Hide Item Features from Shoppers Sometimes

“Products likely to benefit most from concealment tactics are those that have the least to hide.” This is how researchers at University of Georgia and University of Pennsylvania cap their findings about keeping key aspects of an item hidden from the shopper.
     The mechanism of action is arousal of curiosity, which increases involvement with the product and allows the shopper to imagine the fully revealed product will be ideal for them. It follows that the peekaboo ploy ends up making the sale only if the product is sufficiently attractive. Also, partial concealment could easily irritate shoppers who want to make a purchase decision promptly rather than contemplate the possibilities. And unless the shopper trusts the marketer, the deliberate withholding of important information might come across as deception.
     With all these conditions, why would you hide item features? Because when it’s used properly, the technique works so well. In the studies, hiding about 50% to 65% of the item features at initial exposure significantly increased product inquiries by 54%.
     Other studies find that when a set of purchase alternatives would all satisfy the shopper’s basic specifications, the shopper prefers those alternatives they discover for themselves over those initially presented by the salesperson. Researchers at Miami University, University of Northern British Columbia, and University of Alberta gave consumers hints as to suitable items, but kept those items out of sight until specifically asked by the consumer to see them or try them out. The tease ended up making those items favored over suitable items initially presented in full view to the consumer.
     The way in which this one worked is important for you to understand. It was not that the consumer’s assessments of the discovered items were higher than that of the previously revealed items. Instead, it was that the revelation of the previously unknown items led the consumer to devalue the items shown openly by the salesperson.
     Progressive disclosure enhances the effect. Show shoppers a gift box being slowly opened, and their evaluations of what’s inside the box will be more positive than if you just showed them the item. This pleasure-from-watching-a-striptease is so compelling that researchers from Chinese University of Hong Kong saw it operate even if the box is empty. In this case, the observers of the unveiling liked the empty box itself more, on average, than an equivalent set of consumers who were just shown the box.

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