Limit Limitations of Limited Editions

The business logic of a manufacturer’s limited-edition product release is that scarcity motivates prompt purchase by triggering fear of missing out. The tactic has been used with hedonic categories such as designer accessories, sneakers, video games, and collectible toys.
     However, if a motivated shopper discovers the limited-edition item they’re desperately seeking is nowhere to be bought, their disappointment can turn into anger directed at the brand.
     What are the best ways for a manufacturer to realize advantages of limited editions while avoiding the risks?
     Based on their study results, researchers at University Witten/Herdecke, The University of Texas at Austin, University of Muenster, University of Auckland, and Arden Automobilbau GmbH recommend manufacturers produce or stock enough items to satisfy at least immediate customer demand. To avoid harming store or item brand value and repurchase intentions, ensure that any customer who wishes to purchase a limited edition at market launch can get one.
     These researchers also explored techniques for producers who choose to reject this guidance and instead build excitement by intentionally underproducing for a product launch. In my email exchange with Prof. Michael Steiner, the principal investigator, he wrote, “Nike and Adidas could reduce some of the negative effects of immediate sellouts by combining online sales with a raffle system, ensuring that each customer has an equal chance of obtaining the desired limited edition.”
     Even with this, some sellouts may be unavoidable. For such cases, a manufacturer can help check that at the retail store level, customers don’t feel they’re being mistreated. For example, retailers should use the term “sold out.” In ecommerce retailing, this resulted in better customer reactions than did the term “out of stock.” Item outage didn’t produce as much shopper outrage, according to studies at The University of Texas-Austin, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, and Kyung Hee University.
     The researchers say that when people hear “out of stock,” they think of problems with the supply chain: The retailer failed to place an order or didn’t conscientiously track the order. The supplier’s production broke down. The shipper failed to deliver on time. Somebody betrayed the customer.
     “Sold out” has the implication instead of product demand which the retailer could not have been expected to anticipate. In the study, participants judged “sold out” to be caused by unexpected sales and therefore to be of shorter duration and more subject to replenishment than when “out-of-stock” was used.

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Leave Shoppers Feeling They’re Not Sold Out 

Influence with Trustworthy Scarcity 

Launch Items Which Arouse Competitiveness 

Close the Sale Close to the Source

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Vend Health with Proper Item Placement

When looking at store shelves, shoppers are more likely to select healthy rather than unhealthy food alternatives if the healthy items are positioned to the left rather than to the right of the unhealthy ones. But when the purchase is from a vending machine, it’s the opposite: Researchers at University of Macerata, Università Politecnica delle Marche, and University of Bologna find that placing the healthy alternatives to the right of the row increases the frequency of their selection.
     That’s useful for those promoting healthy food consumption to have in mind since vending machines are highly popular for selling snacks. The researchers attribute the popularity to, among other factors, our current convenience-oriented culture, demand for 24/7 accessibility, and frequency of on-the-go consumption. Compared to when selecting snacks at a store, a vending machine purchase is usually made with less deliberation or interpersonal interaction. Both these factors can nudge choice toward a high-sugar, ultra-processed alternative.
     The argument for placing healthy items on the left of store shelves relates to perceived cost: Consumers tend to assume that higher-priced items are positioned to the right of lower-priced items. For a cost-conscious consumer, reactions to an alternative being seen on the left counterbalance another common assumption—that healthy food items are less tasty than unhealthy ones. But because of the impulsive nature of vending machine purchases, the consumer is likely to be less price-sensitive, so the influence of cost perception is less.
     Beyond this, the researchers’ argument for placing healthy items on the right of the vending machine row has to do with product familiarity: With vending machine purchases, people are more likely to select items which are familiar to them. However, this effect operates differently with vice than with virtue products. As product placement on the vending machine row moves from right to left, the negative impact of familiarity on virtue choice becomes weaker. Virtue products are advantaged by being placed on the right, while the left-hand side favors vice products.
     The studies also found that placement of healthy items on a higher row in the machine enhanced their frequency of choice.
     Please recognize that this doesn’t necessarily mean people will select and consume healthy items to a greater extent than unhealthy ones. Instead, the finding is that relative preferences shift toward healthier items with proper item placement. People might still prefer unhealthy items, but the choice will be noticeably less than otherwise.

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Help Shoppers Leave with Health Left 

Sense the Pleasure from Tactile Ordering

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Fill Coffers Using Retributive Philanthropy

“Donate money to our charity today so we can inflict greater destruction tomorrow.”
     What a strange solicitation I just created! Now suppose the target is cancer. Contributing toward destruction of a disease could bring warm glow feelings we associate with love. I think the pitch makes sense.
     Researchers at Western University in Canada explore other solicitations where the promised payoff is harm, but the motivation is revenge against those who outraged the contributor. Examples cited by the researchers include a Planned Parenthood fundraiser using the tag line, “There’s one person who has a special place in our hearts: Mike Pence. Today, break his heart and make a donation in his name,” in response to Mr. Pence opposing abortion rights and a viral YouTube campaign urging donations of Abercrombie & Fitch clothes to homeless people, so A&F sales are hit, in response to past fatphobic statements made by A&F’s CEO.
     The researchers call such campaigns retributive philanthropy.
     To help your charity best increase overall donations and attract new donors by using retributive philanthropy, understand what the researchers concluded. Results from their studies indicate: 

• For the harm to others to be accepted as morally acceptable, it must be with the contributor’s prosocial intent. Therefore, highlight in your solicitation the social benefit consequence of the damage. 
• Point out how the bad actions of the offender are a clearly intentional, not accidental, violation of what the contributor considers to be moral. 
• To the degree possible, send retributive philanthropy solicitations to prospects who have demonstrated an authoritarian propensity for punishing norm violators.

