Describe Cases Resembling Shoppers’ Situations

Consumers respond emotionally to claims they see as affecting them personally, and it’s emotions which propel sales. This argues for you talking to consumers about cases like their own rather than using statistics.
     Researchers at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology looked at consumer estimates of disease risk. Study participants were presented population statistics about rates plus information about individual cases. When the base rate statistics indicated a high frequency of the disease, but the case information indicated a low risk, the consumers judged themselves as less likely to get the disease than would others. With a different set of consumers, when the base rate statistics indicated a low frequency and the case information indicated a high frequency, the consumers judged themselves as more likely to get the disease than would others.
     The case study information was more influential than the base rate statistics. The effect is stronger when consumers consider the people in the case studies to be similar to themselves. The implication for salespeople, whether promoting disease prevention or video games, is to describe cases which are similar to the shopper’s situation.
     Tactics which use case studies and frequencies do get a bit more complicated, however. A University of Maryland-College Park and Georgetown University study began with asking university students how often they played video games. One set was asked the question in the form, “Please tell us how often, using a scale that ranges from ‘Less than once a week’ to ‘More than once a day.’” Among themselves, the researchers referred to this as the “high frequency scale.” The rest of the students were presented what the researchers called the low frequency scale: “… using a scale that ranges from ‘Less than once a year’ to ‘More than once a week.’”
     Compared to the students presented the low frequency scale, students presented with the high frequency scale were less interested in trying out a new video game. The high-frequency-scale group was only half as likely to accept the offer of a free trial of a video game.
     Why? The researchers are convinced it’s because the high frequency scale made students think other students played video games very often, while a low frequency scale made students think other students didn’t play video games so often.
     When discussing predicted frequency of use with shoppers, talk about each shopper as an individual rather than compared to a group.

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