Call In Responsiveness to Product Recalls

In January 2007, Consumer Reports published a report announcing a serious safety problem with certain infant car seats. Understandably, consumer demand for the car seats promptly cratered. Adding to the evidence of the power of the notice is that when, two weeks later, Consumer Reports announced that the earlier report was in error, demand quickly rebounded.
     Researchers at Freie Universität Berlin, University of Connecticut, and Stockholm School of Economics note that this sort of responsiveness is often not seen when it comes to product recalls. Owners of the affected items are frighteningly unwilling to take corrective action. As a result, there are increased risks of physical damage to consumers and of lawsuits against marketers. The researchers analyze the reasons for failures to act and then identify tactics for increasing consumer responsiveness to product recalls.
     People are more likely to respond when less effort is required of them and when they believe themselves capable of taking the corrective action. Thus, full remedy—offering the owner product replacement or refund of the purchase price—works better than partial remedy—offering a do-it-yourself repair kit, for instance.
     Beliefs about the probability of damage also count. But with both the nature of the offered remedy and perceived probability of damage, there’s an interaction with firm reputation, defined as the extent to which the consumer considers the marketer issuing the recall to be trustworthy. For low-reputation firms, there’s little difference in effectiveness between full- and partial-remedy offers. And for low-reputation firms, perceptions of high damage likelihood actually make it less likely the consumer will respond to the recall offer. Customers don’t trust low-reputation firms to correct the product defect in those circumstances.
     For the marketer, the upshot, then, is to maintain a reputation of trustworthiness and, if a recall is necessary, portray the maximum extent of the possibility of danger and offer the consumer a remedy which requires minimum consumer effort. In the researchers’ field study, recall effectiveness climbed twenty-four percentage points when a high-reputation firm offered a full instead of partial remedy, all else being equal.
     Results from other studies indicate it’s better to describe to the consumer the possibility of damage rather than the probability of damage if the problem which led to product recall isn’t corrected. Also, limit the descriptions of possible damage to only the most serious. Including minor concerns leads to lower estimates by the consumer of total risk.

Successfully influence the most prosperous & most loyal consumer age group. For the specific strategies & tactics you need, click here.

Click for more…

Keep Up On Your Promises 

Maintain Store Distinctiveness in Ad Groups 

Betray the Betrayal Effect 

Add Risk Notices to Dilute Risk Opinion 

Estimate Imprecisely When Harboring Doubts

Meld Girl- & Boy-Marketing Language

In the early 1970’s, actress and activist Marlo Thomas initiated her “Free to Be You and Me” project, designed to reduce gender stereotypes in children’s decision making. Now, more than a half century later, the state of California is requiring large retailers who sell toys in the state to maintain a gender-neutral aisle. The sponsor of the law, California Assemblymember Evan Low, says he was inspired to introduce his bill by an 8-year-old girl who asked, “Why should a store tell me what a girl’s shirt or toy is?”
     In October 2021, the same month that bill was signed into law, LEGO announced their “Ready for Girls” initiative. LEGO identified a problem—and also an opportunity to increase sales to a broader audience—with their survey results indicating how at that time 76% of parents reported they’d encourage LEGO play by a son, but only 24% would encourage LEGO play by a daughter.
     Yet, a California State University, Fullerton project finds that differences persist even now in media targeted to boys and girls—differences which could encourage self-stereotyping. This conclusion was based on studies of language characteristics in cartoon franchises associated with toys which a sample of U.S. parents said are targeted to girls, are targeted to boys, or are gender neutral. Barbie and Strawberry Shortcake were among the franchises considered girl-targeted; GI Joe and Star Wars, boy-targeted; and Care Bears and Harry Potter, gender neutral.
     Then, a machine-assisted analysis of language used in the franchise cartoons showed that scripts in the girl-targeted series were more emotionally positive overall than in those targeting boys. Scripts targeting girls did feature more phrasing expressing sadness, but also more phrasing expressing affiliation, which could be seen as a means for easing sadness. Scripts in boy-targeted series featured more phrasing expressing anger, power, and risk. Further, by comparing scripts of older and newer series from the same franchises, the researchers saw evidence that differences in language characteristics between girl-targeted and boy-targeted cartoons have decreased over the years.
     The researchers recommend marketers attend to the remaining differences when crafting messages intended to persuade children. The researchers also urge marketers to avoid language likely to reinforce negative self-stereotypes limiting a child’s developmental options. “This is not a call to cancel traditional gender representations, but rather a call for more balance,” they write. They’re acknowledging the cultural forces which expect circumscribed sexual roles.

