People dont want new, they want the familiar done differently

People dont want new, they want the familiar done differentlyPeople dont want new, they want the familiar done differentlyIll admit, the bento box is an unlikely place to learn an important business lesson. But consider the California Roll - understanding the impact of this icon of Japanese dining can make all the difference between the success or failure of your product.If youve ever felt the frustration of customers not biting, then you can sympathize with Japanese restaurant owners in America during the 1970s. Sushi consumption welches all but non-existent. By all accounts, Americans were scared of the stuff. Eating raw fish was an aberration and to most, tofu and seaweed were punchlines, not food.Then came the California Roll. While the origin of the famous maki is totenstill contested, its impact is undeniable. The California Roll was made in the USA by combining familiar ingredients in a new way. Rice, avocado, cucumber, sesaatkorn seeds, and crab meat - the only ingredient u nfamiliar to the average American palate was the barely visible sliver of nori seaweed holding it all together.Familiar done differentlyThe California Roll provided a gateway to discover Japanese cuisine and demand exploded. Over the next few decades sushi restaurants, which were once confined to large coastal cities and almost exclusively served Japanese clientele, suddenly went mainstream. Today, sushi is served in small rural towns, airports, strip malls, and stocked in the deli section of local supermarkets. Americans now consume $2.25 billion of sushi annually.The lesson of the California Roll is simple - people dont want something truly new, they want the familiar done differently. Interestingly, this lesson applies just as much to the spread of neuerung as it does to tastes in food.For example, the graphical user interface, a milestone in the popularization of the personal computer, used familiar visual metaphors like folders, notepads, windows, and trash cans to appeal to m ainstream users terrified by the command-line interface (perhaps even more than the thought of eating raw fish). The computer underneath was the same, however, the familiar veneer suddenly made it accessible.Quaint but unnecessary representations of the familiar became a hallmark of Apple products. As Claire Evans wrote for Motherboard, While under the direction of the late Steve Jobs, Apples design aesthetic tended heavily towards the skeuomorphic. The Apple desktop calendar, famously, is rendered with accents of rich Corinthian leather its bookshelves gleam with wood veneers, its chrome always brushed, its pages stitched and torn, its tabletop felt green.Now that Apple serves a generation familiar with how its products work, it can shepherd them from California Rolls to sashimi, so to speak. We understood that people had already become comfortable with touching glass, explained Apples Jony Ive. They didnt need physical buttons, they understood the benefits.However, Apple still use s its tried and true methods whenever the company wants users to adopt a new behavior. For example, the rebranded Apple Wallet helps users feel comfortable with the technology by making payment options look just like mini credit cards. Even though theres no technical reason to do so, Apple understands the power of the familiar.(Un)familiarity breeds contemptAs I wrote about in my book, Hooked, unfamiliar products and interfaces are more difficult to use and can impede adoption. Several psychological phenomena conspire to make us resist the atypical.According to BJ Fogg of Stanfords Persuasive Technology Lab, non-routine is one of six Elements of Simplicity - the factors that affect the likelihood of any particular human action occurring. Fogg wrote, When people face a behavior that is not routine, then they may not find it simple. In seeking simplicity, people will often stick to their routine, like buying gas at the same station, even if it costs more money or time than other opti ons.Of course, we also have a love for new and improved but in relatively modest proportions. New and improved is great for things we are already familiar with - like cereal and dish soap - but not for products where we lack a frame of reference.Unfortunately, our aversion to things that are outside the norm is particularly hard on companies producing radical innovation - no matter how beneficial they may be. If using a new product does not feel familiar, it faces severe challenges. According to Fogg, People are generally resistant to teaching and training because it requires effort. This clashes with the natural wiring of human adults We are fundamentally lazy. As a result, products that require people to learn new things routinely fail.Whats your California roll?When describing the Apple Watch, Jony Ive said his goal was to build the strangely familiar. The smartwatch is exactly the kind of innovation that is still too new for all but the most early of early adopters. And yet I ve obsessed over the details of the Digital Crown, an esthetic adopted from traditional watchmaking. Clearly, Ive knows what hes doing - industry analysts expect the company to sell 19 million units this year.As the pace of innovation accelerates, human behavior, not technological restraints, will be the deciding factor of whether products are adopted or discarded. If new products and services are to positively impact our lives, they must find a gateway into our daily routines. The familiar done differently is the way to users minds and hearts - and sometimes their stomachs.Heres the gistThe California Roll introduced Americans to sushi by using familiar ingredients arranged in a new way.The California Roll Rule People dont want something truly new, they want the familiar done differently.Things that are truly new need to use familiar mental models to gain user adoptions (i.e., Apples use of skeuomorphs.)Unfamiliar interfaces are more difficult to use and impede adoption.If your n ew product or service is not engaging users, ask Whats my California Roll?Thiscolumnfirst appeared atNir and Far.