Grasp Profits from Enjoyment of Crafting

In my tale for today’s post, a man possessing fine aesthetic tastes comes across a distinctive handmade vase at a craft fair. He locates the artist to express his admiration and present a special request. “I’d like to purchase two more which look just like that one to give to friends. How much would it be for the three?”
     The artist thinks for a bit, then replies, “You saw that I want $75 for the vase that’s there. My price for the second one would be $100 and for the third one, $150.”
     “I don’t understand,” says the man. “Why would you charge me more for the copies?”
     “It’s because when I make duplicates, it changes the joy of craftsmanship into the burden of toil,” explains the artist.
     An explanation consistent with conclusions from a study at Tilburg University, Northwestern University, and Lehigh University. Well, actually, perfectly consistent with the obverse of one of the conclusions. The researchers report that sellers will accept lower prices for merchandise they enjoy making and services they enjoy providing.
     But it’s an additional conclusion which is of more interest to retailers: Shoppers are willing to pay higher prices when they learn that the seller enjoyed producing the items. Shoppers are also more likely to click on ads for the items and to end up purchasing the items. The researchers’ explanation, supported by their studies, is that both sellers and shoppers view production enjoyment as leading to higher quality outcomes, but only the shoppers rely on this view when determining a proper item price.
     An important condition is that these conclusions apply only when the shopper believes that creating the particular item requires specialized skills. We don’t expect to see it with automated mass production or simple manual assembly.
     The production enjoyment effect is quite different from the commonly experienced endowment effect, in which, with items carrying an emotional attachment for the seller, sellers tend to set noticeably higher prices on items than shoppers are willing to pay. A possible reason for the difference is that the endowment effect is usually encountered when the seller is not the same person as the manufacturer, such as with sales of secondhand merchandise.
     When facing the endowment effect, consider lowering prices. When facing the production enjoyment effect, consider raising prices. And for items which require specialized skills to produce or provide, give shoppers evidence of your enjoyment.

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Harvest the Joy of Selling Your Creativity 

Wash Your Hands of the Endowment Effect 

Gimme Some Lovin’ Handmade

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Slow Shipping to Reduce Returns

Provide customers ample time to work through regrets about purchasing from you. That’s a takeaway tip suggested by a study based at Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg and Goethe University.
     The researchers analyzed data from about 1.8 million ecommerce customer orders. The average delivery time for an order was about five days. With an important exception, the rate of item returns for items delivered in a shorter time was significantly higher than the rate for items delivered in a longer time. The exception: When delivery was substantially delayed, rate of item returns climbed.
     Two explanations for this exception are that customers get irritated at the retailer when a delivery date promise is not met and that when delivery is substantially delayed, people find another source of supply.
     The researchers’ explanation for the main effect of somewhat longer delivery time decreasing item return rates is in terms of cognitive dissonance, a phenomenon familiar to every introductory psychology student, often via its nickname “buyer’s remorse.” Often at some point in time after making a nonroutine purchase, the consumer doubts the wisdom of their decision. The highest probability for buyer’s remorse is shortly after the purchase, so this is when we’d expect item returns to be most likely. As time passes without an item return, the consumer begins rationalizing the purchase, generating for themselves reasons the purchase was not, in fact, deserving of remorse. We’d expect the rate of returns to drop. And this is what happened in the study when delivery time was longer rather than shorter. The cognitive dissonance explanation was supported by an informal follow-on study in which some customers were asked about reasons for their returns.
     The researchers report the evidence from past studies that shoppers are attracted by promises of prompt delivery, and they recommend that retailers balance this factor against the advantages of lowering costly returns. Their filtering of the data collection is still another argument for using the study results as an impetus for your own exploration of what delivery times are most profitable for you. Data in this study were collected from only U.S.-based shoppers at one very large online retailer and excluded transactions in which it appeared the customer was ordering a large number of similar items because they weren’t sure which size would fit best, for instance.
     If longer delivery time promises aren’t advisable, consider other research-based methods, such as putting a clock image on the order form, to reduce item returns.

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Delay Assumptions About Fast Shipping 

Sharpen Time Sensitivity to Reduce Returns 

Quote Measurement Units for Future Buys 

Shower Cold on Regretful Customers

Motivate the Rushed Toward Motivated Reasoning

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Disconnect Crowding for Socially Disconnected

In his year 2000 book “Bowling Alone,” Robert D. Putnam described a fading of interpersonal social support in culture compared to the period of 1950 to 1960. Americans were joining fewer clubs and serving less often on political committees. Although the number of bowlers had increased, the number of people who bowled in leagues had decreased.
     Mr. Putnam attributed the phenomenon to the burgeoning of technologies such as television and the internet which satisfied needs absent mingling with others.
     Since publication of that book, we’ve reason to think the trend may have turned. There certainly has been ample political activism these days which requires more than reading a newsletter and electronically donating. Social media channels are alive with friending, liking, and meaty conversations. At the same time, though, there are countervailing pulls. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic left a legacy of isolating ourselves to avoid contamination. Severe political polarization leads to selectivity in companionship. On balance, then, social disconnectedness may be a common characteristic of contemporary culture.
     In a set of studies, University of Macau researchers find that this has an implication for retailing which is counterintuitive at first glance: We might think that a consumer who feels socially disconnected would welcome opportunities to shop alongside a crowd of others and to purchase experiences which include large group activities. But in reality, the socially disconnected want to stay away from crowds, on average. The explanation is that social disconnection sensitizes a consumer to potential threats and crowds decrease a consumer’s feeling of being in control. Disconnected consumers don’t consider a crowded environment as a way to reconnect with others, but rather as an unwelcome threat to their personal space.
     The researchers emphasize that people differ in their desire for belongingness, that some social density when shopping and consuming is often welcomed, and that the optimal level of crowding depends on the consumption situation. A level of crowding which would add to the excitement at a football game might be highly stressful when strolling through the streets of Venice. Recognize the aversion to crowding as a factor for you to test and calibrate as you design the optimal user experiences for your shoppers and customers.
     Also recognize how consumer perceptions of crowding can be influenced by your introduction of servicescape stimuli. Foliage generates calm in crowded areas. A peppermint fragrance during shopping or consumption relieves a sense of being uncomfortably crowded.

