Do people buy products because they're explained well… or because they experience them?

I think it's a combination of both. The explanation gets someone interested enough to try the product, but the experience is what makes them remember it. Most of the products I've genuinely loved didn't win me over with marketing alone; they won me over when I used them and immediately understood the value.

The explanation opens the door, but the experience closes the deal. You can spend hours describing a product, yet a five-minute hands-on demo can communicate more than an entire presentation. The best products don't need to be sold aggressively; they become obvious once people use them.

For me, it's always been trying the product. A good description gets my attention, but the actual experience is what convinces me to stick around.

Tbh I think explanation is what gets you in the door, but experience is what makes you stay and actually pull your card out. I can read a really well-written description and nod along, sure, sounds great, and then close the tab in ten seconds and never think about it again. But the last time I actually got to try something myself, mess with it, break it a little, that's the one I still remember weeks later. Like I still think about the first time I used Google Maps street view to check if a restaurant had parking before driving there. Nobody explained that feature to me well; I just clicked around and went "oh wait, this is useful" on my own. That's a completely different kind of trust than reading a bullet point that says "convenient navigation."

And, this is basically the whole bet behind what we're building at Ctruh. You can write the best copy in the world about a chair, but the second someone gets to place it in their own room and see it's too big for the corner, that's when the decision actually gets made, not before.

Skews hard to experience for me. I only write PH reviews for tools I've actually used daily, and you can tell within a sentence when someone else hasn't opened the thing they're reviewing. Same logic on demo videos, the ones that get me to install something show a real mistake mid demo, not a clean flow. A rehearsed walkthrough only proves it worked once, for the person who filmed it.

Hmm... people buy ideas. There's many things I have not experienced, but if they are explained in an enticing way -- I'll go ahead and buy it without trying it. It's about selling the idea. That said, everyone is different. Some people will need that tangible experience to get across the finish line. Moreover, I think it depends on how much an investment it is. I will likely not buy a car without driving it first. But I will buy a sweater without wearing it.