     Regarding this third one, the researchers note how authoritarianism is a trait associated with disagreeableness and antagonism. These are unlike traits like agreeableness, benevolence, and empathy which we’ve generally associated with charitable behavior. This hints to me that by attending to retributive philanthropy, we can expand the pool of likely donors.
     Mobilize emotions when asking for contributions, whether those emotions arise from authoritarianism or empathy. It can make a difference if we present offenders or beneficiaries as a set of individuals rather than as an organized group of individuals.
     Researchers at University of Michigan and London Business School found that charitable donations to help poor children were higher when the children were described as belonging to the same family than when not. The emotional pull was stronger when the prospective donor had been shown a single entity than when shown isolated individuals.

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Collapse to Soles When Asking for Money 

Let Go of Grudges

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Consider Consumer Confidentiality Concerns

People are happier with items which are personalized. Personalization goes beyond customization in that personalization takes into account distinctive individual characteristics of the particular consumer.
     What better way to know about such characteristics than by analyzing each of your shoppers’ DNA? Many consumer tendencies, such as selecting a compromise rather than going for the extremes, have a strong genetic component. So do preferences for specific products, such as chocolate, mustard, hybrid cars, science fiction movies, and jazz. Expert analysis of the adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine bases in the DNA strand could end up saving time and energy for both the shopper and the marketer by allowing pinpoint identification of best fits.
     DNA analysis also could be helpful when selling to family members. We might not even need to meet those others when our shopper says, “Can you help me select holiday gifts my children would enjoy?”
     So how interested would your shoppers be in having their genetic testing information used by you?
     The answer to that question, indicates a University of Gothenburg study is, “Not very.”
     The researchers surveyed a sample of Swedish genealogy enthusiasts who had participated in DNA testing. Among the items on the survey were, “I am interested in having my personal information used by the genetic testing company for hyper-personalization of products and services,” and, “I am likely to provide my personal information to the genetic testing company to receive hyper-personalized recommendations of products and services.” On the five-point degree-of-agreement scale where a higher number indicates greater agreement, the mean average responses for the items were 1.75 and 1.67 respectively.
     The researchers note that their sample was not selected randomly and consisted of people who had already shared their genetic information with the testing company. It would seem that among the general population, interest in sharing a DNA profile with a marketer would be even less.
     Analysis of responses to other items on the survey indicated the reason for the reluctance is, not surprisingly, a concern about misuse of the information. This might refer to worries about data disclosure to others. It also might refer to fears the marketer would use the information to exploit a consumer’s weaknesses.
     All this serves to remind us of the concerns our shoppers have about protection of their confidentiality. When it comes to personalizing, let’s gather the necessary information in ways which don’t jeopardize a relationship of trust.

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Attend to Genetic Influences in Selling 

Open Up Shoppers So You Can Personalize 

Drive Personalization by Fostering Narcissism

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Lay Off Latinx with Latinos

What do Latinos think of “Latinx”? That’s the term devised as a gender-neutral way to refer to people with Latin American roots. The term has found its way into advertising directed toward this population.
     The answer, according to a study at Washington State University, depends on political orientation. Their surveys conclude that politically liberal Hispanic/Latino consumers don’t care whether a marketer uses Latino or Latinx. Politically conservative Hispanic/Latino consumers, however, were found to generally consider use of the term Latinx to be offensive, and these conservative consumers expressed a lowered willingness to purchase items advertised using the term.
     The greater resistance among political conservatives to Latinx is consistent with other research and anecdotal evidence that conservatives prefer social tradition to social change. At the same time, there was no evidence Hispanic/Latino consumers, regardless of political orientation, clearly prefer use of Latinx to Latino for gender-neutral designation.
     Further, the researchers point to prior studies which indicate Hispanics and Latinos consider the development and use of the term as an insulting imposition of Anglo norms on Latinos and as a tone-deaf failure to recognize differences among the numerous Hispanic and Latino cultures.
     I recommend you lay off Latinx in advertising. There seems to be little upside and the clear potential of downsides in use of the term.
     Competent marketers who use Latinx don’t intend to offend Latinos. The motivation is proper, but let’s not assume we always know what our audience segments want to be called. The older adult demographic prefers “seniors” over “elderly.” Lesbians and gay males consider use of the label “homosexual” as demonstrating cultural incompetence.
     Consumer reaction to use of an identifying term also depends on who is doing the calling. In my email exchange about her study with Anabella Donnadieu Bórquez, now an assistant professor at The University of Texas at El Paso, she wrote, “Regardless of political orientation, Hispanic/Latino consumers are most receptive to this term when used by members of their own community (their Latin American friends and family). A possible implication of this research is that companies/brands recognized as part of the Hispanic/Latino community may have more success using Latinx in their advertising.”
     Add to all this the individual differences within any demographic group and how people’s preferences change over time. Monitor the reactions of your customers and clients to how you refer to them and ask them what they prefer to be called.