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Haul Retailing Through Usage Expectations 

Reap Loads from Solo 

Calibrate Store Congestion & Clutter 

Plant Advantages with Foliage 

Spice Up Store Sales

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Slope Down Discounts for Slope Use

It’s better to tell customers they’re paying less than to say they’re paying more. An Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences study found that a sample of alpine skiers and snowboarders living in the eastern part of Norway considered a pricing structure to be fairer if told that a discount is given for use of the ski area slopes during the week than if told a surcharge is applied for weekend use.
     But the discount magnitude made little difference in perceptions of fairness for discount amounts ranging between NOK 50 and NOK 150 (equivalent to about $5 to $15). The researchers conclude that managers can adapt discount levels based on their price optimization models without major concerns about how the discount level will affect the perceived fairness. In my email exchange about the study with Per Kristian Alnes, the lead researcher, he points out that this does not necessarily mean setting small discount amounts.
     The researchers then analyzed the effects of discounts for advance purchasing on perceptions of fairness. To what extent would a customer of ski slope use consider it fair or unfair if someone who purchased the pass 30 days in advance pays less than does someone who purchases their pass the same day as they use it? For this survey, the intervals presented to the participants ranged from 0 to 30 days and the discounts ranged from NOK 100 to NOK 300.
     The study participants’ responses showed a trend in which a greater discount for a greater number of days of advance purchase is considered fair. This was true both for survey respondents asked to imagine they’d gotten the early bird discount and those asked to imagine they’d not gotten it. However, the differences between same-day and 7-days-advance were noticeably larger than the differences between 14-days-advance and 30-days-advance. And for the 30-days-advance, a discount of NOK 300 was not rated as significantly fairer than a discount of NOK 100. Based on this finding, the researchers recommend that service providers set small discounts for early bird purchases.
     This set of studies did not directly explore how perceptions of unfairness impact shoppers’ purchase likelihood. The researchers do note prior studies showing how perceptions of a retailer’s unfairness can reduce customers’ subsequent buying intentions and can increase customers’ criticism to others about the retailer.
     Are these recommendations valid only for ski area proprietors serving alpine skiers and snowboarders living in the eastern part of Norway? Almost surely not. Discount amounts and pre-order intervals might differ, but the general conclusions are supported by other studies. The amount of a promotional discount has less consumer impact than does the discount’s availability.

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Fare Well with Fairness Intuition 

Theme Your Storewide Sales Promotions 

Cure Feelings of Retailer Betrayal 

Premiere Items with Gifts for Preorders

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Gaze at How Eye Contact Shows Charisma

Charismatic speeches by workplace leaders –compared to standard speeches or performance-contingent financial rewards – increased workers’ output by 17%. Researchers from University of Liechtenstein, University of Innsbruck, and Free University of Bozen-Bolzano report this compelling finding from a prior study in order to highlight the importance of charisma as a persuasion tool.
     The researchers also point out a gap in that and many similar prior studies: The studies fail to tell leaders what specific behaviors produce charisma impressions. Aiming to remedy this problem, their own studies find that one behavior is gazing at the eyes of the audience members. Leaders exhibiting more pronounced eye-directed gaze were rated as more charismatic in ways which inspired audiences to exceed workplace performance expectations.
     The surprise in the studies was not that charisma was associated with persuasiveness. Three of the survey items that raters used to measure charisma were “Has the ability to influence people,” “Has a presence in a room,” and “Knows how to lead a group.” What is more surprising is that a technique seemingly as simple as an eye gaze is closely associated with those three characteristics, which themselves have shown a statistical and conceptual association with each other.
     When you gaze at someone, you capture their attention and you verify their importance to you. You’ve considered them worth focusing on. Moreover, eye contact facilitates a synchronization of brain waves between two people, which is associated with synchronization in their opinions.
     These were correlational studies, so we can’t confidently conclude that all you need to do to impress as charismatic is to simply start gazing at the eyes of your audience members. The more defensible conclusion is that eye-gazing is part of a set of behaviors which hold promise for signaling to audiences your leadership skills and thereby for improving your persuasiveness. The nature of those behaviors is suggested by the wording of the other three survey items used in the rating of charisma: “Can get along with anyone,” “Makes people feel comfortable,” and “Smiles at people often.”
     The researchers argue that the significance of eye gaze arises from it not being simple to do correctly. Maintaining the gaze requires attention. Yet for the gaze to achieve desired results, the leader must also maintain attention to the message intended for delivery. The researchers also caution that their studies haven’t identified how to avoid irritating others with contrived or confrontational eye contact.

