The Curse of Knowledge Strikes again!
Are you making assumptions on your website or with your business that only make sense because you already know how everything works? What gaps in communication could be tripping up your customers? In this episode I share a real travel story that highlights how easy it is to overlook info that seems obvious to us but might be totally unclear to our clients. I dive into ways to discover these hidden friction points and offer ideas for making every step as clear and straightforward as possible.
Listen to this new 10-minute episode for ideas on spotting and fixing those hidden gaps that could be costing you business.
If you have any questions about anything in this, or any of my podcasts, or have a suggestion for a topic or guest, please reach out directly to me at [email protected] or visit my website Podcast.AlanBerg.com
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View the full transcript on Alan’s site: https://alanberg.com/blog/
Episode Summary
In this episode, I dive into a personal travel experience to illustrate the concept of the curse of knowledge and how it can create unnecessary friction for customers. While recounting some frustrating moments during my return from France specifically issues with unclear information about an airport hotel shuttle I break down how easily we can overlook the challenges our clients face when we assume they understand industry details that are second nature to us.
I give concrete examples from my own business and website, such as subtle coupon code fields and the lack of explicit calls-to-action, to show how easy it is to miss important customer touchpoints. I encourage listeners to look at their own websites and processes through fresh eyes or partner with a colleague to do so, catching gaps in communication or usability that could be turning away potential clients. By highlighting the dangers of relying on implied knowledge, I underscore the importance of being thorough and explicit with information whether it’s the true nature of an airport shuttle or the steps to book a venue tour. My hope is that this episode will inspire listeners to reduce friction wherever possible, making it easier than ever for couples to choose and work with them.
Perks of knowledge strikes again. Listen to this episode, see what I’m talking about. Hey, it’s Alan Berg. Welcome back to another episode of the Wedding Business Solutions podcast. I just got back from vacation. Yes, finally made it to France after 5 or 6 years of French lessons. And, uh, other than the heat, we had a wonderful time. But here’s what I wanted to talk about.
The end of our trip, which could have been really great, ended up having some issues, and I attribute it to the curse of knowledge. Now, the curse of knowledge means that once you know something, it’s hard to go about your world as if you didn’t know it, as if you didn’t understand it.
So here, here’s what happened. We, um, we were down in the south of France in Marseille, and we took a train up to the airport in Paris, outside of Paris, Charles de Gaulle Airport. Mm-hmm. And we were going to stay overnight for our morning flight. So we get into the airport for the train station and we look to see where to take the hotel shuttle. And we found signs to the hotel shuttle, hotel shuttle.
When we got there, there was a sign with all the different hotels on it and our hotel was not listed. So I called the hotel and somebody immediately picked up and put you on hold. You ever have that? Right? They said something really quick. Boom. Put me on hold. Only they said it in French. So it was even quicker that I did not hear or understand what they said. I might have if they spoke slower, but they just, you know, immediately I heard something.
There you go. And I’m waiting on hold and waiting on hold and waiting on hold and waiting on hold. And finally got to the point where it was about 15 minutes. I’m like, okay, well, they’re not picking up. And I said to my wife, well, I guess we’re going to take a taxi. So we were now not where we needed to be. So we had to take an elevator down and then we had to go and go to a different part of the airport to get to where the taxis were. And so this was kind of a long walk, and we were pulling 2 very large suitcases because we were away for a little bit over 2 weeks.
Plus we had to buy gifts because that’s what you do, and maybe 3 bottles of French whiskey, but that’s a whole nother story there. And we get over and we take a taxi and we get to the hotel, which didn’t look like much from the outside but turned out it had been completely redone on inside, and it was very nice.
Only when we get there and I said, hey, you know, I called about the airport shuttle and somebody put me on hold and hung up. And they said, oh, you know, we were here. I said, okay, but nobody picked back up again. And I said, we’re trying to get the shuttle. They said, oh, well, the shuttle only goes from the hotel to the airport, not the other way around.
Now, the website said airport shuttle. That’s what it said on the website. It didn’t say airport shuttle from hotel only to the airport, not the other way around. And there was no apology. There was no any thing. It was just like, well, you know, that’s the way it is. Well, no, it’s not the way it is because other hotels had shuttles that took you both ways.
