Smooth Purchasing for Shoppers

Keep it smooth to make the sale:

• Researchers at University of Leeds concluded that consumers are more likely to purchase a packaged item when the package is rounded rather than angular. They used chocolate products, bleach bottles, and water bottles in the studies. Because of the design of the experiments, the researchers say the preference differences between smooth and pointed can’t be accounted for by perceived ease of use of the package or the typical package design for that sort of product. 
• Verifying what experienced retailers know, researchers at Maastricht University and Radboud University praise the value of smooth movement between service and selling. When the smooth switching was done well, both sales revenue and customer satisfaction increased. The researchers caution that because smooth switching uses up time, each staff member will not be able to handle as many transactions, on average. They also found that the switching happens more easily when you grant the staff member more discretion to make decisions in collaboration with the customer being served. 
• When saying prices, accentuate “s.” Researchers at Clark University and University of Connecticut used this rule to make a price of $7.66 sound better than a price of $7.22. The “s” sound conveys smallness and smoothness to the English-speaking brain. A price stated verbally as seven dollars, sixty-six cents tends to sound small, and the purchase decision seems smooth. But an “oo” sound, as in seven dollars, twenty two cents, tends to sound larger. Other researchers—at HEC School of Management and University of Pennsylvania—found that when a high price is said slowly in a smooth tone, fewer customers object to the price. 

     Also know the exceptions:

• Would you prefer mayonnaise in a slender, angular jar or the same contents in a jar with a smooth bulbous shape? The angular jar usually wins out. Mayonnaise buyers like thinking slender more than bulbous. 
• The link of smooth with slow can hurt. The developers of the BlackBerry PDA originally wanted to call it the Strawberry because the little buttons reminded them of that fruit. But naming consultants said the “s” in strawberry implied a slow device. 
• Women shoppers tend to like shopping environments with curves and alcoves. That’s not so true of men. It might go back to the Northwestern University research finding that boys are much more likely than girls to prefer rough chunky peanut butter to the smooth variety. 

Click below for more:
Coach in the Language of the Employee
Sound the Prices to Project Sound Value
Enrich Shoppers’ Sense of Community
Impassion Your Shoppers