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Twin the Shopper Subtly to Double Rapport 

Dwarf Giant Smiles So You Won’t Look Dopey 

Flirt with Deep Acting 

Look Out for Where They’re Gazing

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Weigh Disposal Over Depletion for Less Waste

People use three justifications for purchasing products manufactured in wasteful ways: 

• Finances. “Especially now, when money is so tight, I want to get the most for what funds I have. If a product is manufactured or packaged in a way which produces waste, but gives me more value for my money, I deserve to be able to purchase it.” 
• Institutional dependency. “The government and the industry leaders should be setting the standards that will minimize waste. If I go it alone, my individual actions won’t make any noticeable difference.” 
• Cynicism. “To succeed in the competitive marketplace, every business has to engage in wasteful practices at least occasionally.”

     These justifications often lead shoppers to show willful ignorance of waste in manufacture of their purchases. Still, because shoppers generally do want to consider themselves as socially conscious, include waste minimization as a selling point. For best impact, feature that information prominently in ads the prospect sees before shopping with you.
     Also, emphasize announcement of the type of waste avoidance which is most important to consumers. Studies at University of Kentucky and Pennsylvania State University concluded that this is reduction in discharge into the environment of scrap after the manufacturing process. Of relatively less importance is reduction in use of raw materials taken from the environment. In the study, participants were presented a Facebook ad with the message “Outland Denim. We use up to 50% less water. We consume up to 50% less energy” or with the message “Outland Denim. We discard up to 50% less wastewater. We generate up to 40% less energy emissions.”
     The clickthrough rate was significantly higher for participants receiving the second message.
     Both types of waste are destructive, however. In a survey conducted by the researchers, a group of sustainability experts said that production waste arising from excess resource use is as important as waste arising from excess disposal, if not even more important.
     Results from the researchers’ further studies indicate that marketers can boost relative consumer attention to decreases in raw material usage by adding a resource scarcity or a long-term orientation prompt. The resource scarcity message was, “The Earth’s natural resources are finite and increasingly scarce. For example, water and other resource shortages are growing around the world.” The long-term orientation message was, “The future of the Earth is under threat. For example, our actions now will create growing environmental problems around the world for future generations.”

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See Through Anti-Waste Consumers 

Acknowledge Customers’ Willful Ignorance 

Talk About Social Consciousness Early 

Chimp Away Sales Resistances Using Scarcity 

Give Customers Long-Range Perspectives

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Embrace the Prosocial with the Embarrassed

Overcoming a prospect’s sales resistance is easier when you’re able to discern what the prospect wants next. Sometimes that’s perfectly straightforward. If it’s raining outside and the shopper asks where you stock the umbrellas, you can safely conclude that the shopper wants an umbrella.
     Sometimes it’s not so straightforward. Researchers at O.P Jindal Global University, University of Southampton, and Indian Institute of Management say that when a shopper is embarrassed, their interest in environment-friendly and sustainable products grows.
     The researchers’ explanation for the effect is that embarrassment leads us to want to re-establish our social standing in the opinions of others. Showing a commitment to the welfare of the environment can serve as an effort to do that. This does mean that the embarrassment motivating the purchase of prosocial products depends on the preference being expressed publicly.
     The wrinkle here is in you discerning that your shopper is indeed embarrassed. In the research studies, a state of embarrassment was activated by asking study participants to write about an incident from their past life in which they felt very embarrassed. The consumption preferences of these participants were compared with those from a group who had been asked instead to write about how they spend a typical day.
     For some of the research, the preferences measured were between two T-shirts, one described as manufactured with no harm to soil or water and the other described as manufactured to enhance softness and comfort for users.
     In your selling, you could encounter shoppers who start talking about being embarrassed. This is a signal for you to describe in front of others the prosocial benefits of items you offer the shoppers. It’s more likely the reason to suspect embarrassment will appear in another way. It might be in the type of product chosen. Buying foot fungus medication or incontinence pads probably carries some degree of embarrassment. Embarrassment also arises when a shopper uses discount coupons or witnesses another shopper committing a significant faux pas.
     A promising confirmation of embarrassment is the shopper’s body language. In a study where University of Texas-Austin students were assigned to purchase a present for someone who wanted an item carrying the logo of UT archrival Texas A&M, the shoppers fidgeted, chewed on their lips, and averted their eyes. They crossed their arms, as if to distance themselves from what they were doing.

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Bare Asinine Oversights That Embarrass 

Help Store Shoppers Positively Interact 

Improve Sales Using Guilty Self-Improvement 

Sell Identity Affirmation to People

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Elevate Hope When Income Inequality

Bright copper kettles? Warm woolen mittens? Are those among your prized possessions? If not, “My Favorite Things” from “The Sound of Music” offers you a bunch of alternatives. And study results from City, University of London and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology could be summarized with the lyric from that song, “When I'm feeling sad, I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feel so bad.”
     In cultures with high income inequality, having consumers think about their favorite possessions improves their sense of well-being. Income inequality is defined as the extent to which income is unevenly distributed within a population. An example is that U.S. chief executive officers receive about 350 times the annual average salary of production workers in the same company.
     In their studies, the researchers showed the effectiveness of consumers thinking about favorite possessions on improving subjective well-being with both actual income inequality in the culture and with consumers’ perceptions of income inequality. The explanation is that prized belongings have such incommensurable value to a consumer that they forgo comparing their acquisitions to others', and it is such comparisons which reduce the sense of well-being.
     An implication from these findings is for influencers in cultures with power disparities to encourage people to appreciate their prized belongings. This tactic might seem to be an unethical sop because by increasing the sense of well-being, we’re diluting the sense of outrage necessary to combat income inequality. However, for change to occur, citizens need not just outrage, but also hope. Darren Walker, interviewed by Time magazine as he was leaving his post as Ford Foundation president, said, “Hope is the oxygen of democracy, but inequality is the enemy of hope. How do we imagine a flourishing democracy when we have increasing numbers of people who feel left out and left behind, disaffected and disillusioned and therefore hopeless?”
     The favorite-things tactic could buttress hope sufficiently to effect positive change. In the language of ditties from musicals, the spirit of “My Favorite Things” from “The Sound of Music” produces the spirit of “You Can Fly” from “Peter Pan.”
     Encouraging consumers to spend on experiences rather than surplus material possessions also helps maintain subjective well-being in the face of societal inequities. People usually get greater happiness from experiences they purchase. Happiness derives from distinctiveness, and experiences differ among themselves more than do material items. Again, the result is less comparison by the consumer with others’ acquisitions.

