Grasp the Right Preferences of Shoppers

Almost a decade ago, studies from Brigham Young University and University of Michigan revealed that the direction in which a dining utensil was oriented influences attitudes toward the item. Now, researchers at Rutgers University, Oregon State University, and KEDGE Business School say a similar effect works for wall clocks, yogurt containers, and tax software. 

     The effect has to do with the positioning of an object and whether the viewer is right-handed or left-handed. With the dining utensils, if a fork, spoon or mug is portrayed in an ad in the position the viewer would prefer in order to easily pick it up, the product is liked better. With the wall clocks, yogurt containers, and tax software, including in the ad close to the featured item a mug with the handle oriented for grasping by the dominant hand improves product appeal.
     Notice that this means the more effective ad is showing a mirror image. The consumer is looking at the ad, so what would be closest to the consumer’s right hand will have been to the left of a person whose image faces us in the ad. Because most people are right-handed, a natural tendency would be for the marketer to orient photo setups the other way around. That detracts from the motivational power of the ad. All this applies not only to ads, but also to in-store displays and to customer-facing demonstrations of the items.
     The earlier research concluded that all this happens because the proper positioning allows the viewer to more easily imagine using the item themselves. The more recent research, because of some additional experimental conditions, extends on this by saying that the ease of imagining a grasp on the item leads to ease in grasping the idea of subsequently owning the item.
     The size of the effect is not large. The researchers estimate it adds about 0.7% to the chances the shopper will form a more favorable impression of the item. It provides what I call “a retailer’s edge.” In using the dominant-hand-positioning tactic, you risk overdependence on it, forgetting that the quality of the offering counts for much more.
     Another danger is that in positioning the cue to appeal to right-handers, you would decrease the appeal to the approximately 10% of adults who are left-handed. Would it be best to have a pair of cues, each one positioned for one or the other group? Maybe.

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