Eclipse Celebrity Endorsers Who Moon

One meaning of the word “eclipse” is to make something less important or popular. I’ll use the word in that sense when pointing out how having a celebrity endorser who pulls down their pants in order to moon the crowd—or does something else scandalous—can hurt your store image. You’ll want to dissociate yourself from such behavior and such celebrities.
     Research findings from University of Technology-Sydney, HEC Montréal, and Avon Canada Inc. document the extent of possible damage: A scandal involving a celebrity endorser for a store competing with yours in a similar market can have carryover effects to your store. This argues for communities of merchants encouraging each other to exercise caution when selecting celebrity endorsers. It can be better to develop your store staff as endorsers or, if you want sports celebrity, to have a team rather than an individual.
     There’s an important exception in all this: The ability of the celebrity to violate expectations might be what shoppers consider to be attractive. This argues for using edgy celebrities and for featuring the edginess in ads.
     Another meaning of “eclipse” is to emphasize one thing at the expense of another. I’ve that meaning in mind when talking about a research study from University of Adelaide and Macquarie University. The danger of celebrity endorsements pointed out in these studies is when your audience will be so taken with the celebrity, they’ll forget about who the endorsement is for.
     The researchers found that when viewers of an ad knew the celebrity well and felt an attachment, there was little chance the celebrity would eclipse the brand. However, with lesser-known celebrities—who might be used by small to midsize retailers because of the lower endorsement fees—it’s important to keep the major emphasis on your store brand.
     Attract attention with the celebrity, show how what the celebrity says is logically linked to the benefits of shopping with you, and then stay with talking about your store for the rest of the ad. Research finds that celebrity ads are weaker if you start by showing the brand and end by showing the celebrity.
     The degree of danger with this one depends on the fit between the personality of your store and the personality of the celebrity. If the fit is very high, the danger grows. It also grows with a low fit, since the incongruity draws attention toward the endorser.

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

Click below for more: 
Select Celebrity Endorsers Who Fit 
Take Stock of Celebrity Endorsement Value 
Tease with Incongruities 
Get Endorsements from Groups 
Prepare Your Staff to Endorse Products

Modify Feature/Feasibility Mix to Match Mood

A happy, confident shopper behaves differently from a sad, confused shopper. That fact was shown in a research study based at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Chinese University of Hong Kong, a study which refined a classic finding in consumer psychology.
     The classic finding is that when people are shopping for items to be used some time from now, they'll pay special attention to the number and distinctiveness of the items’ features. But when consumers plan to put the item to work soon, they're especially interested in ease of use.
     This newer research concludes that how this operates depends on the shopper’s mood. If the shopper’s objective is to make a carefully considered purchase decision, the classic finding holds more strongly for happy shoppers than for sad shoppers. However, if the shopper’s objective is to make a quick decision, the classic finding holds more strongly for sad than for happy shoppers.
     Other researchers looking at this issue suggest that with high-confidence shoppers, you describe the overall and longer-term benefits of the product or service you’d like the shopper to buy. If it’s a health club membership, these high-level benefits could include the possibilities of a longer life and relief from physical pain. By contrast, with low-confidence shoppers, the benefits of interest could center on items like the ease of getting to the health club.
     For a product like a big screen TV, the high-level benefits could be the ability of the family to enjoy programs together, while the low-level benefits could be the ease of operation.
     In some cases, you can guess how soon a shopper plans to start using the purchase. Certain items are likely to be last-minute searches. Floral bouquets and hot water heaters come to mind. With these, you don't need to depend on sales staff contact to get the message across. In your advertising and signage, you could feature ease of delivery, ease of installation, ease of learning, and other angles on ease of use.
     With other purchases, it pays to ask shoppers how soon they plan to start using what they’re considering. Knowing this allows you to present the most compelling balance between desirability and feasibility benefits, between the emotional appeal and the objective assessment. You don't have time to tell the prospect everything. Home in on what will make a sale which benefits both the purchaser and your bottom line.

