Cultivate Customers’ Hedonic Objectives

Consumers make decisions for a mix of utilitarian and hedonic reasons. The utilitarian is to get a job done. The hedonic is to feel pleasure. When buying a power saw, the utilitarian is to have a way to cut things and the hedonic is to experience pride in the clean cuts.
     Even though there’s always a mix of the two, either the utilitarian or the hedonic often predominates. With the power saw, the utilitarian is probably more important to the shopper. With a ticket to a concert, it’s probably the hedonic.
     Purchasing the same item might be mostly hedonic or mostly utilitarian based on the nature of the purchase. For example, researchers at Université de Nantes in France, Louisiana Tech University, and University of Southern Mississippi concluded that shopping for gifts does provide hedonic gains, but has a much stronger utilitarian drive.
     When you cultivate customers’ hedonic over utilitarian objectives, that can increase your profitability. Here’s why:

• Consumers seek more variety in their purchases when there are hedonic than when there are utilitarian objectives. Researchers at University of Pennsylvania used the term “hedonic treadmill” to refer to the ways in which people get bored with hedonic purchases. They buy more.
• Researchers at University of Maryland-College Park, Rice University, and Carnegie Mellon University find that after completing a purchase to meet hedonic objectives, the purchaser is more likely to want to add on an extended service contract than if the purchase was to meet utilitarian objectives. ESCs are a high margin item for retailers.
• Researchers at London Business School and University of Chicago report that when people are shopping for hedonic purposes, they are more likely to follow the retailer’s suggestions of what to purchase. Shoppers love to have choices available to them, but with hedonic items, the choice they’re more likely to make is to let you choose for them. This gives you the opportunity to sell items that meet both the customer’s desires and your bottom-line objectives.

     Want to cultivate hedonic objectives? Ask the customer how they plan to use their purchase and then emphasize the hedonic in responding to them. The shopper says, “I’m buying this power saw because I’m doing a room addition to the house.” You might respond, “The firm feel of this saw will give you the kinds of results you’ll be proud of.”

Click below for more:
Preoccupy Shoppers for Indulgent Choices
Sell More by Adding Variety
Make Extended Service Contracts Worthwhile