Fill In the Hourglass for Customers

As a consumer, what are you experiencing when you make a request of your computerized device and the delay in response is evidenced by an hourglass icon or a little arrow whizzing around in a circle?
     I know it is a whole league better than having absolutely no acknowledgement that your request has been received. But if you’re like most of the participants in a research study done at Harvard University about the issue, the hourglass soon starts you thinking, “What’s taking so long?”
     The researchers also found that a remedy is to answer the question for the consumer. Whether the delay is with an internet, telephone, or face-to-face order, customers accept waiting times better when they are shown or told about the work you’re doing on their behalf.
     Doing the work in front of the customer is one way to accomplish this. Researchers at University of Singapore and University of Toronto found that consumers evaluated the price of a locksmith service as a better value when the service took longer than when the lock was picked faster.
     How to explain all this and get the best from it?

• The customer sees that progress is being made. Say how far along you are and how much further you have to go. A progress bar is better than an hourglass.
• People value the outcome more when recognizing what has gone into satisfying the request. Many of the people in the Harvard study who had the hourglass filled in with information ended up more satisfied than those who didn’t need to wait at all for their requests to be fulfilled.
• The technique builds anticipation. Researchers at University of California-San Diego and Duke University discovered that although people say they would never pay more money if it meant waiting longer for delivery, those same people report experiencing substantial pleasure from anticipation during the wait. Consumers sometimes don’t know what they’d like, or they prefer not to tell the retailer.
• Amusement. The Harvard study found that you can ease waiting anxiety and produce higher satisfaction even by depicting work that you didn’t really do. This struck the researchers as lying to the customer. I see it as entertaining the customer, and entertainment helps pass the time. In hotel elevator lobbies, a large mirror causes time to go faster for waiting guests. Airport waiting areas use television sets with the sound volume kept low.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

Click below for more:
Slow Down the Sales Process Sometimes
Acknowledge People Waiting in Line