Trouble is, the deception can be inadvertent. We wanted to describe the product accurately, but the busy shopper misunderstood. It’s a particular danger with offerings that base their attractiveness on sensory appeal, such that the qualities of the product can’t be experienced until consumed: Gourmet food. Movies. Music. Wine.
Those four categories are examples given by researchers at University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and the researchers focused on the last of the four—wine—in looking at how to inoculate shoppers against misleading advertising. The tool is what’s called a “consumption vocabulary.” This is a set of terms shoppers can use to describe characteristics that distinguish products. With wine, the terms include “fruity” and “spicy.” A good consumption vocabulary enables the shopper to describe not just good quality, but also product flaws. Wine connoisseurs talk about “rubbery” and “sweaty.”
The UNLV researchers taught one group of wine aficionados a consumption vocabulary during wine tasting using a “wine aroma wheel,” a descriptive scheme developed at University of California-Davis. Other participants did not receive training on the wine aroma wheel during their wine tasting. Then some from each group were exposed to misleading advertising about the wines they had tried. Those participants who were taught the consumption vocabulary were better able to resist the effects of the misleading advertising than were those who did not receive the training.
Stimulate your shopper’s senses. This helps you sell higher-margin alternatives. But to avoid misleading the shopper, teach a consumption vocabulary. Have shoppers sample products while you’re telling them the right descriptive terms.
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