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 recommended response for reestablishing trust is to financially compensate this domestic target market in a way which shows 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 

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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 ambiguity. 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 with awe being aroused, I recommend minimizing uncertainty in product offerings when employing advantages of awe appeals. Marketers generally do best when able to accurately predict reactions to persuasion tactics.
     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. 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. And 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

Call In Responsiveness to Product Recalls

In January 2007, Consumer Reports published a report announcing a serious safety problem with certain infant car seats. Understandably, consumer demand for the car seats promptly cratered. Adding to the evidence of the power of the notice is that when, two weeks later, Consumer Reports announced that the earlier report was in error, demand quickly rebounded.
     Researchers at Freie Universität Berlin, University of Connecticut, and Stockholm School of Economics note that this sort of responsiveness is often not seen when it comes to product recalls. Owners of the affected items are frighteningly unwilling to take corrective action. As a result, there are increased risks of physical damage to consumers and of lawsuits against marketers. The researchers analyze the reasons for failures to act and then identify tactics for increasing consumer responsiveness to product recalls.
     People are more likely to respond when less effort is required of them and when they believe themselves capable of taking the corrective action. Thus, full remedy—offering the owner product replacement or refund of the purchase price—works better than partial remedy—offering a do-it-yourself repair kit, for instance.
     Beliefs about the probability of damage also count. But with both the nature of the offered remedy and perceived probability of damage, there’s an interaction with firm reputation, defined as the extent to which the consumer considers the marketer issuing the recall to be trustworthy. For low-reputation firms, there’s little difference in effectiveness between full- and partial-remedy offers. And for low-reputation firms, perceptions of high damage likelihood actually make it less likely the consumer will respond to the recall offer. Customers don’t trust low-reputation firms to correct the product defect in those circumstances.
     For the marketer, the upshot, then, is to maintain a reputation of trustworthiness and, if a recall is necessary, portray the maximum extent of the possibility of danger and offer the consumer a remedy which requires minimum consumer effort. In the researchers’ field study, recall effectiveness climbed twenty-four percentage points when a high-reputation firm offered a full instead of partial remedy, all else being equal.
     Results from other studies indicate it’s better to describe to the consumer the possibility of damage rather than the probability of damage if the problem which led to product recall isn’t corrected. Also, limit the descriptions of possible damage to only the most serious. Including minor concerns leads to lower estimates by the consumer of total risk.

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Keep Up On Your Promises 

Maintain Store Distinctiveness in Ad Groups 

Betray the Betrayal Effect 

Add Risk Notices to Dilute Risk Opinion 

Estimate Imprecisely When Harboring Doubts

Meld Girl- & Boy-Marketing Language

In the early 1970’s, actress and activist Marlo Thomas initiated her “Free to Be You and Me” project, designed to reduce gender stereotypes in children’s decision making. Now, more than a half century later, the state of California is requiring large retailers who sell toys in the state to maintain a gender-neutral aisle. The sponsor of the law, California Assemblymember Evan Low, says he was inspired to introduce his bill by an 8-year-old girl who asked, “Why should a store tell me what a girl’s shirt or toy is?”
     In October 2021, the same month that bill was signed into law, LEGO announced their “Ready for Girls” initiative. LEGO identified a problem—and also an opportunity to increase sales to a broader audience—with their survey results indicating how at that time 76% of parents reported they’d encourage LEGO play by a son, but only 24% would encourage LEGO play by a daughter.
     Yet, a California State University, Fullerton project finds that differences persist even now in media targeted to boys and girls—differences which could encourage self-stereotyping. This conclusion was based on studies of language characteristics in cartoon franchises associated with toys which a sample of U.S. parents said are targeted to girls, are targeted to boys, or are gender neutral. Barbie and Strawberry Shortcake were among the franchises considered girl-targeted; GI Joe and Star Wars, boy-targeted; and Care Bears and Harry Potter, gender neutral.
     Then, a machine-assisted analysis of language used in the franchise cartoons showed that scripts in the girl-targeted series were more emotionally positive overall than in those targeting boys. Scripts targeting girls did feature more phrasing expressing sadness, but also more phrasing expressing affiliation, which could be seen as a means for easing sadness. Scripts in boy-targeted series featured more phrasing expressing anger, power, and risk. Further, by comparing scripts of older and newer series from the same franchises, the researchers saw evidence that differences in language characteristics between girl-targeted and boy-targeted cartoons have decreased over the years.
     The researchers recommend marketers attend to the remaining differences when crafting messages intended to persuade children. The researchers also urge marketers to avoid language likely to reinforce negative self-stereotypes limiting a child’s developmental options. “This is not a call to cancel traditional gender representations, but rather a call for more balance,” they write. They’re acknowledging the cultural forces which expect circumscribed sexual roles.

