Look It Up: Abstract Benefits Above Shoppers

Features of products you sell can be concrete—such as the average time between repairs—or abstract—such as a general claim of high quality. According to Ghent University researchers, shoppers are relatively more interested in concrete features when gazing down at the merchandise and relatively more interested in abstract claims when peering up.
     Consumers in the studies had been asked to state which of two printers they preferred. One printer was described as reliable and the other as being of high quality. Those consumers who needed to look down to see the printers favored the “reliable” printer on average. Those consumers who needed to look up tended to prefer the “high quality” printer.
     The researchers explain their findings by saying that we’re more attentive to details when our heads are facing downward because we’re accustomed to items below us being close, and therefore of potentially greater danger than items we look up to see.
     These remnants of body movements were also seen in earlier experiments. When a consumer pulls their arm toward themselves, the consumer becomes more likely to purchase short-term pleasure over longer-term benefits. Have the restaurant patron lift the water glass to mouth to quaff the contents instead of drinking through a straw, and the potential for ordering dessert climbs. When a shopper uses a basket instead of a cart in a grocery store, the shopper is almost seven times as likely to purchase candy bars rather than fruit as a snack.
     Over our lifetimes, our brains subconsciously associate pulling our arms toward ourselves with acquiring pleasurable objects. Pulling the arm toward the body activates subconscious expectations of short-term pleasure, and the arm pullers look to fulfill those expectations.
     It also works the other way around: Pushing an object away from ourselves, such as when navigating a large shopping cart through an aisle, subconsciously potentiates the brain traces of rejecting items which are not immediately pleasurable.
     Smart retailers have known for a while that when a prospective customer nods their head up and down—even if the nod comes from reading a brochure using narrow columns—the person becomes more likely to complete the purchase.
     The effects are subtle, Still, how a shopper moves not only projects their buying intentions, but also influences their buying intentions.

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

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