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Conserve Tradition If Serving Conservatives 

Market to Seniors, not to Elderly 

Step Away from Calling Stephen Stephen 

Accommodate Culture with Low-Involvement

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Spin Away Service Failure Disappointment

When a retailer fails to meet a customer’s service expectations, the customer is likely to feel disappointed or even betrayed. There are circumstances in which these negative feelings can be eased by a positive experience subsequently provided by the retailer. Taking account of this finding from past studies, researchers at University of Birmingham, Aalborg University, University of Edinburgh, and University of Lille explored what some of those circumstances are.
     The follow-on experience designed by the researchers to be positive was a game of chance in which the customer spun a wheel to determine an amount of monetary compensation they’d receive. The researchers hypothesized this would work well because financial compensation for a service failure often eases the customer’s negative feelings and playing a game is in itself a positive experience for most people.
     The researchers presented to sets of study participants scenarios which included service failures in retail store, restaurant, hotel, and gym settings. Some from each group were then offered an opportunity to spin the wheel, while others received just a preset compensation amount. The results supported the hypothesized effectiveness of gamification in easing dissatisfaction. The playfulness of the game appeared to be principally responsible.
     Data analyses also suggested some conditions for this technique to be effective: 

• Participation in the game is presented as an option, not as required to receive compensation. 
• The service failure was mild. The game technique didn’t reduce dissatisfaction following a severe service failure. 
• The amount of money received in the game is considered by the customer to be at least adequate compensation for the emotional cost of the service failure. 
• The situation in which the service failure occurred had only limited time pressure. When there was high time pressure, the game technique proved useless.

     By experimenting with the spin-the-wheel technique, you could determine what qualifies as a mild versus severe service failure, adequate compensation, and limited time pressure for your situations.
     Another consideration is that inviting the dismayed customer to play a game might lead them to conclude you’re not taking the service failure seriously. Here, an apology for the shortfall and a promise it won’t happen again have proven effective in recovering trust. The apology, which can be seen by the victim as demonstrating integrity, best comes promptly. A promise, which can be seen as a sign of competence, best comes a few weeks after the incident.

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Cure Feelings of Retailer Betrayal 

Compensate Group Service Failure Collectively 

Assure Consistency By Using Uncertainty 

Multiply Recovery from Double Deviation

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Orient Causation Consistently

Suppose you operate a store which offers two nutritional supplements to shoppers, with each supplement claiming on the label to amp up a sense of calmness. The Emonox label explains that it accomplishes this by blocking reabsorption of a hormone in the nervous system. The Tymonox label explains that this supplement amps up a sense of calmness by boosting levels of a hormone in the nervous system. Which of the two supplements are your shoppers likely to consider to be more effective?
     Please stop reading for a minute now to consider not only your answer, but also why you’ve concluded that’s the right answer.
     The University of Chicago researchers whose study design I used to develop that scenario introduced their report by noting how marketers sometimes explain to consumers a products’ effectiveness with a description of decreases and increases. An example they provide is a Thesis ad stating that the supplement blocks adenosine receptors, which causes more norepinephrine release, which increases alertness.
     The researchers hypothesized that such inconsistency in an explanation between downs and ups disrupts perceptions of effectiveness. Consistency from a marketer is more compelling than is inconsistency. The study results supported their hypothesis and so indicate that in the scenario, shoppers would consider Tymonox to be more effective in amping up calmness: This is because Tymonox boosts, but Emonox blocks. And in the study, when a product claimed to “tone down panic attacks” rather than “amp up a sense of calmness,” Emonox was judged to be more effective than Tymonox. Down matches better with blocking.
     The researchers found the impact of this causation consistency with effectiveness explanations for a range of products and claims. A face cream to prevent acne got better ratings when paired with an explanation that it counteracts blocked pores rather than an explanation that it boosts turnover of skin cells. A serum to increase hair growth was rated better when the effectiveness explanation was that it adds blood supply to the scalp compared to an explanation that it suppresses the shrinking of hair follicles. The impact was also seen with claims for energy drinks, sound systems, and more.
     The care with which the researchers explored combinations of claims and explanations strengthens the case that even if this inconsistency penalty turns out to be small, it is widespread. In your marketing, match the directional orientation of the claimed effect with the direction of causation.

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Cause Trust with First-Things-First Effects 

Scotch Faux Explanations to Explanation Foes 

Construct Shopper Certainty Using Consistency

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Appropriate Shame as a Fake Review Response

When consumers describe on social media the flaws in your business or your items, you can correct the problems and announce your actions in replies. After you decisively resolve a complaint, customer loyalty to you gets greater than it was before the complaint.
     But what if the flaw is a fiction in a post by an angry customer seeking revenge? A trio of researchers at University of Richmond, West Virginia University, and University of Texas at San Antonio address that situation in a research article aptly titled, “That’s Not What Happened: Dealing with Consumer-Generated Fake Retaliatory Reviews”.
     When faced with fabricated claims and exaggerated information, your first impulse may be to reply in a way designed to arouse guilt or shame in the poster. But you might then get concerned how such a sharp retort would alienate your social media audience by coming across as mean-spirited.
     Based on their data analyses, the researchers say you can avoid the downsides. The worst alternative is not correcting the record. Your failure to respond risks lowering purchase intentions among prospects who have read the fake review. This was found to be especially so for newer businesses and businesses with less positive reputations.
     Between arousing guilt or shame, arousing guilt is preferable. As used in consumer research, the emotion of guilt is specific to the situation—“I did something wrong”—while the emotion of shame is global—“I am a bad person.” Efforts to elicit shame are more likely to come across as mean-spirited.
     A shame-arousing message used in the studies read in part, “You should be ashamed of yourself for writing such a dishonest review…. Being untruthful reflects who you truly are.” A guilt-arousing message read in part, “You should feel guilty about writing such a dishonest review…. Your actions have a real impact on our business.”
     With all of this, a finding from a study at University of Western Ontario and Queens University in Kingston, Ontario provides additional perspectives on the posting of fake reviews motivated by revenge. People who feel they have been betrayed by a retailer or a product often experience shame. It might be shame about having allowed themselves to be persuaded. It might be shame at even considering posting what consists of lies. Whatever the source of shame, though, this indicates that a retailer’s shame-oriented response would feel quite appropriate to the poster of the fake review.

