Simplify Blending Buying with Visiting

“My sister can be annoying when we shop together, but she does provide candid opinions on the clothing I’m interested in. She is less annoying at a restaurant, and actually nice company elsewhere.”
     In my email exchange with Prof. José-Domingo Mora of University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, he said this quote illustrates what his study found about tradeoffs for some people in shopping for merchandise while accompanied by companions.
     Another of the tradeoffs was between the pleasure we find in social interaction versus the irritation from needing to interrupt our consumption deliberations to allow for the social interaction. This derives from a common contemporary motivation for shopping with companions: We are short on time, and group shopping might allow us to concurrently derive the utility of consumption and companionship.
     However, the study results indicated that people generally experience less value from companionship at times they’re shopping for merchandise in stores than at times they’re consuming an experience, such as eating at a restaurant together.
     When a shopper brings along companions, you entertain the potential of more sales. But you’d like the group to enjoy being with each other. It’s usually better to have shoppers come into your physical store than to have them shop only online. You’re more likely to get the sale, you reduce the time spent educating the shopper, and when a shopper is in your store, the probability of additional purchases climbs.
     Create retail spaces in which selecting merchandise can be gracefully blended into socializing with companions. The shopping can then itself provide greater utility.
     Other research explored this theme when distinguishing between a convenience store and a corner store. The notion of a convenience store is that shoppers will be able to pop in, make a purchase, and pop out. The notion of a corner store, such as a small-footprint independent grocer in a residential neighborhood, is different.
     People were presented with simulations of corner store interiors in a format resembling a video game. The simulations varied on ambient cues, such as the comfort of lighting and sound levels; design cues, such as the ease of reaching and selecting packages; and socialization cues, such as the presence of salespersons or other customers. The people were asked how likely it is they would want to shop at that corner store.
     It turned out that the most important of the three to the participants was ample allowance for socializing.

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Share the Decision Discomfort 

Pair Preferences with the Shopper’s Entourage 

Excuse Me with an Interruption 

Reserve Room for Webrooming 

Make Space for Socializing on the Corner

Advantage Protests with Advantageds’ Support

In organizing a protest demonstration against racism by whites, strive to include some white participants. When setting up a press conference to protest against sexual discrimination against women, include some males among the photographed participants. However, be clear that the whites and the men, respectively, are showing fervent support, not protest leadership.
     These recommendations for social action success derive from exploratory studies at Durham University, The University of Edinburgh, and University of Osnabrück. One of the reasons the recommendations could work might surprise you: The participation by the advantaged alongside the disadvantaged strengthens the perception that the protest will be peaceful rather than violent. There will be a norm of broad solidarity. This, in turn, decreases resistances to appreciating the point of the protest among the general public, and public support is essential for meaningful social change. There’s reason to think this effect is stronger among women in the general population than among men because of greater personal security concerns in women produced through gender identity and parental socialization.
     Nourishing the norm of solidarity has other effects. The researchers found that participation by members of the advantaged group strengthens political identification with the protest cause among both the disadvantaged and advantaged participants. In addition, the visible support can model for other members of the advantaged group, which holds power, that the grievances of the disadvantaged group make sense.
     Yet these research findings also suggest that if the people with the power assume a leadership role, it risks diluting the protest’s impact. The wider group whose disadvantages are being grieved might feel that their cause has been hijacked or that they are being patronized, and they lose interest in the particular initiative. The general public could question the true motivations of the advantaged leadership and so withhold their support.
     This can happen even though the motivations of the advantaged-group participants stem from disgust. In the retail business realm, some frontline staff who carry biases against minorities assume it’s only the minorities who are disturbed by discriminatory behavior. Since the prejudiced staff member decides consciously or subconsciously that they’d prefer not to do business with minorities anyway, they resist changing their behavior. But researchers at Clemson University and University of North Carolina-Wilmington found that many white shoppers become as outraged as blacks when the white shoppers observe a black customer being treated in a discriminatory way. All the customers are watching.

