Researchers at Cornell University find that when a person is feeling happy, two things happen that affect their shopping behavior. First, their thinking gets more flexible. They’re more receptive to new ideas, and that means they’re more receptive to considering new products they haven’t tried before. If you want to change brand preferences or introduce the shopper to an innovative service your store or website offers, begin by developing a positive mood and then present the new idea.
The other important effect of happiness on shopping behavior is that the person is willing to persevere. They’ll stay with you for a more extended selling pitch—as long as they feel you’re bringing them closer to satisfying their needs and wants. So if you realize it will take you a while to explain why a particular product choice is best for this customer, but the customer seems impatient, aim to improve their mood first.
How to improve their mood? Gentle humor can help whether in advertising or personal selling. Or in e-commerce, develop a positive mood by showing pictures of scenes your target audience is likely to find appealing. The format of the website page should include more flowing, smooth shapes than sharp angles.
But the power of the positive mood does have certain limitations. The Cornell University researchers explored what happens when a shopper starts out with a clearly negative feeling about a product, store, or salesperson. In these circumstances, developing a happy frame of mind did not lead to more flexibility or perseverance regarding the product, store, or salesperson.
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