Head Off After-Order Regrets

Why do customers so often place a special order for an item and then before delivery, suffer post-purchase regrets? “I don’t think I made the right pick.” What can you—the retailer—do to head off or reverse the bad effects of these after-order doubts where a customer believes they selected the wrong fork in the road?

• First off, realize that you might be able to turn post-purchase regrets to your advantage. Is the customer sorry they didn’t choose the upgraded model or choose the lower-priced house brand alternative? Either of those might yield a higher profit for you on this sale. In addition, it can produce the sort of customer loyalty which yields continuing profits on future sales. Customers love to hear a retailer respond to a request by enthusiastically saying, “Yes, you can!” In fact, knowing they can change their mind sometimes takes the pressure off enough for the customer to say, “No, I’ll stick with my original choice.”
• If fulfillment is likely to occur more than a few weeks after the order is placed, ask the customer about delivery arrangements, plans for installation, training in use, or something else that has to do with the practical realities of getting the best from the item. A number of consumer psychology studies discovered that when consumers order an item far in advance, they pay so much attention to the desirable features of the item that they fail to think enough about the feasibility of acquiring and using the item. Researchers at University of North Carolina, Vanderbilt University, and University of Pennsylvania found a solution to the problem was to ask the customer to carefully imagine getting and starting to use the item. Customers who did this were significantly less likely to reverse themselves after placing the order.