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Watch Out for Discrimination

Chunk It & Move from 9’s to 1’s

Why does a $2111 price sound better to the shopper than a $1999 price? Researchers at Sabanci University and Koç University attribute it to how the shopper’s brain clumps repeated digits together. A clump of 1’s feels like more of a discount than does a clump of 9’s. The effect is on the shopper’s judgment of whether the price is likely to reflect a discount, not necessarily whether the shopper ends up purchasing the item.
     This suggestion to end your prices in a clump of 1’s adds to the list of exceptions to the overall rule to end prices in 99. But note that using the repeated 1’s worked with prices containing no more than three repeated digits, with the three at the end of the price. In the studies, four-digit whole-dollar prices were used. Compare this with research which shows that 99-ending prices are not as attractive to shoppers looking for luxury items sought for quality materials and construction. That research looked at prices with three digits to the left of the decimal and recommends using even-ending prices, such as $500 instead of $499, for instance.
     The advice to end in a clump of 1’s is consistent with studies showing you can make a discount look more attractive by filling it with 1’s and 2’s. A discount from $222.99 to $211.99 looks more attractive to most customers than a discount from $199.99 to $188.99, although the second discount is actually a larger percentage of the regular price.
     The repetition of the sound of the digits in a long price for those who don’t clump also can make a difference. For example, which of these fetches the most favor from folks seeking a flapjack flavor? 

• 4 Pancakes: $3.87 
• 4 Pancakes: $4.13 
• 4 Flapjacks: $3.87 
• 4 Flapjacks: $4.13

     The correct answer is the last of the alternatives. I’ve listed the four alternatives in order from least to most compelling to consumers.
     Researchers at University of Miami, Virginia Tech, and Baruch College say the explanation lies in alliteration—the use of the same initial sound in words within the same group. The three “f” sounds in that fourth choice lead to positive evaluations because the similarity of the sounds makes the phrasing seem more familiar; what is familiar is easier for the brain to process; and what’s easier for the brain to process is liked more, everything else being equal.

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Expect Exceptions to 99-Ending Pricing 

Specify Odd-Ending for Conspicuous 

Discount for Shoppers’ Eyes & Ears 

Ally with Alliteration

Just Emphasize the Gist for Older Readers

Ethical professionals provide to elderly prospects written information when asking those prospects to complete challenging decisions. To help ensure these prospects understand the information, format the text in accord with the distinctive ways older adults read: They skip words and backtrack. It takes them longer to comprehend text than when they were younger. And to a greater extent than for younger adults, they seek the gist—the essential meaning—and attend less to the details. Elderly decision makers are risky readers.
     Cornell University researchers explored how changing the format of information influences younger and older adults’ decision making. Study participants were assigned to choose among options for health insurance and prescription drug insurance plans by using information about attributes of the options. For one of the decisions, the information was presented in a gist format (“Extremely Poor” to “Extremely Good” on the attribute), and for the other, in a verbatim format (exact numbers such as prices and durations).
     The mean average age of the younger adult participants was 26 years and of the older adult participants, 71 years. In response to my email inquiry about the findings to the lead researcher, Julia Nolte, she wrote, “The younger adults sampled a significantly higher proportion of unique/novel information when the information was presented in a verbatim format. In contrast, older adults reviewed a higher total amount of information when the information was presented in a gist format. Older adults also voiced stronger subjective preferences for receiving gist-style information and demonstrated a preference for gist processing.” This was in the face of the finding that decision satisfaction was lower when participants reviewed gist information than when participants reviewed verbatim information.
     In well-intentioned efforts to help the elderly deal with comprehension difficulties, you might present bullet points summarizing what you’ve already written or you might use a diagram to depict certain points. These aids could be useful, and they might be necessary for legal defensibility of your services. However, these measures do not substitute for a highlighted statement of the gist. In fact, an abundance of repetition can impede comprehension, trapping the elderly reader in a web of confusing qualifiers.
     Which brings to mind that there’s a qualifier in this research area: Skipping words occurs more often among elderly adults who read English text than among elderly adults who read Chinese characters. This is attributed to the Chinese characters taking longer to decode.

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Keep Senior Shoppers From Worst Impulses 

Sandbag Senior Swindles 

Label Why They Don’t Read the Labels

Subject the Shopper to Program Descriptions

Marketers are more influential when using proper grammar. But the grammatical rules might depend on the context.
     Researchers at Winthrop University and University of Central Florida described a loyalty program in one of two ways to different sets of people. The wordings were similar to: 

• Consumers who accumulate $1,500 of purchases receive a $150 cash bonus 
• This program requires $1,500 of purchases to receive a $150 cash bonus