Successfully influence the most prosperous & most loyal consumer age group. For the specific strategies & tactics you need, click here.

Click for more…

Discontinue Dichotomies If Continuums Fit 

Smooth It with Females, Angle for Males 

Employ Purchase Triggers for Children 

Earn Your Way into Children’s Minds

Straighten Product Presentation Up & Across

Of the range of characteristics determining the appeal of a song, you’d think the angle of lines on the album cover would be less important than the style of the music. And you’d be right. The fact that the angle of those lines makes any difference at all seems strange. Yet that’s what a Vilnius University and University of Groningen study documented. And this carries a message for product presentation more generally.
     In one of their experiments, the researchers asked participants to evaluate album artwork and, while looking at an image of the album, listen to a song from that album. The band name and song were chosen to be unfamiliar to the participants. For some of the participants, the album cover included a grid of perfectly horizontal and vertical lines—a cardinal design. For the other participants, the cover included the straight lines at a 45-degree angle—an oblique design. Keeping the album cover in view while the song plays duplicates what’s done by streaming services like Spotify, iTunes, and Pandora.
     Each participant was told they should listen to the song for as long as they wanted. The people exposed to the cardinal album design chose to listen about 42% longer than did those exposed to the oblique design. Further data analyses suggested that this difference was due to song appeal induced by the orientation of lines on the album cover.
     In another of the researchers’ analyses, the cardinality characteristic of each of hundreds of actual music albums reflecting a range of music styles was measured and statistics about the album’s success in the marketplace were gathered. It turned out that albums with covers having higher cardinality had achieved better sales.
     The researchers relate their findings to past studies showing how respected landscape and portrait paintings include many more vertical and horizontal lines than angled lines, and how people will gaze at a painting for a longer time when the painting is displayed in a cardinal compared to oblique orientation. The explanation is that our brains find a cardinal orientation easier to mentally process, and people usually prefer what is easier to process. The lesson beyond album covers and fine art is to keep information simple for the shopper and customer to process.
     There are exceptions. Sometimes angles or curves work better to portray enthusiasm or femininity. But as a rule, keep product messages straight up and across.

Successfully influence the most prosperous & most loyal consumer age group. For the specific strategies & tactics you need, click here.

Click for more…

Mean More with Mean Ratings 

Gently Slant to Produce Proper Happiness 

Down or Right Lines for Limitation Effects 

Smooth It with Females, Angle for Males

Expand Experiences by Inspiring Intimacy

Would diners at your restaurant be more willing to tolerate longer wait times when accompanied by a close friend than if dining alone? Yes, for a number of reasons. The reason experimentally supported by studies at Texas A&M University, Harvard University, and University of Maryland is that consumers are attracted to the opportunity to create shared memories of experiences.
     Marketers can make an otherwise less-favorable experience more attractive by providing for physical togetherness with a relationship partner. In one of the studies, a participant was more likely to choose two free adjacent Cirque du Soleil tickets in row 55 than two free non-adjacent tickets in row 10 when the companion was a close friend rather than a casual acquaintance. Those participants imagining they were accompanied by a close friend reported placing more importance on the ability to create shared memories.
     This shared-memory effect is stronger regarding hedonic experiences—those in which pleasure comes from the experience itself—than regarding utilitarian experiences—where the pleasure comes from the outcome. In another of the studies, participants were asked to assume they were spending a week in Barcelona with a romantic partner and were offered a free upgrade to first-class on a train to Figueres. But the two partners would need to sit eleven rows apart rather than together, as with their coach seats. Then for some of the participants, the ride was described as an interesting narrated tour. For the other participants, the ride was described as not having much to see along the way.
     Participants in the second group expressed a greater interest in the free upgrade and also said they’d care less about creating shared memories.
     The researchers also find that the attractiveness of an experience can be increased by pointing out to the consumer how shared memories can be created even when the participants do not live through the experience physically together. This is useful to marketers because shoppers are going solo in life, such as choosing to live alone, but hesitate going solo to activities, since they think it wouldn’t be as much fun without a close companion.
     What goes into a customer’s memory to be shared also is affected by whether the experience is shared with others. People in a group are greatly influenced by what happens early on. First impressions set the scene. Solo consumers are more influenced by what happens to them late in their experience.

Successfully influence the most prosperous & most loyal consumer age group. For the specific strategies & tactics you need, click here.

