{"id":2085,"slug":"rule-four-tiers-with-visual-scale-and-drivers","title":"Rule — 4 tiers max, plain labels, visual scale, drivers shown","kind":"rule","scope":"business","status":"current","audiences":["kevin","candid-team"],"topics":["tier-design-principles"],"reference_body":"**Rule:** Use **4 tiers maximum** with plain labels (Low / Moderate / High / Very High difficulty). Show the tier on a **simple visual scale** with the user's position highlighted. List the **3-5 inputs that drove it.**\n\n**Why:** (a) IPCC ladder + EU SmPC convention precedent ([[ipcc-likelihood-ladder]], [[eu-smpc-frequency-bands]]); (b) visuals reduce worry where text inflates it ([[han-visual-uncertainty-reduces-worry]]); (c) \"earned\" tier is the single biggest credibility lever ([[earned-tier-credibility-mechanism]]); (d) defends against verbal-label misinterpretation ([[budescu-2009-2014-ipcc-verbal-mistinterpret]], [[knapp-2004-eu-verbal-misinterpret]]).\n\n**How to apply:** Top-of-output: tier label + visual scale + 3-5 driver bullets (\"Your market has many established competitors; your site is new; you have fewer than 10 reviews\"). Defines the floor of presentation quality.","rationale_body":null,"metadata":null,"links":{"outgoing":[{"slug":"han-visual-uncertainty-reduces-worry","title":"Han et al. — visual uncertainty bars REDUCE worry where text INCREASES it","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"ipcc-likelihood-ladder","title":"IPCC likelihood ladder — the calibrated tier convention in high-stakes science communication","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"eu-smpc-frequency-bands","title":"EU Summary of Product Characteristics — defined frequency bands as a tier convention","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"earned-tier-credibility-mechanism","title":"The \"earned tier\" — credibility comes from showing the inputs that produced the result","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"},{"slug":"budescu-2009-2014-ipcc-verbal-mistinterpret","title":"Budescu et al. 2009/2014 — IPCC verbal terms interpreted REGRESSIVELY; numeric pairing fixes","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}],"incoming":[{"slug":"research-brief-smb-widget-presenting-tiers-june-2026","title":"Research brief: SMB widget presentation layer — tiered results without overclaiming (June 2026)","kind":"reference","scope":"business","link_type":"depends-on"}]},"created_at":"2026-06-23T19:16:03.479Z","updated_at":"2026-06-23T19:16:03.479Z"}