I said, well, okay, well, we need the shuttle for the morning. They said, you need to make a reservation. I said, fine, 7:30 in the morning, make it for the 2 of us. And they said, that’s €6 per person. It’s like, okay, that’s fine. Again, it said airport shuttle. I assumed that meant it was, you know, like a lot of hotels, it was included. But that’s fine. I didn’t argue. I said, sure, here, take our, take our money.
So in the morning, we go down and we get the airport shuttle, and we get in there, and there’s another family that’s in there besides us, and we’re going. And then we’re talking to the guy, and he tells us that there’s only one drop-off point, and it’s not at our terminal.
I said, what do you mean? You’re taking us to the airport, right? So you take us to our terminal. Well, no. No, I’ll take you to the drop-off point and then you can take the tram, the train. He called it the metro, which sounds like the subway. Well, I guess it is a subway. It was underground.
But you have to take this then train to the other one. And he said, it’s far. I was like, so why aren’t you dropping us off at our terminal? And he said, well, because this is the drop-off point. And apparently there was no changing his mind.
And he dropped us off at the point, which coincidentally, which is where we were waiting the first time for the shuttle that was never going to come when we got there. So we go and we take the elevator and we get up to this 5th floor and we’re standing outside and— sorry, he dropped us off there and we’re trying now to go down in the elevator, which isn’t coming.
And the elevator, we’re on the 5th floor and it’s showing it’s going from 1 to 2 and 2 to 1, 1 to 2 and 2 to 1. And now people are backed up with, with us there.
I looked, there was no escalator to go down and our suitcases were, let’s see, 26 kilos, right? So that’s 52, 54 pounds. The other one was over 30 kilos, so it was over 60 pounds. So I went down the stairs to go to try to find out what’s going on with the elevator, because I figured maybe I could get it to come up, because it may be.
And I found somebody who works at the airport, and I said, hey, you know, the elevator’s not working. He goes, yeah, they’re working on it. Now, there was no sign. There was nobody standing there to tell you. And all these people besides us are waiting for an elevator that’s never going to come.
So then my wife and I— well, actually, I had to drag the bags down one at a time, down a flight of stairs, or 2 flights of stairs actually, to get to the next level so that we could go to the train that would take us to the other terminal. Right? So you hear where all this is going.
So, curse of knowledge. First of all, the website said airport shuttle, right? It didn’t say airport shuttle only one way. So what this— I want you to think about is Are there things on your website that are implied but are not actually set? And it’s hard for you to see those things. It’s just like on my website. It’s hard for me to see the things on my website because I made it. It’s, it’s the way I know it to be.
When people sign up for Ask Alan Anything, there’s a place to enter a coupon code, but it’s kind of subtle. Now, I have no control over that particular part of it because it’s a third-party thing. So I tell people, look for the little blue words that say have a coupon code.
But again, once you’ve seen it, you’re like, oh, it’s right there. But I have so many people that are like, where is it? And I just had this. I was ordering some printing on Vistaprint, and I had gotten an email with a coupon code, and I’m looking, where do I enter it? And once again, it was subtle. It was just words that said have a coupon. It wasn’t a box until you clicked on those words.
So these are the curse of knowledge things that I want you to start thinking about. Can you have someone else go through your site? Can you find a buddy and can you go to their website and they go to yours and go and look for the things that are hard for you to see on your own website?
I was working with a client today on their website because of course I can see all the things on theirs easier than mine. And I said, hey, why don’t we have a button for them making an appointment to have a tour of your venue? You know, we don’t, don’t actually talk about that. And they’re like, oh, we don’t?
I was like, no, you talk about getting a quote, you talk about checking date availability, but there’s nowhere on here where it actually says, hey, come and have a tour. They couldn’t see that. They couldn’t see that because they made it.
And here’s the same thing for us. These curse of knowledge things— had I known that this guy was going to drop us off at this hotel point, not at my terminal, I would have taken a taxi and been dropped off right at the terminal we needed to be.
But nobody disclosed that. They, they know it. So I didn’t find out until we were in this shuttle van going to the airport, getting dropped off at the wrong place to go down the stairs to when we finally checked in for them to say, hmm, you’re kind of late.
I was like, well, we were— we wouldn’t have been late if the elevator was working. We wouldn’t have been late if we were dropped off at the right place. Right. So they actually tagged our bags with 2 tags, one the regular one and one to say basically, hey, we hope this makes it on your plane. And then we had to go through security, and then we had to go through customs.
