Pace Disclaimers to Build Faster Acceptance

When closing a sale, we might present a disclaimer to the consumer. With special sales promotions and contests, the disclaimer may have to do with exclusions. You can’t use the coupon on weekends, or it isn’t necessary to make a purchase in order to be a winner. For medications, the disclaimers may have to do with side effects and drug interactions.
     Regulations and business ethics won’t dictate the pace at which the disclaimer is delivered. However, because information processing takes mental energy, the pace at which we present the disclaimers affects how well the information leads to the trust we’d like to establish.
     The conventional gospel is that you deliver any disclaimers at the end of the ad in order to emboss the main message first. When you get to the end and your ad is on radio or TV, how quickly should you state the disclaimer? The general practice is to use an announcer skilled in talking as quickly as possible, again with the objective of not throwing interference into the ad’s overall thrust.

• Research at Wake Forest University, Northwestern University, Saint Joseph’s University, and Duke University indicates these rapid-rate disclosures work well when your store has already built substantial trust among the audience for the ad.
• However, the researchers suggest that when you’re establishing trust for your store brand, you deliver disclaimers at the same pace the body of the ad is delivered, and in the same tone of voice from the same announcer. The rapid rate will come across as trying to pull a fast one—tricking the shopper by confusing them. The change in tempo led to a decrease in purchase intentions.
• With sales promotions and contests, always announce the restrictions with a patient tone. You don’t want shoppers arriving at your store expecting to get a better deal than you promised to deliver. This would eat away at trust even for the store that’s already established a deep reservoir. The negative feelings stimulated by this in shoppers are so strong that consumer psychologists refer to the package of emotions as “betrayal.” Because it’s so serious, also be sure the offer and disclaimers are in writing, and have each staff member carry a copy. It’s better to have the customer and salesperson be both looking at a printed ad as their reference point rather than resorting to memories of what the broadcast ad really said.

Click below for more:
Beware Flawed Predictions from Animations
Ease Customer Pain About Item Prices