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Aim Away from Shame 

Prevent Store Brand Sabotage 

Select True Online Reviews for Trust 

Mobilize Cause & Guilt Against Fake News

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Discount Discounting for Stigmatized

A discounted price on products linked to a stigmatized identity is perceived as insulting by consumers who have that stigmatized identity.
     This finding makes sense when you understand the reason. Researchers at University of British Columbia, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and University of Alberta asked a sample of Latino Americans to look at a display of six beverage mugs, with one of the mugs inscribed “Proud to be Latino.” For some of the participants, the “Proud to be Latino” mug was labeled with a price 40% less than the price of the other mugs. For the remaining participants, all mugs carried the same price.
     Those told there was a discount subsequently had a less positive attitude toward the mug company and were more likely to say the company showed disrespect toward them.
     In a companion study where the participants were white Americans, this difference was not seen. Whether or not the “Proud to be Latino” mug in the set was being offered at a discount made no real difference in ratings of attitude toward the mug company and perceived disrespect toward the Latino-American community among the white American sample.
     The researchers’ explanation for this effect is that when a company offers a price discount only on a product linked to a group stigmatized by majority society, members of this stigmatized group think the company considers them to be inferior. Other studies in the set yielded evidence supporting this explanation, including LGBT consumers considering a water bottle bearing a rainbow design, African American consumers considering a water bottle labeled “Black Lives Matter,” and Asian American consumers considering a water bottle labeled “Asian Lives Matter.”
     A retailer’s offer of a price discount on items celebrating a stigmatized identity could be intended to counteract the stigma. It also could be intended to clear inventory of items which are not selling well because of the stigma. In any case, leaving members of a group of consumers feeling disrespected is a poor business practice.
     Still other of the researchers’ studies suggest three different ways a retailer can overcome the effect: 

• Partner with members of the stigmatized group to market the items 
• Simultaneously offer discounts on items not linked to the stigmatized group 
• Instead of offering a price discount, offer free shipping or buy-one-get-one-for-free

     Also helpful, says other research, are clear signals throughout your store and transactions that you welcome members of the stigmatized group spending their money and time with you.

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Welcome the Stigmatized 

Discount Doubts About Veterans’ Discounts 

Envision How Envy Affects Shoppers

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Number Food Health Characteristics

Why did a group of consumers who were told, “This bottle of olive oil is made from the extract of 80 ounces of olives. It is a valuable addition to your healthy eating habits,” consider the contents to be more healthful than did a group of similar consumers who were told, “This bottle of olive oil is made from the extract of a high concentration of olives. It is a valuable addition to your healthy eating habits”?
     Shahin Sharifi, the La Trobe University researcher who designed the study, answers that it’s due to inclusion of a number. Consumers are accustomed to using numbers—such as for package size and nutrient amounts—to assess foods.
     In the studies, magnitude of the number didn’t matter much as long as it plausibly portrayed what quantity of olives would be contained in a bottle of olive oil and olive oil was perceived as a healthy food. The description “made from the extract of 5 lbs of olives” worked about the same as “made from the extract of 80 ounces of olives.”
     But it did make a difference what the number was describing. In another of the studies, participants were told the olive oil had a top rating on a standard food healthfulness scale—five stars in the Health Star Rating system. Now the participants’ average rating was less affected by whether or not they had also been told the bottle contained the extract of 80 ounces of olives. The HSR scale rating was what principally persuaded the consumer. Absent HSR, including a number in a product content description could mislead about healthfulness.
     Tips for using another rating system—the NuVal, in which each integer rating is based on the relevance of the item’s contents to health conditions like diabetes and heart disease—came from Boston College and University of Pittsburgh studies: 

• Range familiarity. The NuVal system uses a range of 1 to 100. This allows shoppers to easily sense the relative value of a score of 63 compared to a 37, for instance. 
• Convenience. Most consumers balance healthfulness against price in making purchase decisions. To assist that, place the nutrition ratings on the same shelf tags and signage as the price and in an easy-to-read font style and size. 
• Credibility. Train store staff to answer questions about the system in ways which are easily understood. Brochures or signage explaining the system can be helpful.

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Spout Quick Numbers for Desirability 

Measure Your Magnitude Quotes Situationally 

Hit Shoppers with a Two-by-Four

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Take Pains to Sidestep Sadism

