Provide Group Support with Customer Discomfort

How much indignity would your customers endure in order to save money? Let’s say you run an airline. Would your customers continue to give you business if you feature bargain fares along with the following?

• To get the lowest fare, passengers must stand during the flight, holding onto a subway-style rail with no seat belt. Whenever there’s turbulence, the people are told, “Grab on tight.”
• If a passenger’s bag is too big to stow in the passenger compartment, the passenger must load the bag into the cargo hold themselves.
• Each passenger must plan ahead for using the toilet because there’s only one for all the passengers and the passenger will need cash or a credit card to get in.

     According to a Bloomberg Businessweek profile article, these were money-saving ideas spouted by Michael O’Leary, the CEO of Dublin-based Ryanair. Not that you should take the ideas too seriously. Mr. O’Leary is quite clear about his intentions to gain publicity for his bargain-fare airline by being outrageous.
     But do take seriously the idea of customers’ willingness to endure discomfort. As testimony to this, the profile article says that in spite of passengers describing the flights as hellish, Ryanair was the first European airline to carry more than seven million passengers during a single month.
     Some observers think short-hop European tourists tolerate such discomforts more readily then would American long-haul business travelers. I believe there’s something else as well: Customers are more willing to be uncomfortable when they are with a group that’s experiencing the same sort of discomfort.
     This “misery loves company” effect has been noted by social psychologists at Vanderbilt University. When we’re in stressful circumstances, being with others suffering the same fate provides support that boosts our tolerance. People can complain to each other and commiserate. They find comfort in forming even short-term social bonds.
     In this case, it’s a Ryanair support group. Wow! Mr. O’Leary could be earning extra money for the company by having crews sell “I Survived Ryanair” T-shirts during flights.
     In your retailing, keep the unintended, but inevitable discomforts as brief as possible. But during those inevitable discomforts, protect the image of your good will by encouraging customers to discuss the experience with other customers and with staff who are around at the same time.

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

Click below for more:
Let Shoppers Go Through Their Rituals
Encourage Group Shopping