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Power Up People Before Selling Experiences 

Hover Within the Shopper’s Power Level

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Transform Betrayal from Brand Transgressions

A company’s best response following a brand transgression depends on whether the transgressing company is headquartered in the same country as the target market of consumers or in a different country. Brand transgressions include product recalls, news of unethical behavior, and similar evidence of betraying public trust.
     According to the University of Leeds researchers who issued this advice, if the transgressing company is in the same country as the target market, the most effective remedy to reestablish trust is to financially compensate this domestic target market in a way showing respect for national values. The example used in the studies, where the transgression was said to be sexual harassment, was, “The company announced that they will be giving a sum of £100,000 for the purpose of founding a non-profit organization called 'Harassment-free UK'. The mission of this organization will be to support the mental health and physical wellbeing of victims of sexual harassment across the UK.”
     On the other hand, if the transgressing company is a foreigner, the better response is to explain the transgression as necessary to fully protect against a threat to the company’s continued existence. The example used in the studies, where the transgression was said to be pay discrimination against women, was, “The company has issued a press release apologizing for the event and attributing it to the increased competition it faces from its key competitor…. The CEO added that they found themselves with no other option than to do so, in order to lower their production costs, given the large percentage of female workforce in the company.”
     The set of studies collected data from consumers in the United Kingdom, the U.S., and Germany. People are generally more favorably disposed to brands associated with their own country than with another country. Consumers consider merchandise to be better when it comes from domestic sources.
     At first glance, this favoring of the domestic seems contradicted by another finding of the University of Leeds study: Consumers were less forgiving of a transgression by a domestic company than of an equivalent transgression by a foreign company.
     But it’s not a contradiction. It’s consistent. The reason for greater upset is precisely because consumers had greater trust in the domestic company and therefore feel a greater sense of betrayal. There’s also the matter of the nation’s reputation. Study participants considered domestic brand transgressors as traitors to their home country, deserving punishment.

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Sell Domestic for the Health of It 

Compensate Group Service Failure Collectively 

Greet Ways to Disappear Greed

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Speed Procrastinators with Completion Times

Some Erasmus University researchers asked online study participants why they delay doing tasks they’re asked to complete. The responses were sorted into 13 general categories. Concerns about how long the task would take ranked as tenth in frequency among the 13. But then when another group of participants was asked to rate the degree of importance of each of the 13 in their decision to delay a task, consideration of task duration was ranked as the fourth most important reason.
     This apparent contradiction led the researchers to suspect that people will take task duration into account, but only if it’s specifically brought to their attention. A corollary is that including an estimate of task duration in a request to complete a task might reduce requestees’ procrastination.
     Subsequent studies by the researchers supported this conclusion, with completion times ranging from three minutes to one hour for a variety of tasks—submitting a form, making a health care appointment, writing an email. Based on their data analyses, the researchers’ explanation for the effect is that a statement of task duration moves thoughts from deliberating about whether to undertake the task toward contemplating how to complete the task.
     In reporting their results, the researchers take note of other tactics which have been identified for overcoming procrastination, such as setting deadlines, fostering prioritization, issuing reminders, and monitoring progress. They point out that specifying the completion time is simpler to implement than those others.
     A likely difficulty in using this tactic, though, is in calculating a completion time which will hold for a spectrum of potential respondents. You might handle this with a lesson from a whole other area of consumer behavior research called tensile pricing of discounts.
     Tensile pricing presents a range such as, “Save 20% to 45%.” Consumers are, by and large, an optimistic lot. If they see a 45%, they’ll tend to think that the item they’re wanting will be one of those tagged for the maximum discount. Applying this idea to the estimate of task completion time, if you say, “This will take about 15 to 20 minutes,” in order to increase your odds of being accurate, prospective respondents will tend to figure they’ll be among those who will take only 15 minutes. An even lower estimate could come in the minds of those sorts of drivers who consider the navigation app arrival time estimate as a benchmark to beat.

