Monday, October 27, 2014

Mix or Match to Affect Perceived Duration

Retailers who sell experiences—a positive experience such as a day at the amusement park or a necessarily less pleasant experience such as a root canal in the dentist’s chair—can influence how long the consumer perceives the experience to last.
     The tool to use is categorization. Researchers at University of Chicago and New York University find that when we group the different parts of the experience into categories, it makes the whole experience seem shorter. When we unbundle the components, the total experience seems longer.
     The amusement park retailer could make a day at the park seem longer by emphasizing individual components rather than categorizing them. A guide brochure to the park would point out the mix of rides, games, eateries, and restrooms in each area. A listing of all the attractions in each category could be provided in the brochure for the visitor’s convenience, but the visitor would be encouraged to move among a variety of types of experience. The tour operator who wants the trip to seem like the customer is getting more for the money would intersperse music events, historical stops, and sporting events on the schedule rather than group the different types together.
     On the other hand, the dentist could begin by describing to the patient the three major stages of the procedure, let’s say, and then, as each of the individual steps is undertaken, refer to it being a part of the first, second, or third stage. This will help the patient to perceive the entire procedure as shorter.
     All of this happens at a subconscious level. That’s important to keep in mind because the rules get reversed if the consumer starts focusing on the actual duration. Researchers at University of Toronto found that being told how long a bad experience will last makes it seem less tolerable.
     In this situation, encourage the consumer to unpack the time estimates, guessing on their own how long each step will take for them rather than only accept a time for the total given by somebody else.
     The reason this works is that we don’t like to spend time on unpleasant tasks, so we tend to predict we’ll get them done quickly. It operates the other way around for a list of experiences a consumer finds pleasant. Here, when the time estimates are unpacked, the total predicted duration grows. The customer thinks it will take longer.

Click below for more: 
Stick It to Shoppers with In-Store Experiences 
Sell More by Adding Variety 
Extract Uncertainty When Pulling Teeth 
Escort Shoppers on In-Store Travel
Unpack Unpleasant Experience Time Estimates 

Monday, October 20, 2014

Flex Shoppers with the Complex

Consumers often seek simplicity, but the right level of complexity can engage them in ways which move them toward becoming purchasers. Researchers at University of London, University of Groningen, and Università della Calabria found this to be true with logos. When a store or brand logo was easier to perceive, people liked it better at first. However, with repeated exposures to the logo, the attraction turned to dislike. The simplicity became boring.
     On the other hand, when the meaning of the logo was challenging to discern, people didn’t like it as much at the start, but grew to especially like it with repeated exposures.
     In the documentary “Milton Glaser: Inform & Delight,” Mr. Glaser attributes the success of his “I ♥ NY” logo to what he calls “sustained mystery,” whereby a consumer absorbs the design message better because of needing to figure out what the design means.
     Research findings from Indiana University and University of Colorado-Boulder indicate the value of a mystery ad format, in which you wait until the end to announce the retailer’s name. Start off with an unusual story or absurd humor that dramatizes the category of retailer, but hooks the ad’s viewer or listener into thinking “Who’s this commercial for, anyway?”
     Consumers tolerate perceptual complexity if they consider the task important. University of Florida and University of Pennsylvania researchers assigned study participants to select among airline flights. Some were told the decision was important. The others were told the decision was relatively unimportant. And some members of each group were given the information in a way that was hard to read, while the remainder were given easy-to-read information. The hard-to-read text used a small font and little contrast between the text and the background. The easy-to-read text used a larger font and clear contrast.
     Those in the first group presented the hard-to-read text made more careful decisions.
     Researchers at University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University found circumstances in which retailers do well to actually complicate choice. Among these are purchase decisions the consumer considers as having potentially life-changing consequences. Some of these situations, such as buying a house, extend over time. Others, such as selecting funeral arrangements, could last no more than a day or two.
     Because of the significance of such choices, the consumer believes they should devote time and mental effort even if the process seems at first to constitute a straightforward selection.

