Offer Variations to Ease Fear of Conformity

Researchers at University of British Columbia and University of Alberta saw people discarding perfectly good products. Why? A clue is in what else consumers were doing: Customizing a flawless product or taking it back to the store to make an exchange.
     Another clue about the reason is that the products were not, in the person’s opinion, perfectly flawless. The flaw was that someone similar had the identical product. These consumers feared conformity.
     You’ll increase sales when you help your shoppers reach their favorite spot on the conformity-distinctiveness scale. Research findings from University of South Carolina, Loyola University, and Baruch College suggest that one tool you have for doing this is the phrasing of a certain preferences question:
     If you ask your customer, “What about this product do you like that your friends would also like?,” this prompts individual distinctiveness, since it puts your customer in the role of advisor and perhaps opinion leader.
     On the other hand, if you ask your customer, “What about this product do your friends like and you also like?,” this prompts the customer to think about the comfort of adhering to group preferences.
     Research identifies triggers for the fear of conformity.

• Substantial effort by the consumer in making the product selection.
• Age. In most cultures, older shoppers are more likely to seek distinctiveness than conformity, while teenagers tend to opt for conformity with groups they aspire to belong to.
• When product choice is thought to reveal personality characteristics. Older consumers are more fearful of conformity with fashion items, such as clothing and entertainment products. They’re less concerned regarding functional items, like appliances and foods. With functional items, shoppers want to know what others think of the product itself rather than what others think of people who use that product.
• Choice sequence. Researchers from Sorbonne-Assas in France and University of Adelaide in Australia found that, in a French restaurant, when about 30% to 80% of a group had ordered the same choice, people placing their orders next tended to go along with also ordering this choice for themselves. But once the conformity exceeded 80%, subsequent orders were more likely to show variety seeking.

     The British Columbia/Alberta researchers suggest that the retailer look for ways to offer even minor variations in order to ease the fear of conformity. A choice of face plates on a mobile phone and alternative patterns on a wrist band were enough.

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

Click below for more:
Expect Shopper Conformity & Variety Seeking
Navigate Shoppers Toward Distinctiveness
Broaden Target Markets Beyond Yourself