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Estimate Participative Consumption Durations 

Promote Procrastination Protocols 

Advertise Tensile Pricing Selectively

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Anchor Policy Anchors in the Policy

For how many months should a person be eligible to receive unemployment benefits? What do you think the minimum wage should be? The way citizens answer such questions of time and money can be influenced by numbers they are exposed to before being asked the questions.
     It’s called anchoring. In a classic example of anchoring, study participants were shown either a low or a high number on a roulette wheel and were subsequently asked to estimate the percentage of countries on the African continent currently belonging to the United Nations. The average of answers from those participants having received the low roulette wheel number was lower than that from those having received the high number.
     In their own studies of anchoring, as applied to public policy surveying, researchers at CEVIPOF and University of Georgia noted that a number coming from a roulette wheel was wholly irrelevant to the probability of a country’s UN membership. With questions such as the time of unemployment eligibility and the amount of the minimum wage, to what extent will respondents attend to irrelevant numbers given them as reference points for their subsequent individual answers?
     Little or no attention at all, was their answer indicated by the studies. To influence the response, the number presented as part of the inquiry had to be framed as relevant to the policy issue. When the number was perceived as relevant, though, the influence was clear. In fact, the study participants’ numerical responses were influenced to a much greater extent by the reference number they were given than by the political party quoted as the source of the reference number. Democrats answered quite similarly whether the reference number was said to have come from a Democrat or a Republican. The researchers point out how the influence might be greater if the reference number is attributed to specific politicians.
     Publicly elected legislators will want to stay sensitive to prevailing opinions of their constituencies when setting policies. Activists who want to strengthen or change political opinions will want to know where their audiences stand now on the issues. Both groups will succeed by recognizing what is called the Overton window, the window of discourse range within which political viability of a proposal can be expected.
     In surveying your stakeholders, recognize how any time or money number you give as a part of each question will pull the answer toward that number.

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Swing Low, Sweet Anchor Points 

Augment Political Projection with Introjection

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Label Desired Behaviors to Increase Likelihood

As reported in Genesis 1:3, God commanded, “Let there be light,” and there was light. On a separate note, legend says the spirit of Bloody Mary foretells the future only after her name is chanted 13 times.
     The use of a label by researchers at Zeppelin University, University of Cologne, and UNSW Business School to bring a concept into existence does carry less significance than did the report of God’s command. Still, unlike with the requirements of Bloody Mary, the researchers needed to use the label only once. Their studies conclude that when we coin a name to describe a behavior, we increase the likelihood others will engage in the behavior.
     In one of the experiments, participants were asked to engage in the behavior of writing a highly positive review hyping their dining experience. The instructions for some of the participants used the word hypeview, a word created by the researchers to describe this behavior. The instructions for the other participants did not use this word. Those participants who had read the word hypeview wrote more positive reviews.
     In another of the experiments, participants were encouraged to reduce plastic waste by not using a lid when picking up a takeout cup of tea. For some of the participants, this boycotting of lid consumption was described as lidcotting. Each study participant was then offered a free cup of tea. Among those who accepted the offer, participants who had previously been exposed to the behavioral label were less likely to take a lid.
     A possible explanation for the power of behavioral labels is that the existence of a name indicates the behavior is relatively common, and people are generally more likely to engage in behavior they consider to be the norm. The explanation the researchers analyzed has to do with consumers being more receptive to carrying out a behavior they’ve previously imagined themselves doing. The label unites the various parts of the behavior sequence, making the whole easier to imagine. This explanation was supported by another of the researchers’ experiments.
     Related to this explanation, some consumer researchers have created the term consumption vision to describe a shopper’s mental image which is vivid and specific enough to let a shopper vicariously experience benefits they would personally enjoy in using the product or service. Consumption visions increase purchase likelihood. Encourage consumption visions in your shoppers by labeling the behaviors you want them to initiate.

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Dream Consumption Visions of the Past 

Limit Terms in Customers’ Vocabulary

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Pack In 3D Online Portrayals of Packages

Shoppers associate package size with value. A bigger box means you’re getting more for your money, so, in general, people are willing to pay a greater amount. Shoppers’ judgments of package sizes seen online depend on the number of dimensions in the image. Researchers at Kanagawa University and Toyo Gakuen University find that a 3D image—where the container is shown at an angle and multiple faces are visible—is perceived as both larger and heavier than is a 2D image—where only the front face is visible.
     It is the portrayal of depth in the 3D image which accounts for the effect. That’s important to understand because the visual image of the package online is rarely the same size as the actual package. When we add the depth dimension to whatever is perceived in the 2D view, the 3D comes across as larger and heavier.
     Researchers at Erasmus University and INSEAD found that shoppers estimate changes in the volume of a product container by roughly adding percentage changes in the height, width, and length. But the accurate way to calculate the change in volume is to multiply the percentage changes in the three dimensions. That’s more complicated to do, so shoppers take the mental shortcut.
     As a result, participants in a study failed to notice a 24% downsizing of the package when one dimension was increased to mask the decrease in overall volume. Astoundingly, this distorted perception held even when the study participants were instructed to closely attend to the package size and weighed the container.
     For circumstances where a marketer is shrinking the package size—such as to maintain per-item profit while keeping the same selling price as raw material costs climb—using a 3D image in ads and other product presentations might ease shopper upset. This tactic could be combined with attention to other factors which influence size perception, such as color, shape, and surroundings.
     The 3D effect also applies when we want to portray a package as smaller and lighter. Containers for milk, coffee, and chocolate products were used in these studies showing that 3D portrayals increase the amount a shopper is willing to pay. But when it comes to consumer electronics, miniaturization is often valued for portability and sometimes as an indicator of a product upgrade. There are also shoppers who prefer smaller, lighter items for ease of transport, storage, and consumption.