     The participants were then asked to assess for a program described in that way how likely they’d be to join, how good a fit the program would be for them, and how difficult it would be to accumulate the $1,500 in purchases.
     Results showed, compared to those given the second program description, those given the first description were more likely to say they’d join, that the program fit them well, and that it would be relatively easy to earn the reward.
     The researchers say this happened because the first program description emphasized the consumer while the second description emphasized the program. The grammatical subject of the first sentence is “Consumers,” not “This program.” The first description felt more personalized.
     Other of the researchers’ studies supported this explanation. However, those other studies suggested that making the consumer the subject really matters only if two conditions are met. First, the recipient of the ad must believe that what’s being offered will work better for some people than for others. A weight loss program would qualify here, while paper towels probably would not. Second, the ad recipient must perceive that they are among those who might benefit most from the offering. A device to improve your golf score would not qualify with a professional golfer, but probably would with a duffer.
     Another grammatical topic in selling turns out to be proper punctuation. Researchers at Boston College found that the best alternative depended on the auditory context, and they say it has to do with shopper arousal. When sedate music was playing in the grocery produce aisle, shoppers were more likely to purchase a box of strawberries if the signage read “Berries?” than if the sign read “Berries.” But if the music was stimulating, “Berries” sold more boxes.
     The researchers attribute these findings to an evolutionary predisposition. Our brains drive us to be curious when we’re feeling safe from intrusion, and questions trigger curiosity. When we’re highly aroused, our brains prefer the certainty of statements.

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Mind Your Ps & Qs in Reviews 

Bargain for Good Value via Price Primacy 

Question Dulled Shoppers

Picture Misleading Consumers

We might deceive consumers while striving not to. Towson University researchers present as an example of this the risk from including a visual image in an ad. The problem arises because the image diverts attention from the text.
     In one of their experiments, people were presented with a print advertorial arguing for replacing sugar with stevia in the reader’s diet. The text described in detail both the benefits and the risks of using stevia. For some of the participants, the ad also included a large photo of a slim woman, while for the other participants, the large photo was of the same woman overweight. The objective of the experiment was to compare the influence of the text with the influence of the image on the participant’s attitude toward using stevia.
     The data showed the image exerted substantially greater influence, overwhelming the balanced argument in the advertorial’s text. Study participants viewing the photo of the slim woman were more likely to favor using stevia than were those viewing the photo of the overweight woman.
     Another analysis from the set of studies verified how the presence of an image diverts attention from the text in an informative ad: Compared to people presented the ad without the image, those presented the ad with the image were more likely to comment on the image (“The model looks great”) and less likely to comment about the intent of the ad (“I’d use stevia”).
     The researchers’ point is that a picture used in an ad could impede the ad’s viewers from appreciating the facts in the text. Pictures are easier to understand than complex text, and a consumer’s mind prefers simplicity. The ads in the experiments were designed to have complex text. Complexity is a likely characteristic in ads for items like pharmaceuticals, where the consumer needs to weigh benefits against side effects. The researchers would caution marketers to be careful that images in these ads are not deceiving consumers.
     Other research finds that the mere presence of a photo increases trust in whatever’s in accompanying text. When neurological conclusions were presented to brain scientists, those also shown brain scan photos attributed more credibility to the neurological conclusions. Yet the photos were not at all objectively related to what was said to the brain scientists about the neurological conclusions.
     Photos increase the appeal of text-heavy advertorials. But use photos which support the message.  

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Give Shoppers Reason to Believe 

Give Odds Estimates from Both Directions

Herald Brand Heritage with Trim Tales

Brands which consumers consider to have a heritage garner extra trust and greater satisfaction. To establish brand heritage in the consumer’s mind, marketers frequently use stories. Kiel University and University of Washington researchers explored what components of these stories prove most effective.
     The top three components from their studies: 

• Foundation date. Most fundamental to a heritage image is having been around for a while. To enlarge this time, you might choose to move back beyond the start of the brand to talk about the years when the idea for the brand began. The researchers note that the foundation date could be used in a brand logo. This might augment its impact. Including in the story the geographical locations in which the brand heritage was created was not found in the studies to increase effectiveness. 
• Continuing influence. The downside of giving yourself a history is that you might come across as outdated. To avoid this, successful stories of heritage will link what happened in the organization’s past to what is important to today’s consumers and to what the consumers can expect in the future. 
• Distinctive technology. Talk about your distinctive methods of production, especially those methods with a long history or methods people generally associate with the brand. Those associations can themselves be developed through repetition in marketing communications.

     Two other story components commonly used to portray brand heritage were found in these studies to contribute little. Because trim tales are generally preferred by consumers, who are already bombarded with information, check that your stories intended to portray heritage include the three elements identified above as effective. You might choose not to use the two components described below. However, prior research has found the two to be useful in brand stories more generally. 

• Outlasting hurdles. Renditions of overcoming hurdles and resolving conflict keep the audience engaged. These story elements also indicate the brand will last, reinforcing a brand heritage image. Still, while consumers root for the underdog, those same consumers like to associate with winners. Therefore, to get the best from portraying yourself as an underdog brand, project your commitment to winning. 
• Founder family. The specific group of people—whether a family by blood relationships or by work relationships—responsible for founding the brand are often featured protagonists in these stories. Stories not just about the founders, but also told by a founder, persuade shoppers well of lasting brand value.

