What is the peak-end rule?

Imagine you went to a sports event, the match started perfectly, one of the best matches you have ever seen - but then two things happen. At a key moment in the game your team fumbles, and in the last 5 minutes they play terribly.

You walk away from the match deflated by the fumble and poor 5 minute finish. Does this make sense? They played perfectly for the rest of the game, but you judge them based on the peak and the end?

The peak-end rule is a heuristic that people judge an experience by the highest intensity point (the peak) and the end. They do not judge it based on the average felt across the entire experience.

This is linked to recency bias - if you watched 5 movies by same director and the first 4 were really good and the last one was terrible - would you want to watch another?

In business the key here is to ensure your clients/customers always have a good end result. You could make an amazing onboarding - but they will remember you by the peak, and the last thing you do. When the opportunity arises to really deliver, push hard to make it memorable, and pay extra attention to how things finish up. The road can be rocky with some clients, but you can always leave a good impression.