For purposes of their study about people’s motivations to watch mixed martial arts matches, researchers at University of Lausanne and University of Monaco describe MMA as a full-contact combat sport which differs from traditional martial arts and combat sports in that it allows fighters to use a wide variety of techniques, including striking and grappling.
     The researchers surveyed about 800 North Americans who were aware of MMA fights. The respondents replied to 36 items covering a range of factors involved in desire to watch the matches.
     Results of analyses of the data indicate that deriving pleasure from seeing others’ pain is one motivation. For some audience segments, witnessing violence seems to be a bigger draw than the usual attraction in competitive sports from uncertainty about who will prevail in the match.
     This is an example of sadism—deriving pleasure from the suffering of others. In my email exchange about the study with Tommy K. Quansah, the principal researcher, he emphasized, “We are speaking about entertainment-based or benign forms of sadism, not clinical or antisocial behavior.”
     Sadism’s cousin is schadenfreude--delight when seeing others’ ambitions being crushed. Among researchers, schadenfreude has been attributed to envy, to raw hostility, and to the sort of emotion tunnel vision which keeps us from acknowledging the pain caused to the others.
     There are times when schadenfreude is considered acceptable. Researchers at University of Georgia point out how viewers of NCAA football, ATP men’s tennis, and WTA women’s tennis games can feel fine about cheering wildly when the fan’s favored team or player crushes the competition.
     However, in marketing MMA, an encouragement or even open tolerance of sadism would be problematic. Early in MMA history, it was argued that it was too barbaric to be considered a sport, and MMA was banned in all but three American states. Only after rules were changed to protect fighters were the bans lifted.
     Dr. Quansah wrote me, “Viewers can empathize with what fighters go through physically. This emotional engagement can lead to complex reactions that are not necessarily cruel in nature. The pleasure some people feel may come from the intensity of the experience or the resilience of the fighters, not just the harm.” He and his fellow researchers propose that media materials marketing MMA highlight these intensity and resilience aspects.
     That advice could generalize to fostering viewership of boxing, football, and ice hockey matches, for instance.

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Crush Close Ones with Schadenfreude 

Shadow Dark Tourism 

Pain a Stimulating Picture 

Stay Interesting

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Support with Gift Over Gab

A client or business associate who is emotionally distraught because of some problem in their life isn’t in the best mood for fruitful transactions with you. To help them through their upset, you might consider briefly chatting with them. Your objective would be to provide social support, even though you’re not directly solving their problem.
     But researchers at HEC Montréal, University at Albany, and Duke University advise you to instead give some moderately-priced, non-personalized item. The researchers’ studies indicate that the gift will surpass gab in helping a recipient feel better. In some of the studies, the past gift a recipient had in mind was merchandise, such as flowers. In other of the studies, the referenced gift was a meal the recipient could eat without the giver there—a combination of a material and an experiential present.
     The researchers’ explanation for the higher effectiveness of the gift is that in these circumstances, the recipient will consider a gift to be a greater sacrifice than would be a conversation and so is greater evidence of caring. A conversation consists of a mutual exchange with benefits to both parties, while a gift primarily benefits the recipient.
     Further, when provided a face-to-face conversation intended to be emotionally supportive, the recipient may feel a need to hide any negative reactions. This effort balances out the sacrifice made by the party initiating the conversation. But if the other party sends a gift, the recipient feels no need to hide reactions, so the recipient feels that the relative sacrifice by the giver is greater.
     I’ll add how, compared to gab, leaving a gift saves you time and avoids you getting enmeshed in personal details of the troubles. These characteristics of the situation may constitute an amendment to a general assumption that recipients appreciate a gift or conversation more when it’s highly personalized.
     An exception to the general finding of these studies concerns apologies. Perception that a gift is primarily intended as an apology leads to a more negative appraisal of the gift giver. This is because the recipient almost always wants to talk with the other party about the hurt feelings and therefore views the gift giving as evidence the gift giver misunderstands them. Receiving an apology gift also leads to a more negative appraisal of the item. This is because the gift reminds the recipient of the argument or hurt each time the gift is used or considered.

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Limit Design Support for Personalized Gifts 

Talk Up Talk Over Gifts for Good Apologies

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Direct Democracy by Lengthening Perspectives

In a representative democracy, such as the U.S., voters elect legislators who are charged with responsibility for establishing laws. But in many U.S. states and localities, another avenue to creating laws is direct democracy, where the electorate can vote to enact a law or policy via an initiative.
     Concerns about the direct democracy process include that many ballot proposals appear to cover complex issues and busy citizens have fewer resources for gathering information and analyzing ramifications than do staff of an elected legislator. The outcome of a direct democracy vote could end up being shortsighted by actually running counter to the voters’ policy preferences.
     A set of studies by a pair of political scientists at University of California Davis indicates that these concerns may be unnecessary. How a citizen votes on a direct democracy initiative tends to adhere well to that voter’s political ideology regarding the issue. This is especially true when voters are provided information about the Democratic and Republican parties’ official positions on the ballot proposition and an objective description of the proposition’s likely consequences. Citizens’ decisions about ballot propositions can be accurately predicted from their positions on a simple liberal-conservative dimension matching that of the lawmakers those citizens have elected.
     However, although the citizen’s vote may not be shortsighted because it misrepresents the voter’s ideology, the voter’s ideology itself could be shortsighted. When voters tend toward limited time horizons, they become less likely to tackle significant long-term public policy problems. Findings from a Princeton University study suggest that parenthood lengthens time horizons of voters. Since birthrates and intentions to have children appear to be decreasing worldwide, the shortsightedness of the electorate threatens to be a problem in many countries.
     Encouraging parenthood would help among young adults, but a more practical tactic that affects voters of all ages is to encourage in the population an attitude which likely explains why parenthood lengthens the time perspective in decision making—generativity, defined as a desire to create legacies by helping others.
     Psychologist Erik Erickson, who coined the term generativity, associated it with elderly adults. But a study at City University of New York and University of California-Irvine says the peak in generativity occurs at about age 56. The same study found that the peak for prosociality—the desire to take actions which will benefit others outside one’s family—occurs more than a decade earlier, at about age 45 years.