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Discontinue Dichotomies If Continuums Fit 

Smooth It with Females, Angle for Males 

Employ Purchase Triggers for Children 

Earn Your Way into Children’s Minds

Straighten Product Presentation Up & Across

Of the range of characteristics determining the appeal of a song, you’d think the angle of lines on the album cover would be less important than the style of the music. And you’d be right. The fact that the angle of those lines makes any difference at all seems strange. Yet that’s what a Vilnius University and University of Groningen study documented. And this carries a message for product presentation more generally.
     In one of their experiments, the researchers asked participants to evaluate album artwork and, while looking at an image of the album, listen to a song from that album. The band name and song were chosen to be unfamiliar to the participants. For some of the participants, the album cover included a grid of perfectly horizontal and vertical lines—a cardinal design. For the other participants, the cover included the straight lines at a 45-degree angle—an oblique design. Keeping the album cover in view while the song plays duplicates what’s done by streaming services like Spotify, iTunes, and Pandora.
     Each participant was told they should listen to the song for as long as they wanted. The people exposed to the cardinal album design chose to listen about 42% longer than did those exposed to the oblique design. Further data analyses suggested that this difference was due to song appeal induced by the orientation of lines on the album cover.
     In another of the researchers’ analyses, the cardinality characteristic of each of hundreds of actual music albums reflecting a range of music styles was measured and statistics about the album’s success in the marketplace were gathered. It turned out that albums with covers having higher cardinality had achieved better sales.
     The researchers relate their findings to past studies showing how respected landscape and portrait paintings include many more vertical and horizontal lines than angled lines, and how people will gaze at a painting for a longer time when the painting is displayed in a cardinal compared to oblique orientation. The explanation is that our brains find a cardinal orientation easier to mentally process, and people usually prefer what is easier to process. The lesson beyond album covers and fine art is to keep information simple for the shopper and customer to process.
     There are exceptions. Sometimes angles or curves work better to portray enthusiasm or femininity. But as a rule, keep product messages straight up and across.

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Mean More with Mean Ratings 

Gently Slant to Produce Proper Happiness 

Down or Right Lines for Limitation Effects 

Smooth It with Females, Angle for Males

Expand Experiences by Inspiring Intimacy

Would diners at your restaurant be more willing to tolerate longer wait times when accompanied by a close friend than if dining alone? Yes, for a number of reasons. The reason experimentally supported by studies at Texas A&M University, Harvard University, and University of Maryland is that consumers are attracted to the opportunity to create shared memories of experiences.
     Marketers can make an otherwise less-favorable experience more attractive by providing for physical togetherness with a relationship partner. In one of the studies, a participant was more likely to choose two free adjacent Cirque du Soleil tickets in row 55 than two free non-adjacent tickets in row 10 when the companion was a close friend rather than a casual acquaintance. Those participants imagining they were accompanied by a close friend reported placing more importance on the ability to create shared memories.
     This shared-memory effect is stronger regarding hedonic experiences—those in which pleasure comes from the experience itself—than regarding utilitarian experiences—where the pleasure comes from the outcome. In another of the studies, participants were asked to assume they were spending a week in Barcelona with a romantic partner and were offered a free upgrade to first-class on a train to Figueres. But the two partners would need to sit eleven rows apart rather than together, as with their coach seats. Then for some of the participants, the ride was described as an interesting narrated tour. For the other participants, the ride was described as not having much to see along the way.
     Participants in the second group expressed a greater interest in the free upgrade and also said they’d care less about creating shared memories.
     The researchers also find that the attractiveness of an experience can be increased by pointing out to the consumer how shared memories can be created even when the participants do not live through the experience physically together. This is useful to marketers because shoppers are going solo in life, such as choosing to live alone, but hesitate going solo to activities, since they think it wouldn’t be as much fun without a close companion.
     What goes into a customer’s memory to be shared also is affected by whether the experience is shared with others. People in a group are greatly influenced by what happens early on. First impressions set the scene. Solo consumers are more influenced by what happens to them late in their experience.