And thank goodness for the electronic customs where you just put your passport and you can just go through now, because otherwise we would have missed our plane. We got to our gate. We left hours early, but we got to our gate with 10 minutes before the plane was boarding.
So the, the idea of this is not just to complain about my trip because I had to tell somebody. So thank you for listening. But it’s also to say What are we doing? What are we doing that we just assume people know? But if they’ve never done this before, how would they know?
Or since your website looks different than your competitors’ websites, is it easy to find the things that they’re looking for? Are we being clear in that call to action what to do? Like my client who’s now just adding some more buttons, adding a button for book a tour, adding a button for contact us instead of just check availability.
You know, what else could you do to reduce that friction to make it easy to do business with us? And better yet, can we find the friction because we know something that other people just don’t know? They don’t know where to find it, or they don’t know how to use it, or they don’t know how things work because they haven’t done this before.
So this was a reminder to me, you know, when I went back to the website and it said airport shuttle, I’m like, I’ve never had an airport shuttle that only went one way.
Wouldn’t that have been an important piece of information? Yeah. Would it be important to know that we weren’t getting dropped off at our terminal before we paid you to drop us off, we thought, at our terminal? Yes. But since they know it, they didn’t think to say it because this is just something they do every day. And that’s what the curse of knowledge is.
So what are you doing that might be creating friction? Or what can you do to reduce friction that’s there for people that have never walked in these shoes? What, you know, I like redundancies on websites, more than one way to get to things, more than one button on a page to get to something so that it’s just easier for people to do what they want to do without even thinking about it.
You know, because once you have to think about it, you’ve added friction. But if it’s so intuitive that you don’t have to think about it, that’s when we’ve reduced the friction, and that’s when the curse of knowledge doesn’t get in the way.
So thanks for listening to my partial rant here, but I hope it gives you an idea to go back and take a look and see if you can find maybe a little bit of the friction on your own website.
Thanks.
I’m Alan Berg. Thanks for listening. If you have any questions about this or if you’d like to suggest other topics for “The Wedding Business Solutions Podcast” please let me know. My email is [email protected] or you can text, use the short form on this page, or call +1.732.422.6362, international 001 732 422 6362. I look forward to seeing you on the next episode. Thanks.
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Question
What is the “curse of knowledge,” and how can it affect your business?
Tags:
#customerexperience #communication #businessmistakes
Answer
The curse of knowledge happens when you know something so well, you forget what it’s like not to know. In business, this means you might assume your customers understand things that aren’t obvious. That leads to confusion, frustration, and missed sales.
Takeaway: Don’t assume your customers know what you know.
Question
How can hidden information on your website frustrate clients?
Tags:
#websitedesign #customerexperience #usability
Answer
If important details are hard to find or implied instead of clearly stated, people get confused. This creates friction and can even drive someone to work with your competitor who’s more transparent.
Takeaway: Make key info obvious—never hide what customers need to know.
Question
Why should you get someone else to review your website?
Tags:
#websitetips #usertesting #customerexperience
Answer
It’s hard to spot your own blind spots. When you have someone unfamiliar with your site try to do simple tasks, you’ll quickly discover what’s not clear or intuitive. Fresh eyes reveal what you take for granted.
Takeaway: Outside feedback exposes what you can’t see yourself.
Question
How do subtle website features create customer confusion?
Tags:
#usability #websitetips #friction
Answer
Tiny links, hidden buttons, or confusing layouts make people miss important actions—like entering a promo code or booking a tour. Just because you know where something is doesn’t mean your client will.
Takeaway: If people have to hunt, you’re making them work too hard.
Question
What’s the risk of assuming your website’s call to action is clear?
Tags:
#calls-to-action #websitetips #sales
Answer
If you never say “book a tour” or “contact us,” clients may not know those options exist. They won’t take action on things they can’t find, and you’ll miss out on leads.
Takeaway: Spell out exactly what you want customers to do next.
Question
How does poor communication lead to bad customer experiences?
Tags:
#communication #customerservice #expectations
Answer
If you leave out small but critical details, clients feel blindsided, like being dropped off at the wrong terminal or surprised by hidden fees. Clear, proactive communication prevents frustration.
Takeaway: Over-communication beats confusion—don’t assume, explain.
Question
Why does using vague terms like “shuttle service” cause problems?
