Secondary decisions cost more

Say you hire a copywriter to write the copy for your website. Not really knowing what you wanted (and neglecting to look into it) you approve her initial work and now it’s there.

Then, a month later you find yourself browsing another (similar) website and notice their copy is more streamlined. It’s less wordy, and easier to read.

You like it and decide to (re)hire your copywriter to make it simpler. You point to this site and that site and say, “I like this…let/s do more of this.”

Your copywriter takes note. She does exactly what you say. And then the next day, at the final review, you have a few more pointers. More websites to look at. More work to be done.

It’s not that the process of iteration is bad. It’s not. But it is expensive.

Every time you add more work to the project you’re paying more for something that you already paid to have done. And what’s the opportunity cost of that?

Wouldn’t it be better to focus on making it ‘good enough’ from the start? To begin with a set of expectations so that what you get is what you want and what you paid for initially?

“I want this” is significantly cheaper (and more efficient) than “I’ll know it when I see it.”