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Enable Shoppers to Revisit the Already Done 

Offer Grandparent/Grandchild Experiences 

Track the Trajectory of In-Store Impressions 

Reap Loads from Solo

Pile Plenty of Political Polls on People

Voters who support a particular candidate for elective office consider the results of a political poll as less believable when that preferred candidate does less well in the poll. It’s an example of motivated reasoning, in which consumers’ beliefs are influenced more by what they already believe or want to believe than by new information.
     Researchers at Witten/Herdecke University, University of Zurich, and University of Mannheim posit this phenomenon as harmful to society, since in a healthy democracy, voters should be keeping their beliefs correct and current. The research findings indicate that the problem is eased when more poll results from a broader range of sources are provided over the course of a campaign.
     The political affiliation of the voter and the source of news can make a difference. In the researchers’ data set, Democrats’ beliefs were affected more strongly by reports of poll results when the Democratic candidate’s support was increasing rather than decreasing. This was particularly true if the results were said to come from Fox News. When the Democratic candidate was said to be winning, a Democratic respondent weighed Fox News survey results around three times more strongly than when the Democratic candidate was said to be losing. In the case of a poll from an MSNBC source, the increase was more subtle. These considerations did not impact Republican respondents’ belief changes.
     Even when voters’ beliefs are accurate, the effect on support of a candidate isn’t straightforward. Those who believe their favored candidate is clearly prevailing might increase contributions of money and time to the candidate’s campaign because the voter wants to sponsor a winner. But they might instead decrease their further outlays, feeling it’s now unnecessary. Those who come to believe their candidate is far behind might increase campaign contributions because they fear the candidate losing, or they might decrease their contributions because they label the campaign as hopeless.
     Also acknowledge underdog effects. Underdog narratives draw empathy for those who, in the face of resource shortages, are determined to prevail. However, while people root for the underdog, they prefer to affiliate with winners. Show that your candidate has the makings for ultimately winning. You’ll also want to present the candidate as a good sport. Researchers at University of Maryland and Georgetown University say underdog positioning helps most if your target markets see the underdog as sincere, fair, principled, honest, trustworthy, and less than supremely competent.

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Motivate the Rushed Toward Motivated Reasoning 

Spot Partisan Recall of What Never Happened 

Undertake Underdog Appeals with Morals

Accent Competence in Employees with Accents

A service provider achieves better results when the customer participates more fully in service provision, contributing knowledge and effort. Customer participation drives satisfaction and loyalty, generating higher customer retention, sales growth, and firm profitability.
     After noting such past findings, researchers at FHWien der WKW, Bern University of Applied Sciences, and University of Leeds go on to report how their studies show the effects on customer participation of foreign-culture accent detected in the provider by the customers. A customer becomes less interested in contributing to the service encounter when the provider has an accent the customer considers to be from an unfavorable culture. Unfavorable-culture accents discourage customer participation even in situations where the participation is required for successful completion of the service. The range of service settings explored by the researchers covered financial planning, air travel, and guided meditation.
     The researchers do fear that reports of these findings will be used to discriminate against employees by relegating those with certain accents to inferior job assignments. They propose avoiding this by mixing unfavorable-culture accented employees with native speakers in service delivery posts. Another suggestion implicit in their findings is to overcome negative stereotypes associated with certain accents by ensuring that all employees deliver competent services in a caring manner.
     A quite different type of country-of-origin study suggests an additional remedy: Babson College researchers asked liquor store shoppers to sip a wine, then give their judgment of the quality. Some of the study participants were told the wine was from Italy, while others were told the wine was from India.
     The timing of the country-of-origin information determined how the stereotype operated: If the wine-taster was given the country-of-origin information before the sip, those tasting the “Italian” wine rated the product as having higher quality than those tasting the wine from “India.” If the information was given after the sip, the results were reversed: Those who had sipped the “Italian” wine gave lower ratings to the quality on average than those getting the wine from the same bottle, but told it was from India.
     It was as if the consumer who had enjoyed the experience went overboard in fighting against stereotypes about Italian and Indian wines.
     Applied to the foreign-accent problem, maybe starting provider-customer service contacts with text messages and then, after showing competence, revealing the foreign accent, could result in services delivered by those with the accent being rated as even better than by those without.