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Sidestep Heuristics When Ethical 

Saturate Hungry Shoppers with Vibrant Colors 

Influence Consumption with Shape & Size 

Get Small with Big Convenience 

Downsize for Elderly Shoppers

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Inject Into Blood Donors What Happens Next

About 1 out of every 4 blood donors does not make a subsequent donation, according to a past study reported by researchers at University of Groningen, University of Hamburg, and Pennsylvania State University. Based on their own studies, the researchers say that a promising technique for increasing re-donation rates is to inform donors how the blood they’ve already given has been used.
     In one of the studies, some past blood donors received a thank you which added a message that their donation had been used to help save a life. Another group of past blood donors received only the thank you. Each participant was then asked to state their degree of intention to give blood at the next possible blood drive.
     Those people who received the “helped save a life” message reported a stronger re-donation intention than did those not receiving this message. Naming the specific hospital where the donation was used didn’t make much difference compared to saying only that the donation helped save a life. Accompanying studies did indicate that the influence of the message was greater when delivered soon after a donation compared to soon before the availability for the person to donate again. However, an uplift from the message still occurred even when used with donors who had been inactive for a while.
     Data for the studies was collected from people in both Germany and Austria. That the effectiveness of the “helped save a life” was seen in both countries is of note because attitudes toward donation of body parts is dramatically different for these two. In Germany, where a citizen must opt in if they want to be an organ donor, only 12% do so. Next door in Austria, where organ donation is the default option at the time of death, the rate is almost 100%.
     The value of telling donors what happens to their contributions is also seen with recycling. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University and Boston College found that rates were increased by showing people ads demonstrating how recycled items are transformed into new items. This worked regardless of whether the transformed item is similar to the recycled item (material from recycled soda cans being used to produce new soda cans) or quite different (material from recycled soda cans being used to produce bicycle frames). Considering the potential of trash inspires people to engage in the socially responsible behavior of recycling potential trash.

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Mine Golden Veins for Blood Donations 

Embody Right-Left in Body Selling 

Scrutinize Default in Sequential Decisions 

Show Products Made of Recycled Items 

Image at top of post based on photo by Cassi Josh from Unsplash

Vary Item Assortment to Fit Crisis Status

Researchers at Columbia University and University of British Columbia had study participants shop for candy in an area with either wide or narrow aisles. Those shopping among the narrow aisles chose a greater variety of candy bars and more unfamiliar brands. The same pattern of results was seen with supermarket shoppers. The researchers explain the findings by saying that when customers in Western cultures are shopping in tight quarters, they feel a loss of control, and that being able to select from a variety of items helps restore the balance.
     We might argue that variety seeking would instead decrease when consumers feel a loss of control. It seems people would seek choice familiarity to ease stress associated with unpredictability and they’d embrace social conformity to increase comfort derived from interpersonal relationships.
     A study at University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, and Wake Forest University concluded that the direction in which loss of control drives consumer variety seeking depends on a factor few might predict: Political orientation.
     The researchers saw this by considering a crisis with a substantially greater threat to control then narrow aisles in the candy section. They analyzed over 32 million transactions in 687 U.S. grocery stores occurring before and during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
     As part of the study, the researchers also defined the political orientation of the county in which each of the grocery stores was located. The proportion of Republican votes in the year 2020 presidential election was used for this, with a high proportion defining a conservative county and a low proportion indicating a liberal county.
     The data analyses indicated that in normal circumstances, when there is no crisis, politically conservative shoppers seek more variety in grocery purchases than do politically liberal shoppers. Then during a crisis, conservatives’ drive for variety drops, while that of liberals climbs.
     Perhaps these patterns are explained by variations in how conservatives and liberals conceptualize change and social conformity. We do know that, overall, the brain structures of political conservatives and liberals differ in the distribution of gray matter.
     Whatever the explanation for their findings, though, the researchers note evidence that widespread environmental threats which affect consumer decision making are increasing in frequency, and so they recommend retailers prepare to fit each stores’ item assortment to the political orientation of the local community and the stage of any threats to shoppers’ personal control.

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Give Shoppers Variety for Control 

Discuss Disgust Conservatively & Liberally 

Market by Political Propensity 

Scale Purchase Restrictions During Shortages

Clean Up by Prompting People to Clear Out

Item resale requires an ongoing influx of used merchandise. Some of those items are probably residing in your customers’ possession purgatories—a state between use and discard. People usually don’t think much about the particulars of what’s in their possession purgatory inventory. When they consider this at all, it tends to be as “stuff I should decide someday what to do with” rather than “pajamas with the Christmas tree designs,” “earrings which are too large for my tastes,” and so on.
     A secondhand merchandise store offering trade-in deals to prior customers energizes the inventory influx. Be specific in your ad messages and with your face-to-face selling: “We’re having a great sale on sleepwear. We offer credit on gently used pajamas as well as other clothes you might have stored away.” Give prompts for different specific item categories at different store visits by shoppers and you’ll start them thinking what they can bring in to your place.
     Prior customers are prime prospects because they’re familiar with your business and the used-merchandise resale process. A set of studies at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and City University of Hong Kong uncovered something else, too: People are more willing to resell items they purchased secondhand, such as from you, than equivalent items obtained unused.
     Of the reasons for this effect which were assessed by the researchers, the strongest was that purchasers feel their self-identity is reflected less clearly in resale items than in items purchased unused. This was found true when study participants were asked to imagine purchases and resales of a North Face McMurdo Parka, the latest model of a Nintendo Switch, and a collector’s edition of a themed LEGO set.
     The connection between willingness to dispose of items one owns and feeling of being true to the self (i.e., self-authenticity) was seen in a City, University of London and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology project. Plus, the impact was broader than on just supplying more stock for resellers. In each of a set of studies, one group of consumers was first asked to think about a situation in which they were completely being themselves. The other group was asked to think about a situation where they were not being themselves. The studies together concluded that those who had thought about not being themselves became more likely to resell their apparel, replace instead of repair broken electronics, and declutter at home.

