Recognition refers to our ability to “recognize” an event or piece of information as being familiar, while recall designates the retrieval of related details from memory.

Ever wonder why your wife/GF remembers things about your ex-gf out of the blue when driving by an ice cream place? That’s because the ice cream place triggered her to remember an event that occurred that has to do ice cream. That’s what “Recognition Over Recall” is.

As a business, what you can do is leave clues on your marketing content, app UI, sounds to trigger people to remember to do something. For example, a Lottery app, plays a “cha-ching” sound everyday at 5 PM reminding you to buy your lottery for the day.

You could even use symbols or objects to remind people about the issues or their to-do things. For example, an image women sweating in sun, might trigger that you need to fix your AC. And you will see their PH# right under the image.