Click below for more: 
Satisfy Sad Shoppers with Prompt Rewards 
Accent the Emotions when Imminent Usage 
Present High-Level Benefits to the Confident 
Inject Distance for Price-Quality Link 
Shorten the Term of Retail Therapy 
Emphasize the Price to Spotlight Functionality

Retail Politics

I’ve been walking precincts since Lyndon Baines Johnson ran for president. I knock on doors, announce my intentions to make a case for the candidate or issue I’m favoring, ask to leave a brochure, offer to answer questions, engage voters willing to be engaged, and afterwards be on my way.
     I enjoy precinct walking because it’s retail politics—making a pitch to voters one-to-one or one-to-family and keeping the pitch local. For the last couple of months, the three campaign signs in my front yard were all for school board and city council candidates, not for the statewide or federal races. My only walking this election season was for Curtis Hunt, whom I wanted to retain his seat on the Vacaville, California city council. Retail politics is a logical counterpart to my particular interest in the success of small to midsize locally-based retail businesses.
     I also enjoy precinct walking because it’s an opportunity to explore consumer psychology. With that in mind, I decided to conduct a little experiment this time: I alternated house-to-house between two ways of greeting those who opened their door:

• “Hello, I’m campaigning for Curtis Hunt for city council. May I leave a brochure and answer any questions you have about Curtis?” 
• “Hello, I’m volunteering for Curtis Hunt for city council. May I leave a brochure and answer any questions you have about Curtis?” 

     The responsiveness was noticeably better when I said I was volunteering rather than campaigning. I believe that’s because in my retailing my politics, “volunteering” communicated more personal commitment than did “campaigning,” and consumers value personal commitment in a seller.
     Another extension of my retailing my politics to retailing generally has to do with the value in screening prospects. Curtis gave me a list of likely voters’ addresses. But I screened further. When I saw a small sign reading “No Soliciting,” I rang the doorbell anyway, and it ended up being one of my most satisfying interchanges. When I’d see one of those signs that reads something like, “No Soliciting. We’ve found Jesus. We’ve plenty of insurance. We know who we’re voting for.”, I’d leave a door hanger campaign piece and move on. When I encountered a “No Soliciting. Dangerous Dog.” sign while hearing the sounds of barking and some large creature hurling itself against the front door, I moved on even more quickly.
     The end of the story: Curtis did win reelection.

Click below for more: 
Lift Up Your Local Community 
Vote for Selective Understanding & Recall 
Announce Limits on Item-Based Loyalty Programs

Show Devoted Customers How to Get Lucky

Customers who believe they’ve gone above and beyond to patronize your store feel luckier when shopping with you. Studies at The Ohio State University and Vanderbilt University find that these extra-effort shoppers show a special interest in games of chance, such as sweepstakes and random rewards.
     A shopper’s belief they’ve made an extra effort might arise from:

• Shopping with you at high frequency 
• Driving a longer distance to shop with you 
• Selecting an item with plans to use it in the future rather than now 
• Choosing an item for use by somebody else 
• Shopping with children in tow 

     If you’ve many shoppers like these, consider engaging them with game formats. People have always loved to play games used as sales promotions. Scratch-off discounts. Sweepstakes. “Design our new logo” or “Name our new service” or “Tell us in 25 words or less why you shop at our store.”
     In the early days, before it was called gamification, retailers and manufacturers concluded that there needed to be real, tangible prizes for maximum participant involvement, although the value of the prizes often could be quite modest. People got involved for the joy of the contest.
     More recently, marketers realized that no extrinsic reward is needed if the excitement of the game is sufficient, as happens with shoppers who are feeling lucky. This love of the game blossomed with the popularity of desktop computers and then the sorts of mobile and desktop devices shoppers use for ecommerce. The word “gaming” morphed from serving as a euphemism for “gambling” into a shorthand for “playing games on a computerized gadget.”
     With customer loyalty programs, the reward could be promotion to the next level—a concept quite familiar to those who play online games.
     Here are some tips for maintaining multitier loyalty programs, based on my experiences with retailers:

• For movement to the next level, set thresholds which is within reach, but requires some effort. 
• Provide lots of ways to earn credits for movement to the next level. Referring a friend earns points. “Get extra credit for coming to special event sales, even if you end up purchasing nothing.” The objective is to maintain momentum and a sense of achievability. 
• Set thresholds on the basis of continuing activity, not lifetime activity with you. Maintain purchasing motivation by requiring ongoing actions in order to receive the elite benefits. 

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

Click below for more: 
Drive the Psychological Distance 
Game On with Consumer Competition 
Tier Your Loyalty Programs Apart 
Cultivate Positive Moods for Risk Assessment 
Announce Limits on Item-Based Loyalty Programs