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Resell Consumers on Buying Used Items 

Release Those Pajamas from Purgatory 

Sign Up Customers for Store-Self Identity 

Use Loneliness to Sell Used Merchandise 

Know How Customers Dispose of Products

Awe Shoppers, Then Avoid Ambiguity

Awe can advantage marketers, according to a team of researchers at Utah Valley University, Regis University, and Washington State University. Their report of studies by others indicates that for retailers, awe increases receptiveness to novel offerings; for nonprofits, awe increases a willingness to donate money and time; and for public welfare campaigners, awe increases interest in environmentally sustainable choices.
     For their own studies, the researchers defined awe as feelings of wonder, amazement, or reverence in the presence of something vast or mysterious. It’s both an awareness of being part of something far bigger than oneself and a sense of smallness in the face of the vastness. They generated awe in participants by showing them a two-minute video which created the sensation of flying through stars and nebulae, concluding with an image of earth as seen from space. The video was introduced with a message reading “ENJOY THIS AWESOME EXPERIENCE” and was accompanied by a portion of the music theme from the movie Interstellar. Results from surveys administered after the video viewing confirmed that the participants experienced feelings of self-transcendence and/or a sense of smallness.
     Then other aspects of the studies identified a potential problem with arousing awe: There are two opposite reactions to the ambiguity associated with awe. Participants showing evidence of high self-transcendence were open to uncertainty, while participants showing a sense of smallness avoided uncertainty. In one of the studies, this was seen when each participant was asked whether they preferred a well-known brand of computer or a little-known brand with a greater hard disk capacity.
     Because shopper reactions to ambiguity could swing toward either extreme when awe is aroused, I recommend minimizing uncertainty in product offerings if employing awe appeals.
     There are additional circumstances when you’ll want to avoid uncertainty. In times of high turmoil or if the retail transaction already involves clear risk, don’t add lots of extra ambiguity. People going to the dentist or an auto repair shop prefer to know the parameters of the pain and the gain.
     But aside from these circumstances, uncertainty can provide stimulating appeal. In a University of Chicago study, people worked harder for a bag containing either two or four chocolates than did another group told the bag had four chocolates. The researchers attribute the effect to the fun which comes from anticipation of discovering the contents.

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Leap Up Donations Using Legacy Potential 

Place Attention on Biomorphic Design 

Anticipate Aesthetics Avoidance 

Tickle with Uncertainty

Benefit Non-Disabled with Accommodations

Why don’t retailers devote more resources to accommodating the special needs of shoppers with disabilities? Researchers at Dartmouth College and University of South Carolina say it’s because retailers are thinking that most shoppers aren’t thinking about those special needs, or if the retailers and shoppers are aware of the special needs, they object to the downsides for themselves of making accommodations.
     The result is that retailers believe shoppers will react negatively to disability accommodation initiatives. Based on this hypothesized explanation, the researchers tested ways to ease consumer resistances.
     In one study, participants were presented with a scenario in which the accommodations resulted in higher prices. The participants read, “Imagine you need to shop for some basic groceries, and visit a nearby grocery store. You walk through the store, and find everything you need for the week. Usually the total for this is $50, but to your surprise this time it is $58. You learn that the store has increased prices to cover the cost of ensuring that every product in the store is accessible to consumers with disabilities. For example, they have widened the aisles for wheelchair accessibility and now offer some pre-cut and pre-peeled fruits and vegetables to help those with hand dexterity issues.”
     Some of the participants also read additional text: “You realize these changes also benefit other people like yourself and people you know. For example, widened aisles will help new parents more easily navigate strollers around the store or buying the pre-cut and pre-peeled fruits and vegetables can help you eat healthier when you are busy.”
     After reading the text, each participant was asked to rate the grocery store on a scale ranging from bad to good, rate the personal costs of the shopping trip, and rate the morality of the retailer.
     Data analyses showed that on all three measures, the additional text improved the rating of the retailer and the shopping trip. None of these ratings were overall as positive as those from a group of participants who read only that the shopping trip cost $50 and read nothing about accommodations for the disabled. But for retailers who are required by law to introduce accommodations or choose to voluntarily do so in order to attract more shoppers, describing the benefits of each change for non-disabled shoppers is a promising method for easing negative reactions. For accommodation ideas, check ADA Update: A Primer for Small Business.

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Accommodate Disabled Shoppers’ Psychology 