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Risk Underdog Appeal When Risk is Low 

Found Influence with Founders’ Stories 

Let Go of Irritating Brand Extensions

Shelve the Hedonic, Sign the Utilitarian

When someone is deciding whether to purchase a healthy food, bonus pack promotions—more product at the same price—carry more influence than price promotions—a price discount on the same amount. For an unhealthy food that will bring hedonic pleasure from consumption, people prefer a price discount to a bonus pack. The discount justifies the purchase.
     However, when a food retailer is deciding how to display vice foods to draw shopper attention, price discount promotions might not be best. Researchers from Universidad de Salamanca and KU Leuven asked a sample of shoppers at a large European food store to rate a range of fast-moving consumer goods categories to indicate the degree to which these shoppers bought each type of goods for practical purposes to satisfy routine needs versus to satisfy desires for enjoyment.
     The researchers then observed in the store whether promotional materials for items from the categories used shelf signage, end-of-aisle displays, and/or island displays. These observations were done daily for one year. Lastly, scanner data from the registers was collected to track daily sales volume and spending over that year for the items.
     Careful statistical analyses of this wealth of data indicated that shelf signage combined with price promotions should be the display modality of choice for utilitarian items. This modality shows off the product choice surrounded by alternatives, encouraging the analytical comparison by attributes generally used by shoppers when selecting a utilitarian item. Shelf signage accompanied by a product promotion—emphasizing benefits other than price—failed to notably increase item sales.
     Sales of hedonic items were best displayed on islands. This isolation of the item from alternatives triggers the impulse decisions associated with selecting pleasure-oriented offerings. In his reply to my inquiry about the study, lead researcher Dr. Álvaro Garrido Morgado added, “A hedonic product presented in an island will increase its sales in the same proportion if it is not promoted or if the promotion is on price. By contrast, product promotions intensify the increase in sales of these hedonic products caused by their presentation in islands.”
     The researchers point out how their findings can help a retailer not only with deciding how to display items, but also in negotiations with suppliers. Manufacturers of utilitarian products might be pleased to save the costs of fancy display fixtures and payment for prime display locations, redirecting those amounts to price discounts to be highlighted on signage.

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Offer Bonus Packs of Virtue, Discounts on Vice 

Cap Off Profits with Endcap Impetus 

Resist the Lure of Misfit Pricing Tactics 

Pack In Attributes for Hedonic Items

Distance for Prestige, Close for Strength

When status from item ownership is an important benefit to people you want to buy the item, keep some distance. Distance in ads, that is, between visual depictions of the item and any visual depictions of people using or admiring it. Additional open space supports portrayals of prestige.
     Researchers at Nanjing University, National Sun Yat-sen University, and Northwestern University saw this effect in their experiment involving a coffee machine. The machine was given a fictitious name, Porallés, to avoid having the participants carry a pre-existing product image into the experiment.
     The participants were shown an ad which featured a man standing behind a kitchen counter, with the coffee machine placed either close to the man or some distance from the man. For some of the participants in each of the groups, the ad carried the tagline “Aromatic coffee, distinguished taste. Luxurious life, prestigious choice.” For the other participants, the tagline was “Aromatic coffee, trendy taste. Cozy life, popular choice.”
     After viewing the ad, each participant was asked how willing they’d be to pay a premium price for the Porallés. Analysis of the results showed a significantly higher willingness to pay the premium among those presented the “distinguished taste” tagline when the machine was shown at a distance from the model compared to when the machine was shown close to the model.
     Among study participants shown the “trendy taste” tagline, there was a hint of a difference in the other direction—a higher willingness to pay the premium when the machine was shown close to the model. Replying to my inquiry about the study, Prof. Angela Y. Lee, one of the researchers, wrote, “That hint of difference you mentioned is important, too. The distance effect goes both ways. To enhance status, spatial distance helps. To enhance closeness, spatial proximity helps.”
     Also, bringing the item and the model together in an ad works well when what you want to portray strength. Researchers at National University of Singapore and University of British Columbia asked undergraduates to evaluate the effectiveness of a fictitious acne care product. In some ads, an image of an acne-free face was positioned touching an image of the product. In other ads, the two images were placed apart. Both ads included identical text describing why the product works well.
     The predicted product effectiveness was greater from study participants shown the images touching than for those shown the other ad.

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White Out If Product Color Matches Better 

Cause Trust with First-Things-First Effects 

Impress Without Intimidating