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Discuss Disgust Conservatively & Liberally 

Leap Up Donations Using Legacy Potential

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Enhance Big Selection with Population Density

When a shopper encounters abundant alternatives, their receptivity is influenced by population density. For instance, compared to people living in less densely populated U.S. congressional districts, people who live in more densely populated districts are willing to pay higher prices when choosing from a large product assortment.
     The researchers at University of Western Australia, Queensland University of Technology, University of Queensland, and University of New South Wales attribute this effect to a matter of control: In a densely populated community, there are fewer opportunities for an individual to exert control over their physical environment. A larger product assortment when shopping provides the individual a chance to exercise control in that realm, so items in that assortment carry a bonus value.
     Of note, the researchers explored this effect with online shopping. This is why the researchers refer to population density rather than physical crowding. People generally conduct their ecommerce in private spaces like home or work.
     But there’s evidence the effect does hold in public spaces, too. In one of the studies, participants were shown an ad for earphones featuring a person in either a densely populated train station or an empty train station. Next, half the number of participants in each group were asked to choose from among a selection of six earphones, while the other participants were asked to choose from among a selection of 30.
     Participants primed with the ad showing a densely populated train station expressed willingness to pay more for the chosen earphone when they were selecting from a larger assortment. This difference was not seen with the participants who had been primed with the ad showing an empty train station.
     The implication for ecommerce retailers is to vary the assortment size depending on the population density of the shopper’s community. Also, the train station study indicates that a marketer can positively influence an online shopper’s attitude toward larger product assortments by showing a more densely populated situation in an ad for the product category. Beyond providing enhanced opportunity to exert control, large assortments offer higher probabilities of a close purchaser-product fit.
     Other studies—which do look at physical crowding, not just consumers’ density perceptions—document a related consideration with larger assortments: According to studies at Columbia University and University of British Columbia, consumers from Western cultures shopping in tight spaces seek greater variety among products. If they have fewer choices, they'll become less comfortable.

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Crowd Humanized Brands Cautiously 

Abandon Abundance After Attracting 

Space Out for the Hoity-Toity 

Weigh the Ways You Portray Item Weight

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Prefer Rating Scales to Preference Polls

Telling shoppers that 82% of people similar to them prefer your offering compared to a parallel offering from another supplier does not tell the shoppers by how much more the similar others prefer yours. Researchers at National University of Singapore, Universitat Ramon Llull, and Università Bocconi say this limitation can be used by marketers to accentuate the appeal of their items.
     Unlike data from rating scales, in which people assess items on a continuum from 1 to 10 for instance, data from polls are simpler for respondents to provide and simpler for marketers to present. Further, it makes intuitive sense that if 90% of consumers prefer Pepsi to Coke, for example, the difference which would be shown on a rating scale is likely to be larger than if 60% of consumers prefer Pepsi to Coke. Using the size of polled preference as a measure of the underlying rating scale preference is a good way to save time and mental effort.
     However, problems arise in circumstances where consumers overestimate the difference in preferences. People frequently misinterpret the results of polls. The researchers found this happens even with consumers who have expertise about the item category and when the consumers are knowledgeable about data analytics.
     Small differences in preferences between two items are more likely than are large differences. This is true when considering only a statistical analysis, independent of how consumers make decisions. In my email exchange about the study with Prof. Graham N. Overton, the primary researcher, he adds, “Our real-world data also suggests this is often true even when one does consider how consumers make decisions. I believe our datasets on votes, beers, movies, and jokes demonstrate smaller differences are often more likely than larger ones.”
     This finding also makes intuitive sense: We compare a liking for Pepsi with that for Coke because both have been considered promising candidates to satisfy a desire. We’re not interested in reading a poll that says whether consumers prefer to drink Pepsi rather than drink vinegar.
     The researchers also found that this overestimation is greatly reduced after the consumer sees a graph of the frequency of various differences in liking which can lead to an overall poll average of a 50% preference. But since marketers are unlikely to conduct this demonstration, a more practical implication from the findings is for ethical marketers to report rating scale results.

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Request Attribute Ratings of the Subpar 

Pile Plenty of Political Polls on People

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Expect That Fantasizing Use Might Hurt

Expectations are judgments of how likely events are to occur. Ad copy reading “Expect the great taste and health benefits of Naturela juice” would stimulate the reader to pursue goals in terms of expectations. Fantasies consist of compelling images of future events without regard to how likely the events are to occur. Ad copy reading “Imagine the great taste and health benefits of Naturela juice” would stimulate the reader to pursue goals in terms of fantasies.
     Some consumer researchers call such fantasies consumption visions—mental images vivid and specific enough to let a shopper vicariously experience the benefits and difficulties of item usage.
     Those prompts are for positively-toned expectations and fantasies. Ad copy could also stimulate negatively-toned counterparts: “Expect missing out on the great taste and health benefits of Naturela juice” and “Imagine missing out on the great taste and health benefits of Naturela juice.”
     Ad copy of those four sorts was presented by Lehigh University researchers to study participants. Each participant group read one of the four message types. Each individual participant was then asked to evaluate the Naturela brand and to indicate their likelihood of trying the juice.
     Compared to participants prompted to imagine positive outcomes, participants prompted to expect positive outcomes rated the Naturela brand more favorably and indicated a greater likelihood of trying the juice. However, with the negative outcome prompts, the comparison was reversed: Compared to participants prompted to imagine negative outcomes, participants prompted to expect negative outcomes rated the Naturela brand less favorably and indicated a lower likelihood of trying the juice.
     The researchers explain the pattern of findings in the context of developing and implementing a course of action: When the consumer fantasizes about positive outcomes of product use, this fulfills some of the consumer’s need to actually use the product, so the likelihood of use decreases and the brand attraction lessens. But an expectation of positive outcomes, without going on to imagine usage, increases interest in the brand and in use.
     On the other hand, when expecting or imagining negative outcomes, apprehension about use flips the comparison around.
     These findings can guide your development of ad copy. Another of the studies in the researchers’ set provides additional advice: If you have a shopper detail how they’d make a purchase decision, subsequently asking them to expect a negative outcome or imagine a positive outcome may not depress their likelihood of trying the item.

