Herd Conformity Away from Deindividuation

Customer conformity can be a wonderous thing for marketers. It makes it easier to predict what your shoppers will want or not, so inventory matches sales. The underlying purpose of fostering word-of-mouth is to encourage conformity. The unity of conformists into a herd drives charity fundraising campaigns and powers political movements.
     However, herding stimulates deindividuation, where the conformists neglect personal responsibility for their thoughts, feelings, and actions. The problem with this is that herds can explode into mobs. For example, during deep discount sales, the insides of stores, and during civil unrest, the outsides of stores, are at risk of mayhem from mob violence.
     Researchers at University of Melbourne find that herding is facilitated by physiological arousal. In their studies, participants who had jogged in place for one minute were more likely to select the “popular choice” pizza or the “popular model” toy than were participants who sat at a computer during the one minute. The researchers went on to discuss how this effect extends to items beyond pizza and toys as well as to physiological arousal from loud music or voices, not only from vigorous physical exercise.
     To encourage conformity which proves fruitful to you and your shoppers, generate excitement. But to head off herding which threatens to escalate, maintain sufficient calm. This means preparing. When a retail store is confronted by an unexpected mob, the shocked staff can go mentally numb and close down their sensory channels. This erodes defenses against criminal behavior. Rehearse staff on how to handle all sorts of situations in managing crowds. This reduces, or can even eliminate, the traumatic shock. In particular, unambiguously designate what individuals and teams to contact for assistance during the incident and then after the incident.
     Still another way to disrupt the negative side of herding is to encourage self-identification. Understand the psychology of crowds as part of preparing for having people fill your aisles when you hold Black Friday sales, limited quantity sales, celebrity appearances, releases of new video games, and similar events. If shoppers will be waiting in line, have store staff wearing name tags talk to the shoppers. Invite those in line to fill out a sweepstakes form with their name and other identifying information. Because they lose some of their individual identity and therefore their sense of individual responsibility, people in crowds are driven to actions they would not take otherwise. Name-to-name contact helps head this off.

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