Researchers at New Mexico State University, Arizona State University, and Claremont Graduate School described to neighborhood residents features of a newly available cable TV service. Then about half the residents were asked to imagine themselves using the features. The remaining residents were not asked to imagine usage.
Some weeks later, sales representatives from the cable company solicited the neighborhood’s residents for orders. Of those who had only heard about the features, about 20% chose to subscribe. Of those who had been asked to imagine using the features, almost 50% chose to subscribe.
The lesson for retailers? After presenting attractive service or product benefits to a shopper, consider asking them to imagine themselves making use of the benefits. Here are some tips and cautions:
- Give the shopper the minimum amount of technical information necessary to set up the imagining. Then be ready to provide more details if the shopper asks. The power of imagining is greater when a person fills in their own blanks.
- In advertisements or store signage showing pictures of people using the merchandise or service, aim to include some people who resemble your target audience in age, ethnicity, likely physical possessions, and so on. This makes the imagining easier than when there is no plausible match.
- Allowing the shopper to handle a product—or even the package—and to smell any fragrances associated with use of the product or service will facilitate imagination.
- When asking a shopper to make comparisons among products, wait before asking them to imagine themselves using the product. Research at University of Maryland finds that involving the imagination distracts the shopper’s attention from the influence of the comparison.
- Imagining motivates, but doesn’t close the sale. Remember that the cable TV sales reps had to come back to do that.
Researchers at New Mexico State University, Arizona State University, and Claremont Graduate School described to neighborhood residents features of a newly available cable TV service. Then about half the residents were asked to imagine themselves using the features. The remaining residents were not asked to imagine usage.
Some weeks later, sales representatives from the cable company solicited the neighborhood’s residents for orders. Of those who had only heard about the features, about 20% chose to subscribe. Of those who had been asked to imagine using the features, almost 50% chose to subscribe.
The lesson for retailers? After presenting attractive service or product benefits to a shopper, consider asking them to imagine themselves making use of the benefits. Here are some tips and cautions:
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