Click below for more: 
Sustain Mystery, But Not for Too Long 
Mire Customers as Calamity Prevention 
Look Simple, But Offer Complexity 
Let Go of the Unprofitable Logo

Monday, October 13, 2014

Retire Hopes for Unitary Retirement Marketing

Many retailers have recognized the lucrative opportunities in marketing to older shoppers. The fastest growing single age cohort among American consumers is those age 65 and over. But determining the sales hooks for these consumers has proven to be tougher than anticipated. Where a limited set of approaches can work well for younger cohorts, such as Millennials, one size is far from fitting all when it comes to seniors.
      Researchers at Germany’s Technische Universität München set out to discover why. The answers had to do with cognitive age and item categories. “Cognitive age” refers to how old the shopper feels rather than how old the shopper is by calendar measure. Unlike younger consumers, who tend to identify themselves by calendar age, the seniors in a specific age cohort can differ widely in how old they feel.
     Retailers can benefit from noticing who accompanies the older shopper and how the older shopper interacts with the companions. If the senior citizen is accompanied by those who are clearly younger and the senior citizen defers to their judgment, this shopper likely has a higher cognitive age. As another example, if the older shopper is accompanied by those who appear to be of similar age and is participating actively in purchase decisions, the cognitive age is probably lower, and the shopper may be more interested in item categories targeted to somewhat younger customers.
      A lower cognitive age doesn’t mean rejection of retirement labels, though. In fact, there is likely to be greater acceptance. In the TUM research, retirees who were close friends with other retirees and had changed their buying habits when retiring were especially likely to respond to offers of senior discounts and the use of “senior” in item descriptions, such as “educational classes for seniors.”
     Researchers at Ghent University and Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School had consumers, all at least age 40, evaluate the attractiveness of various labels for older shoppers. The research participants were quite comfortable with “50+,” “senior,” and “retired.” Any of these three would usually be good for you to feature in advertising, signage, product packaging, and personal selling addressed to this important older target market.
     However, there was an important exception: Respondents approaching age 50 or retirement didn't like the labels as much as did people who had been in the group for a while. We hate surrendering thoughts of youth, even if the youth is middle age.

Click below for more: 
Store Goodwill with Seniors 
Market to Seniors, not to Elderly 
Offer the Time of Their Lives to Senior Citizens 
Brain It on Home with Senior Citizen Emotions 
Supply Quality Time to Senior Shoppers

Monday, October 6, 2014

Reserve Control in Intimate Outsourcing

Consumer interest in contracting with merchants to handle intimate responsibilities isn’t new. Matchmakers were around for millennia before eHarmony. Nannies and au pairs are simply older forms of child care centers and Merry Maids. Hiring a business to plan your child’s birthday party may seem novel, but hiring a bunch of businesses to plan a wedding is old hat.
     What is newer is the growth in opportunities for merchants to sell such services because consumers feel more time pressures.
     Researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison considered the example of parents outsourcing planning of their child’s birthday party. In structured interviews with study samples, the researchers identified pivotal shopper questions the parents will probably ask. Here’s my version of those questions along with my suggestions for profitable retailer responses:
  • “Will I feel I’ve carried out my parental responsibilities?” Reserve control for the parent. Because they have come to you to save time, take care not to overload with details. Have a set of three to five overall party packages to consider, and allow for customization of each package. 
  • “Will my family and friends give me credit for carrying out my responsibilities as a parent?” This question is similar to the first one, but it’s different. It’s the difference between psychological risk—“What will I think of myself?”—and social risk—“What will others think of me?” Go beyond reserving control for the parent in the party planning. Also reserve ample opportunities for the parent to be the focus of attention during the celebration itself. 
     In a classic study published in 1950, psychologist Mason Haire presented either of two versions of a shopping list to groups of consumers. The lists were identical except that one included “Nescafé instant coffee” and the other, “1 lb Maxwell House Coffee (Drip Ground).” Among the people shown the first list, 48% described a woman who would write such a list as lazy. The figure was 4% for those shown the second list. Outsourcing the brewing of the coffee had social risks.
     When Prof. Haire did a second study, adding “Blueberry Fill Pie Mix” to each list, the “instant coffee” shopper was much less likely to be seen as lazy.
     And in a replication of the first study eighteen years later, there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups. Outsourcing that family responsibility became more acceptable. The psychology of the consumer does change over time.

Click below for more: 
Shelve Self-Control with Risk Mates 
Limit Design Support for Personalized Gifts