Contract with Near-Term Use via Contractions

When choosing among alternatives, consumers balance an item’s ease of use against the number and attractiveness of the item’s features. Feasibility versus desirability. Ample research says the balance is influenced by how soon the item is to be used. When people plan to put the item to work close in time, they're especially interested in feasibility. When people are shopping for items for the future, they'll generally pay substantial attention to desirability.
     Now researchers at Toronto Metropolitan University and Grenoble Ecole de Management say that grammatical contractions also play a role. A group of consumers were presented La-Z-Boy ad copy which used contractions such as “There’s always a wide selection” and “You’ll be surprised.” An equivalent group of consumers were presented equivalent ad copy, except without the contractions: “There is always a wide selection” and “You will be surprised.”
     All participants were then asked to imagine choosing between two La-Z-Boy office chairs for their home office. One chair was described as high on feasibility and low on desirability (Easy to assemble. In a color you do not prefer) and the other chair as low on feasibility and high on desirability (Difficult to assemble. In a color that you prefer).
     People who had been exposed to the ad copy with contractions were more likely to select the chair higher on feasibility versus desirability. There were parallel findings with a companion study involving choosing between apartments. That and other studies in the set also yielded an explanation: Exposure to grammatical contractions conveys a sense of informality which, in turn, guides the audience to think about close others and closeness in time.
     The researchers caution that their findings are novel, so call for further investigation. But the implication for marketers in the meantime, as I see it, is to use contractions in ad copy when the shopper is aiming for or would otherwise benefit from near-term use of the item. A formal tone is often the better choice when the shopper is considering consequential purchases.
     Beyond influencing the feasibility-desirability balance, an informal tone stimulates consumers to share embarrassing information. A Carnegie Mellon University study saw how admissions of personal shortcomings grew when a questionnaire was titled “How BAD Are U???” in a bright red font alongside a devil logo compared to when the questionnaire was titled “Survey on Strengths & Weaknesses” in a black font accompanied by a well-known organizational logo.

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