Tags:
#clarity #customerservice #expectations
Answer
If your website just says “shuttle service,” people naturally expect a round trip—unless told otherwise. Lack of specificity can lead to disappointment when reality doesn’t match what they imagined.
Takeaway: Be specific—vague promises create unhappy clients.
Question
How can friction cost you sales?
Tags:
#customerjourney #sales #friction
Answer
Every tiny obstacle—from unclear instructions to hidden buttons—gives people a reason to walk away. The more effortless you make it, the more likely people will buy.
Takeaway: Remove friction to make it easy for people to say yes.
Question
What common website mistake do business owners overlook?
Tags:
#websitemistakes #smallbusiness #usability
Answer
Owners often build their sites based on what makes sense to them, forgetting visitors don’t have the same knowledge. As a result, critical info is left out or buried.
Takeaway: Build your website for the customer, not for yourself.
Question
Why are redundancies on a website a good thing?
Tags:
#websitedesign #usability #conversion
Answer
Multiple ways to do something—like several “book now” buttons—make it easier for visitors to take action. Redundancy removes guesswork and keeps people moving forward without hesitation.
Takeaway: Double up on important actions so no one misses them.
Question
How can you identify “curse of knowledge” on your website?
Tags:
#customerexperience #usertesting #websitedesign
Answer
Ask someone unfamiliar with your business to complete a specific task on your website—like booking a tour or finding a code. Watch where they struggle or get lost. That’s your blind spot.
Takeaway: The things you forget to explain are the hardest for newcomers.
Question
What should you do before launching a new page or feature?
Tags:
#websitedesign #launch #usability
Answer
Test it with real users who aren’t close to your business. Their confusion or questions will show you what’s missing, unclear, or too subtle before real prospects get frustrated.
Takeaway: Always let outsiders test before you go live.
Question
How can you spot friction in your customer journey?
Tags:
#customerjourney #servicedesign #sales
Answer
Look for places where customers hesitate, ask questions, or abandon the process. Each stumble is a sign there’s something you assumed they knew—but they didn’t.
Takeaway: Every moment of confusion signals friction you can fix.
Question
What’s a practical way to reduce customer friction online?
Tags:
#usability #websitetips #sales
Answer
Add more buttons, clear instructions, and explanations—especially for key actions. The less your clients have to think, the smoother their experience.
Takeaway: Lower mental effort equals more bookings.
Question
What happens if your competitors are clearer than you?
Tags:
#competition #websitetips #businessgrowth
Answer
If a competitor makes their process simpler and more transparent, clients will choose them. People gravitate to what’s easy and obvious.
Takeaway: The easier you make things, the more people will pick you.
Question
How do you avoid confusing customers who’ve never bought from you before?
Tags:
#newcustomers #customerexperience #clarity
Answer
Assume every client is new to this. Offer basic instructions, walkthroughs, and step-by-step guidance so they never feel lost, even if it feels obvious to you.
Takeaway: Clarity turns first-timers into confident customers.
Question
How do you spot if your communication is too fast or jargon-filled?
Tags:
#communication #customerservice #clarity
Answer
If customers look confused or keep asking follow-up questions, you may be communicating too quickly or using language only insiders understand. Slow down and break things down.
Takeaway: Speak their language, not yours.
Question
What mindset should you have when designing your customer experience?
Tags:
#customerjourney #mindset #businessadvice
Answer
Always see things through the eyes of someone who’s never worked with you. Assume nothing. Be overly clear and make every step simple to follow.
Takeaway: Design for beginners, not experts.
Question
Why should business owners check their sites after any customer complaint?
Tags:
#websitetips #customerfeedback #improvement
Answer
If someone was confused or frustrated, chances are others were too. Review the spot where the problem happened and clarify it for the next visitor.
Takeaway: Each complaint is a chance to improve your process.
Question
How does being proactive with information impact customer loyalty?
Tags:
#customerservice #retention #transparency
Answer
When you tell people exactly what to expect, even the small details, they feel cared for and trust you more. Surprises break trust; clarity builds it.
Takeaway: Proactive transparency creates loyal, happy customers.
Question
Why is it dangerous to assume successful experiences in the past mean your process is clear?
Tags:
#customerexperience #assumptions #continuousimprovement
Answer
Just because no one complained doesn’t mean your process is perfect. Some clients may never speak up—so audit your journey with fresh eyes and outside input.
Takeaway: Silence doesn’t mean smooth sailing; always check for hidden bumps.