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Dream Consumption Visions of the Past 

Model Ads Around the Right Model Type

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Tease Out Sales by Teasing Consumers

Consumers relate better to brands which kid around. Gentle humor stimulates connection. But what about humor which consists of teasing the consumer? Researchers at Duke University and HEC Montreal find that the consequence depends on whether the teasing plays with the consumer’s identity or disparages the consumer’s identity.
     In one of the studies, participants were exposed to an ad for a Pizza Hut 2-for-1 Valentine’s Day Special. For some participants, the ad copy read, A CHEAP DATE THAT’S ALMOST AS CHEESY AS YOU ARE.” This was intended to be a playful tease. A second group received what was intended to be a disparaging tease: “A CHEESY DATE THAT’S ALMOST AS CHEAP AS YOU ARE.” And, for comparison, a third group of participants received what was intended to be just humor, without a tease: “MAKE YOUR PLANS NOW FOR A CHEAP AND CHEESY VALENTINE’S DATE.”
     Those participants receiving the playful tease reported greater psychological connection to the Pizza Hut brand than did those receiving either of the other two versions. In another of the studies, lower connections with the advertised brand were reported by participants viewing a tease intended to be disparaging—“YOU’RE FINANCIALLY ILLITERATE…BUT YOU STILL DESERVE TO RETIRE COMFORTABLY”—than by participants viewing a comparable tease intended to be playful—“COLLEGE YOU WAS FINANCIALLY ILLITERATE…BUT YOU STILL DESERVE TO RETIRE COMFORTABLY.”
     The researchers explain the results of these and companion studies in terms of anthropomorphism—the attribution of human characteristics to a non-human entity. When a brand teases, it seems more like a person, since we’re accustomed to a tease coming from a person. We feel closer relationships to other people than to non-humans, particularly inanimate brands.
     For the consumer’s relationship with the brand to be positive, the tease must be more playful than disparaging. Signals of playful intention include obvious exaggeration. The blend of playing around with the consumer and provoking the consumer is a matter of degree.
     I’ll supplement that explanation with this one: To hit home with a consumer, a tease needs to be personalized to one or more characteristics of the consumer. When you feel a person knows something distinctive about you, your relationship with that person strengthens, as long as that person doesn’t use the knowledge to disparage you. Similarly, when you feel a brand knows something distinctive about you and doesn’t misuse that knowledge, your relationship with that brand strengthens.

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Joke Around to Facilitate the Sale 

Drive Personalization by Fostering Narcissism

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Size Up Value in Showing Body Size Diversity

Past consumer behavior studies have concluded that women are motivated to purchase items modeled by people who are somewhat thinner than they themselves are, but not dramatically thinner. This is consistent with consumers’ attraction to what they aspire to be—aspirations that may get more adventurous in this Ozempic era.
     Still, researchers at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and University of Bath argue for showing models of various body sizes in online ads for clothing as well as on websites displaying the catalog of items, and for men’s fashions as well as women’s. This helps a shopper purchase a product which will fit them well while also serving the socially positive objective of enhancing acceptance of diversity in body builds, including self-acceptance of not being thin.
     The researchers consider three schemes used on fashion retailer websites: Showing only thin models, as Zara has done; showing models of various sizes mixed across items, as Lululemon has done; and prompting the website viewer to choose the model’s body size for viewing items, as Good American has done.
     The overall finding from the set of studies was that showing only thin models dissuades shoppers who aren’t thin from purchasing online. Along with this, the likelihood of product returns increases. The researchers point out that poor fit is a major reason for returns of clothing purchases and that product returns are costly for retailers and for the environment.
     One of the studies found that, compared to portrayal of body-size diversity in ads, portrayal of body-size diversity on product pages had a stronger positive effect on a shopper’s interest in continuing to shop with the retailer. The researchers explain this difference in terms of how a consumer’s mindset differs depending on whether they’re browsing products or gathering information about a brand.
     Another of the studies supported the common-sense conclusion that the overall body-size of a model counts more for a woman when purchasing a dress than when purchasing shoes. However, another study hints that body size is still a consideration for marketers with items where the shopper’s body size would seem unimportant: Researchers at Villanova University, Baruch College, St. John's University, Hofstra University, and University of Alberta found that salespeople more frequently recommend round- rather than angular-shaped lamps and perfume bottles to shoppers with a larger body size. The researcher’s explanation is that good salespeople look at similarities between characteristics of the shopper and the merchandise.

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Appeal to Pride of Distinctive Consumers 

