Measure Your Magnitude Quotes Situationally

Is it better to describe to a shopper a health improvement program as taking twelve months or as taking one year? A warranty as covering seven years or as covering 84 months? A dining room table as measuring four by five feet or as 48 by 60 inches?
     In each case, the two wordings are for identical magnitudes. Still, an accumulation of studies shows which wording you select does make a difference in the likelihood the shopper will purchase the item you’re describing. Here is what’s been found:

• The primary rule is to choose among measurement units familiar to the shopper. Research findings from Ghent University suggest that if you start talking about warranty lengths in hours or describing dining room table dimensions in millimeters instead of inches or feet, your shoppers will consider this odd enough to think less of the retail offering overall. 
• If a longer duration will be perceived by the shopper as indicating greater personal sacrifice, use the phrasing with a smaller numeral. Researchers at University of Southern California and Cornell University suggest describing a self-improvement program in which the shopper would be highly involved as, “This will take one year,” instead of, “This will take twelve months.” Or let’s say you need to tell the purchaser about a 21-day delay. If the customer is anxiously awaiting the arrival in order to start using the item, say, “Your product will be arriving in three weeks, not one week.” 
• If the magnitude indicates degree of benefit, go for larger numerals. Researchers at Ghent University in Belgium and Tilburg University in the Netherlands asked consumers to compare the advantages of a seven-year and a nine-year warranty. To one group, the duration was stated as seven years compared to nine years. To another group, the identical duration was stated as 84 months compared to 108 months. Those consumers presented the months figures saw the difference between the warranties as larger than did the consumers hearing the comparison in years. 
• When the shopper intends to make the purchase at an indefinite point in the future, they attend more to the units than to the numerals. For consumers who want the table delivered today, 48 by 60 inches sounds larger than four by five feet. But people who are gathering information about possibilities will code feet as larger than inches, so “four by five feet” will be remembered by them as larger. 

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

Click below for more: 
Use Familiar Measurement Units 
Quote Measurement Units for Future Buys 
Number Costs and Benefits for Desired Effects