Click for more…

Enable Shoppers to Revisit the Already Done 

Offer Grandparent/Grandchild Experiences 

Track the Trajectory of In-Store Impressions 

Reap Loads from Solo

Pile Plenty of Political Polls on People

Voters who support a particular candidate for elective office consider the results of a political poll as less believable when that preferred candidate does less well in the poll. It’s an example of motivated reasoning, in which consumers’ beliefs are influenced more by what they already believe or want to believe than by new information.
     Researchers at Witten/Herdecke University, University of Zurich, and University of Mannheim posit this phenomenon as harmful to society, since in a healthy democracy, voters should be keeping their beliefs correct and current. The research findings indicate that the problem is eased when more poll results from a broader range of sources are provided over the course of a campaign.
     The political affiliation of the voter and the source of news can make a difference. In the researchers’ data set, Democrats’ beliefs were affected more strongly by reports of poll results when the Democratic candidate’s support was increasing rather than decreasing. This was particularly true if the results were said to come from Fox News. When the Democratic candidate was said to be winning, a Democratic respondent weighed Fox News survey results around three times more strongly than when the Democratic candidate was said to be losing. In the case of a poll from an MSNBC source, the increase was more subtle. These considerations did not impact Republican respondents’ belief changes.
     Even when voters’ beliefs are accurate, the effect on support of a candidate isn’t straightforward. Those who believe their favored candidate is clearly prevailing might increase contributions of money and time to the candidate’s campaign because the voter wants to sponsor a winner. But they might instead decrease their further outlays, feeling it’s now unnecessary. Those who come to believe their candidate is far behind might increase campaign contributions because they fear the candidate losing, or they might decrease their contributions because they label the campaign as hopeless.
     Also acknowledge underdog effects. Underdog narratives draw empathy for those who, in the face of resource shortages, are determined to prevail. However, while people root for the underdog, they prefer to affiliate with winners. Show that your candidate has the makings for ultimately winning. You’ll also want to present the candidate as a good sport. Researchers at University of Maryland and Georgetown University say underdog positioning helps most if your target markets see the underdog as sincere, fair, principled, honest, trustworthy, and less than supremely competent.

Successfully influence the most prosperous & most loyal consumer age group. For the specific strategies & tactics you need, click here.

Click for more…

Motivate the Rushed Toward Motivated Reasoning 

Spot Partisan Recall of What Never Happened 

Undertake Underdog Appeals with Morals

Accent Competence in Employees with Accents

A service provider achieves better results when the customer participates more fully in service provision, contributing knowledge and effort. Customer participation drives satisfaction and loyalty, generating higher customer retention, sales growth, and firm profitability.
     After noting such past findings, researchers at FHWien der WKW, Bern University of Applied Sciences, and University of Leeds go on to report how their studies show the effects on customer participation of foreign-culture accent detected in the provider by the customers. A customer becomes less interested in contributing to the service encounter when the provider has an accent the customer considers to be from an unfavorable culture. Unfavorable-culture accents discourage customer participation even in situations where the participation is required for successful completion of the service. The range of service settings explored by the researchers covered financial planning, air travel, and guided meditation.
     The researchers do fear that reports of these findings will be used to discriminate against employees by limiting those with certain accents to less favorable job assignments. They propose avoiding this by mixing unfavorable-culture accented employees with native speakers in service delivery posts. Another suggestion implicit in their findings is to overcome negative stereotypes associated with certain accents by ensuring that all employees deliver competent services in a caring manner.
     A quite different type of country-of-origin study suggests an additional remedy: Babson College researchers asked liquor store shoppers to sip a wine, then give their judgment of the quality. Some of the study participants were told the wine was from Italy, while others were told the wine was from India.
     The timing of the country-of-origin information determined how the stereotype operated: If the wine-taster was given the country-of-origin information before the sip, those tasting the “Italian” wine rated the product as having higher quality than those tasting the wine from “India.” If the information was given after the sip, the results were reversed: Those who had sipped the “Italian” wine gave lower ratings to the quality on average than those getting the wine from the same bottle, but told it was from India.
     It was as if the consumer who had enjoyed the experience went overboard in fighting against stereotypes about Italian and Indian wines.
     Applied to the foreign-accent problem, maybe starting provider-customer service contacts with text messages and then, after showing competence, revealing the foreign accent, could result in services delivered by those with the accent being rated as even better than by those without.

Successfully influence the most prosperous & most loyal consumer age group. For the specific strategies & tactics you need, click here.

Click for more…

Empower Indirectly Using Co-creation 

Accommodate Culture with Low-Involvement 

Delay Negative Stereotypes to Post-Experience 

Speak to Shoppers’ Language Stereotypes