Airbrush Away Shame in Your Shoppers

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Toss Rotten Tomatoes

How might it be that a few negative reviews of a movie on Rotten Tomatoes can hurt ticket sales, but a whole bunch of negative reviews could help?
     Researchers at The University of Adelaide and Edith Cowan University verified this effect via their analysis of 23,046 reviews of and sales revenues for 80 Hollywood movies which the researchers selected for having emotional scenes and memorable characters.
     The researchers’ explanation of this effect starts with acknowledging how past studies find that consumers are more likely to express positive than negative emotions in item reviews they post, but negative emotions expressed in reviews have a greater influence than positive emotions on the purchase decisions of review readers. Negative reviews tend to be more interesting to readers.
     When there’s a higher number of negative reviews, the review reader becomes more likely to carefully analyze the arguments of the reviews and therefore spot any flaws in the arguments. Further, any reader who has seen the movie and identifies with it will feel threatened by a large number of critical comments, leading to that reader wanting to post a positive review. Related to these explanations, bad publicity attracts attention, which can stimulate consumers’ interest in checking the movie for themselves.
     To make positives about a movie more interesting, researchers suggest that promotions incorporate emotional wording such as lovely story, beautiful scenery, and nonstop action. Emotion does sell, although I do predict that with the burgeoning use of AI shopping agents—in which the consumer delegates item choice to a set of algorithms—emotional appeals will be less successful in marketing.
     Another takeaway from this study is that you can safely toss away any overconcern about negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and other movie review sites when you’re marketing a flick, TripAdvisor and other lodging review sites when you’re marketing your hotel, and Yelp and other general review sites whatever you’re marketing. Beyond a certain quantity, negative reviews set off a balancing loop which ironically increases positive attitudes toward an offering. Along with this, respond selectively to negative reviews, attending just to those containing exclamation points, emoticons, or all caps.
     Actually, you might want to toss out into your audience of prospective purchasers a few rotten tomatoes of negative reviews, with your objective being to stimulate that audience to counter the negative via their own positive reviews or to try a sample for themselves.

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Respond Selectively to Negative Reviews 

Invite People to Ridicule for Themselves 

Convert Controversy to Retail Sales

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Stifle the Smile When Selling Status

Luxury appeal operates more through the exclusivity of item competence than through the approachability of interpersonal warmth. This leads to a hypothesis that the broad smile on faces of ad models which can help sell mass-market items would hurt sales of high-fashion apparel and accessories. In status-oriented or competitive situations centered around dominance, you do best to chill out your emotions.
     Researchers at Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Sussex, and Central European University Vienna tested this hypothesis with ads for Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Prada, and two fictitious brand names developed for the studies and referred to in the ads as exclusive collections. Study participants included consumers in the U.S. and China.
     Overall, a neutral facial expression on the ad model produced higher levels of ad engagement, positive attitudes, and shopper purchase intentions. The researchers’ explanation is that in luxury contexts, a neutral expression, as contrasted to a smile, portrays pride in one’s self and in the luxury quality of the item being advertised.
     The researchers found that the effect did not hold with a mass-market cosmetic brand—Covergirl, but did with a luxury brand—Prada, for the same product category—a two-foundation makeup. With consumers who looked at the Covergirl ads, there were no significant differences between measures for those who saw the model with a smile and those who saw the model with a neutral expression. This supports the explanation that the smile-versus-neutral effect has to do with the nature of luxury contexts.
     The effect was stronger when in the ad, the model is looking directly at the viewer rather than averting a direct gaze. This suggests that a neutral look is particularly useful in luxury ads when the model’s gaze is directly toward the viewer.
     A direct gaze by a model enhances the credibility which luxury represents. Researchers at University of Houston found that an ad for a product or service appealing to positive emotions works best when the model’s eyes are averted rather than looking straight at the shopper. In one of the experiments—using a Facebook ad for a woman’s sun hat—people were 30% more likely to buy when the model had an averted compared to a direct gaze.
     But there was a downside to the averted gaze. It lessened model credibility. When credibility is essential, as with ads dependent on a luxury appeal, use a direct gaze by the model, advise the Houston researchers.

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Saturate Your Store with Sweet Smiles 

Chill Out Emotions to Look Cool 

Look Out for Where They’re Gazing

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Go for Oh’s to Reduce Restaurant No-Shows

OpenTable data show that in the U.S., about one out of every four restaurant reservations is not kept by the prospective diner. After citing that statistic, a team of Montclair State University, Mount Royal University, and Sejong University researchers detail the costs of no-shows, describe reasons for this behavior, and, through studies, develop suggestions for reducing the rate.
     The costs to restaurants include not only the lost revenue from those diners who didn’t appear, but also suboptimal inventory management of supplies and missed opportunities to seat walk-in guests at tables being held for those with reservations. The reasons for no-show behavior, as seen in prior studies, include some we might not expect, such as a customer booking at a number of restaurants and then forgetting to cancel the unwanted bookings.
     The chief strategy developed by the researchers for reducing no-show rates is to activate social pressure for reliability and punctuality by reminding consumers of the detrimental social effects of no-show behavior. Let’s get frequent diners in the habit of saying to themselves, “Oh, that’s why I should make only restaurant reservations I’m comfortable I can keep and conscientiously cancel any reservations I realize I won’t keep.”
     Based on results from their studies, the researchers conclude that this strategy works best when the cancellation policy is lenient. This is consistent with the idea that an optimal technique for reducing no-show rates won’t irritate prospective customers. Any penalties for cancellation should be perceived as fair and the cancellation procedure should not be perceived as burdensome.
     The researchers point out these techniques for curbing restaurant reservation no-shows might not work in other booking situations, such as with hotels. The average transaction amounts, length of advance planning, and visit frequencies are different. Still, I believe the strategy of increasing awareness among consumers about the costs of no-shows holds promise.
     Moreover, arousing a sense of obligation can nudge behavior toward the socially responsible in areas well beyond the no-show. The effects depend on you making the consumer’s behavior visible, or at least giving the impression of visibility. Although you can influence shopper behavior in the short-term by arousing shame, you’ll have better long-term results by aiming for a sense of obligation.
     With restaurants, feeling obligation should lead to higher diner tip amounts than would a feeling of shame, and in the areas well beyond, feeling obligation leads to more repeat business than does shame.

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Peer into Pressure from Obligation 

Prefer Obligation to Shame 

Tip Yourself Off with Tipping Tracking

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