one good egg: satisfaction, and the Betty Crocker effect

I heard a story at church yesterday. It was about the Betty Crocker effect.

Maybe you’ve heard it.

In the 1950’s, Betty Crocker had a hot new product on their hands. A real winner that saved customers time and tasted great.

It was a cake mix that looked a lot like the ones you can buy today, except it only required you to add water.

The powdered egg had been around for a number of years and became a common gripe amongst servicemen fighting in World War II. Apparently, those early versions of Pure Dried Whole Eggs didn’t taste so hot.

satisfaction not guaranteed with the pure dried whole egg

By the 50s though, Big Egg had worked through some of the kinks. Egg Tech had their product tasting pretty damn good. At least, it was better than what GIs choked down in their fox holes across Europe.

So, Betty Crocker made their cake mix, got it on the shelf, and waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

But nobody was buying their just add water cake mix.

Why?

General Mills, owner of Betty Crocker, was wondering the same thing. They brought in consumer psychologist Ernest Dichter, creator of the modern-day focus group, to conduct interviews with customers.

Dichter found that customers felt guilty using the mix. It was so easy, it felt dishonest presenting the cake as “homemade.” He also found that the instant mix was lacking the rewarding process of baking a cake from scratch.

Isn’t shoving cake in your face its own reward? Apparently not.

Betty Crocker couldn’t convert consumers to the boxed cake mix until they removed the powdered egg. They couldn’t sell them until the product actually did less. The next version required that home bakers add just one good egg, and sales took off.

When Pastor Dave told the story this past Sunday, the lesson was about service. Service to the community, the church, your family. It was about contributing, not because it was easy, but because it was hard. JFK style. It takes some effort to be additive.

It’s a good lesson.

I’ve heard the story a few times before, in a few different ways. And if you’ve been reading along, you know I love these little stories that can be told with a different slant.

Seth Godin discusses the Betty Crocker effect in terms of marketing. Listening to your customers, and understanding how your product makes them feel, not just what it does.

It’s about contribution rather than convenience.

We’ve got a few cake mixes in the cupboard right now, and if you can believe it, today’s versions do even less. They have the audacity to require eggs AND oil. Some want water too. Inconceivable!!

By doing less, the mix did more for the consumer. It gave them a role to play. Some meaning. And it gave them a sense of satisfaction.

After all, if you are just going to add water and put it in the oven, you might as well buy it fully baked.

For my wife and daughter, who have made more boxed funfetti cake than I can count, it’s about an afternoon activity, bonding time, and a treat to share once completed.

The Betty Crocker effect shows us that when something is too easy, it loses value. Sweat equity is real.

Internet sleuths tell you the story has some factual holes in it. That boxed cake had already been around since the 1930s. That adding one good egg just tasted better. It got rid of the sulfur taste associated with the instant versions. Some will claim that it wasn’t about meaning, or satisfaction at all.

These naysayers will say it wasn’t the egg that got sales going, it was the can of frosting that sat on the shelf next to it. That the big unlock for Betty Crocker and Pillsbury was an easy way to slather your cake in sugar. Those brands started marketing various designs for various occasions, and that was what got these mixes to fly off the shelf.

Customization and contribution and creativity. Your cake was really your cake, not just the same vanilla that Susie made down the street.

Your cake says Happy Birthday Johnny. Well done.

make a cake that is distinct and satisfying. Just add more sugar!

That may all be true. Nothing surprising about sugar on top of sugar selling well here in the good ol’ US of A. But it doesn’t change the Betty Crocker Effect for me.

It’s still about contribution.

It’s about service as well.

The idea of one good egg hits home with me. I’ve often thought about these activities and the meaning they play in our lives. What is worth automating? What is okay to send to the robots? And what is best left to the various “easy buttons” that are now available.

It’s fun to hear that even in the 50s, people had a tough time understanding what our human psychology would want or need in a box of cake mix.

Meaning.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too, but you can bake your cake and eat it too. That process fills your belly and your soul.

A successful project feels good, not just because it’s completed, but because you completed it.

That is what brings satisfaction.

If you want some pizza, you can go out, and there is nothing wrong with that.

pizza that is not from scratch is really yummy but doesn't give the same satisfaction. — [Pagliacci Pizza, the Brooklyn Bridge, my favorite]

You can get toppings and some Boboli. That’s sort of the pizza version of cake in a box.

pizza from almost scratch has more satisfaction and meaning than the frozen stuff

Or you can do the whole damn thing from scratch, like a hero. Satisfaction guaranteed.

pizza from scratch, satisfaction guaranteed

Going out to Pagliacci is probably the “best” pie of the bunch, but it doesn’t necessarily taste the best.

Why?

Meaning, experience, contribution, satisfaction.

More examples?

How about my favorite date night with the wife, painting and drinking wine. You see these places in every town across the US.

The outcome?

Art.

Paintings and satisfaction on a date night, can't beat it.

And a good time. A satisfying time. A memory.

It works for home furnishing as well.

The IKEA Effect is a term coined by Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist and author of Predictably Irrational. Ariely believes that putting together your furniture, rather than buying it assembled, creates a relationship with it. It increases our perceived value.

A piece of furniture you can be really proud of will sometimes require a few hours and a few leftover screws. It requires just a little wobble when you set your drink on it so you can proclaim, “yeah, I built that (sniff), I’m pretty handy with the steel if you know what I mean.”

No egg.

No effort.

No contribution.

No meaning.

That’s the real lesson of the Betty Crocker effect. Whether it’s the egg or the can of frosting. Whether it’s pizza, painting, or furniture, the lesson is the same. People want to play a part.

In our increasingly automated world, to increase meaning and satisfaction, we should work to remove the easy button. We should work toward activities that require our input.

Simple things like making a cake can have meaning.

And sometimes all it takes to make a real contribution is one good egg.

Extra Credit, Extra Satisfaction:

As I mentioned, my wife and daughter have made a ridiculous amount of boxed funfetti cake over the years. As a home cook and a do-it-yourself advocate, I hate to admit this, but they are pretty stinkin’ good.

But premixed baking has always seemed strange to me. Pancake mix is the craziest because it’s 99.9% flour. Pancakes only have 5 ingredients, 6 if you sugar them up (and I do) but nobody makes their own.

Until now.

Thank me later, but you are about to have the most satisfying and meaningful pancakes of your life.