Construe Differences in Disability Duration

Tap Seniors’ Curiosity with Prior Knowledge

When someone’s in the midst of making a consumer decision, they are likely to be motivated to gather information directly relevant to that decision. Another motivation for gathering information is curiosity. Even if separated in time and intent from a particular consumer decision, what’s learned via curiosity lingers in the background and therefore can influence choices. Knowing how curious consumers seek information helps persuasion agents be more effective.
     Researchers at University of Southampton, University of Stirling, University of Reading, Kochi University of Technology, and University of Tübingen say the how depends on age. When motivated by curiosity, younger people seek to broaden their existing knowledge, while older people seek to deepen their existing knowledge. The researchers recommend that when aiming to implant information in the brain of an older adult, we present the information as providing greater depth about topics we discover are already familiar to that older adult.
     The researchers base these conclusions on their study conducted at the London Science Museum. Visitors passing by a group of computer terminals were invited to select a theme they were interested in from a set of five—such as “Mythical Beasts” or “Lesser Explored Countries”—and learn about that theme. Once choosing the theme, the study participant was presented with a set of topics about it and asked to use the computer to display facts about one of the topics. Following this, each participant could decide to learn more about the topic, change the topic to learn about, or end the inquiry altogether.
     The participants ranged in age from 12 to 79 years. Measures of interest and curiosity were gathered, along with noting each participant’s pattern of information pursuit. Data analysis showed that interest and curiosity were closely related and that the pattern of seeking information was related to age, as predicted.
     Prior studies have provided supportive findings. Researchers at University of Cincinnati, University of Florida, and University of Mississippi offered choices of a variety of music samples to study participants. Novices accepted a few new songs in a multitude of genres. On the other hand, experts, who we’d expect to be older than the novices, accepted a greater number of songs solely from one or a limited number of genres in which they considered themselves to have some expertise. An explanation for the effect is that older consumers place greater importance on screening possibilities for consistency with their existing interests, values, and needs.

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Resolve Identity Crises for the Elderly 

Dismiss Distractions from Interrupting Seniors

Frequent Promotional Discounts on Sin Taxes

Shoppers began upping their hunt for promotional discounts on sugary soda at the same time sellers began offering relatively fewer promotional discounts on those items. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and University of Amsterdam researchers witnessed this as they tracked the impacts of areawide soda tax introductions at 208 retail stores located in Boulder, Oakland, Philadelphia, San Francisco, or Seattle.
     When your sales promotions fall out of synch with shopper sensitivity to the sales promotion characteristics, profitability opportunities suffer. In reporting their findings, the researchers discuss sound reasons that manufacturers, suppliers, and retailers may hesitate to offer or feature promotional discounts in response to a soda tax. And by pointing out the failure to match shopper preferences, they stimulate us to reconsider our sin tax strategies.
     Other findings from the five-city study also have implications for action: With introduction of a well-publicized soda tax, shoppers become less sensitive to non-discounted pricing. Therefore, consider passing on as much as 100% of such a tax amount to the purchaser. Also, after introduction of the soda tax, the presence or frequency of a price discount became more relevant to purchase decisions, while the depth of discounts became less relevant. Take this finding into account when setting your promotional discount strategy.
     A rationale for soda taxes is that the increased price will curb consumption of these unhealthy beverages and perhaps shift preferences toward purchasing juices or bottled water. Research has documented mixed successes. Across studies, about 60% to 100% of the additional tax amount is passed on to consumers in item price increases, with consequent decreases in sales ranging from as high as about 50% to as low as none at all.
     Another study of the effects of the soda tax in Philadelphia found that 97% of the amount of the increase was passed on to purchasers. This resulted in a 34% increase in the total item price and a subsequent drop in sugary soda demand of 46% within the city. But this set of Imperial College London, Northwestern University, and Washington University in St. Louis researchers further explored the public policy implications by expanding their data collection to the greater Philadelphia area. This revealed that consumers shifted their soda purchases to stores outside Philadelphia, offsetting more than half of that 46% sales reduction.
     Moreover, there were only modest increases within the city of purchases of the untaxed natural juices.

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Tax Our Ingenuity to Keep Customers Healthy 

Discount Lighthouse Items for Low Price Image

Rejuvenate Empathy to Curb Panic Buying

Any frontline employee in a grocery store has witnessed one customer helping another. People are by nature empathic, at least during carefree times. In times of product shortages, such as the supply line disruptions from a natural disaster or pandemic, that empathy may be tough to spot, though. Shoppers engage in panic buying, cleaning out inventory, depriving their fellow consumers of items they need. They may then hoard the items at home.
     A team of researchers at ETH Zurich and University of St. Gallen sees panic buying as contagious. Bulk purchases by a few highly anxious customers result in stockouts which, because of the general anxiety from the natural disaster or pandemic, trigger a panic buying mindset in other shoppers.
     To disrupt this spiraling, the researchers say, rejuvenate the faded empathy. In one of their studies, some participants were shown a picture of a relatively empty supermarket shelf with a customer notice containing a personalized appeal: “Think of nurses like me. If you buy too much, there won’t be enough left for me. Buy only what you need. Amy P.”
     This message tapped into associations with nurses as helping professionals who worked extremely long hours during the COVID-19 pandemic and so had limited time to go grocery shopping.
     Each study participant was also presented with a description of panic buying as a worldwide phenomenon during the first wave of the pandemic and asked to state how many days of supplies everyone should stockpile at home in anticipation of an upcoming wave of infections.
     Data analysis showed that the average number of stated days was significantly lower than from another set of participants not shown the Nurse Amy message. Still other sets of participants were shown a notice reading, “89% of our customers currently buy 2 units at most…. Buy only as much as you need,” or, “The nation is currently experiencing a shortage of various products and common sense. So buy only as much as you want….” Neither of these was as clearly effective as the Nurse Amy empathy appeal.
     Also, there was no evidence that the picture of the relatively empty supermarket shelf mattered. The Nurse Amy message worked even when the picture was of a relatively full shelf.
     Retailers can use empathy appeals to curb panic buying. Public policy organizations could use empathy appeals to discourage hoarding and encourage sharing of purchases during times of shortages.

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Help Store Shoppers Positively Interact 

Scale Purchase Restrictions During Shortages 

Chimp Away Sales Resistances Using Scarcity