of milk. This gives an immediate frame-of-reference that is easily visualized and converted into meaningful weight.

XLAB: Convert Capacity into a Meaningful Measurement

An innovator in aerodynamic equipment for triathlon bicycles has an endless list of numbers and units to describe their equipment. After all, the company is run by cycling intelligentsia and need-for-speed engineers. 

One of their most popular products, the Torpedo, is an outstandingly aerodynamic water bottle with a 750mL capacity. It conveniently sits between the ‘aerobars’ - an apparatus that extends out in front of your traditional bicycle handlebars, allowing you to lean forward and achieve a time-saving position when riding on a long, flat road during a triathlon. It could easily be artlessly listed on a long spec sheet as a bland “750mL water bottle.” Consumers could skim… skim… skim… a tech-heavy spec sheet and miss why that specific capacity is so integral to their overall performance. 

Instead, XLAB explains why they specifically designed the bottle to be 750mL. They remind their target market (triathletes) that along the bike portion of the race, they are handed refresher bottles from various aid stations along the course. The Torpedo Bottle is purposely designed to fit the precise aid station bottles triathletes are handed along the way, and therefore, the bottle will not overflow or underfill when water is crucially needed.

If the Moon Were Only 1 Pixel: Mind Tricks for Inconceivable Numbers

What happens when you are attempting to represent a number that is far outside the general human capacity to understand? An example comes by way of something we are all well aware of, but very few of us can properly visualize. We all live together on our beloved 24,901 mile-around planet Earth, roughly 92,960,000 million miles away from the burning hot star that gives us life - the sun. While these units are commonly accepted - you might even have those distances memorized - they are incredibly jarring and different for the brain to conceptualize. 

The beautifully designed, “tediously accurate” interactive scale model of our solar system helps convert these insurmountably large numbers into smaller ones easier for our brains to digest. Our epic journey through space begins by showing the moon scaled down to a single pixel. The planets and distances we encounter along the way are all drawn in comparison to that one pixel. Elegantly, we casually scroll through the darkened void, soaring through dozens of blank screens between planetary pit-stops, ultimately giving our brain a more conceivable framework for this colossal scale.

Think of the numbers you use to describe your product or service’s top features. Are they empty of meaning and in need of a visualization totem? Let us know in the comments - we’d love to help you brainstorm alternatives!