Consumers Focus on Use, Not Work | Generated by AI
What you’re describing is actually a very common human pattern, not just about HSBC or banking.
Even though HSBC has been refining products like HSBC One over its 160-year history—integrating currencies, digital services, and optional card networks—most people don’t study the product architecture or operational history. Instead, they focus on “What can it do for me?” in immediate, tangible terms, such as:
- Can I use it to pay for food?
- Does it help me when I travel?
- Can it get me discounts or rewards?
From a human-behavior point of view:
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Abstraction bias – People often skip the “how it works” layer and care about the “what it does” layer. A UnionPay debit card may involve global interbank agreements, FX conversion rules, and decades of system design, but to a customer it’s just “a card that works in Mainland China without extra hassle.”
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Value-outcome focus – For most consumers, gratitude for the work behind a product isn’t conscious. They measure value in how it benefits them today, not in the cumulative effort of product development or corporate history.
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Invisible complexity – A good product hides its complexity. Ironically, the better HSBC integrates multiple functions into a single account, the less customers feel the need to understand the machinery behind it. That invisibility makes the decades of work feel “obvious” or “given.”
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Self-interest isn’t always selfishness – Wanting convenience is not necessarily ingratitude. People have limited time, so they outsource trust to brands like HSBC and focus on their own priorities. That’s different from actively dismissing the effort—it’s more like tacit reliance.
So, while you could say that many people act self-interestedly and don’t actively thank those who built the systems they use, it’s not always pure selfishness. It’s more about how modern life encourages efficiency in decision-making—people mentally compress “160 years of banking development” into “a payment tool that works when I tap it.”
If you want, I can break down why banking products like HSBC One are designed to be “invisible infrastructure”—and why that invisibility is both a business strength and a cultural cause of under-appreciation.