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Empower Indirectly Using Co-creation 

Accommodate Culture with Low-Involvement 

Delay Negative Stereotypes to Post-Experience 

Speak to Shoppers’ Language Stereotypes

Post Brand Selfies in Highly Positive Reviews

It’s just common sense that online shoppers feel more comfortable with a prior customer’s product review when there’s a product image in the posting. But common sense often is less than universally true when describing consumer behavior. Studies at ESSEC Business School and University of Maastricht provide guidance for when product images are most helpful. In the studies, review helpfulness was defined as the shopper finding value in the review because it reduced purchase uncertainty.
     Based on their findings, the researchers recommend that online retailers especially encourage customers to include one or more images in a review when the item is one that promises value primarily from the pleasure of use rather than the practical utility of the outcome of use and when the review is otherwise extremely positive. These are circumstances where the review reader is most likely to consider the inclusion of the image to have made the review more helpful.
     The researchers also suggest the image show the product in use. This is consistent with findings from another study about product images: Researchers at University of Hamburg, Vienna University of Economics and Business, and Columbia University compared three formats: 

• Pack shot. A standalone picture of the item with the brand logo clearly displayed 
• Consumer selfie. Like a pack shot, but the face of the selfie poster or item user is also in the frame 
• Brand selfie. Like a consumer selfie, but rather than a face, only a hand holding the item is shown

     The brand selfie format produced evidence of the highest purchase intention by social media viewers. The explanation is in the ability of the viewer to imagine themselves holding the item. The pack shot doesn’t do as well in getting the viewer in touch with the item. And the human face in the consumer selfie directed thoughts away from the brand, toward the person shown.
     It’s on the idea of drawing attention in the wrong direction that studies at University of Maryland caution about the use of images in comparative advertising. Showing pictures of people using the product leads shoppers to start thinking about using the products themselves, and when they do this, they put too much mental energy into thinking about just the recommended product. They forget to pay attention to the comparative advantages. But an exception to this exception is when the comparative shopping decision is quite complex. Then an image helps.

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Lend a Hand to Brand Selfies 

Relax Caution About Comparative Imagining

Upsell the Discounted Purchase

A $50 price break on items in a merchandise category draws shoppers. Once the shoppers arrive, we almost always prefer that they purchase the higher-priced alternative in that category covered by the discount. A tactic for giving a nudge toward this is offering the price break as non-integrated rather than integrated.
     The definitions of integrated and non-integrated were developed by researchers at University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Shanghai University for use in their studies which demonstrated the value of the tactic. An integrated price reduction is a discount shown directly on the price statement for each applicable item, as in the format “$179.99 each regular price. Now $129.99. Save $50.” A non-integrated price reduction is presented in a form separate from the item’s price information, such as via a coupon with a promo code to get $50 off the regular purchase price of applicable items.
     The researchers find that, compared to the situation with an integrated discount, shoppers are less likely to be thinking about the final prices of the item when using the non-integrated discount. The result is that the difference in prices between a lower-priced, less desirable item and higher-priced, more desirable item is psychologically smaller. The difference between regular prices of $22.99 and $40.99, each to be discounted by $10 with a promo code, feels smaller than does the difference between the discounted prices of $11.99 and $39.99 as shown on the price tags. A feeling of smaller additional financial outlay to upgrade achieves the objective of nudging the shopper toward purchasing the higher-priced alternative.
     Studies at Tilburg University and Macquarie University address the same objective when a retailer is using a multiple quantity discount: What difference does it make whether you say, “Buy two, get 20% off on both,” or “Buy two, get 40% off on the lower-priced item”?
     Overall purchase rates were about the same with either. Yet the two alternatives did result in different ways of selecting the items to purchase. For the “40% off on the lower-priced item,” shoppers tended to select a more expensive second item than under the “20% off on both.” Helping this along is that 40% looks larger than 20%, even though the 40% applies to only one of the pair. Shoppers want to maximize the return from the 40% discount, so they’re more open to a higher price point.

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Stand Out 

Give 40% on One Over 20% on Two

Decelerate the Pace to Develop Contemplation

When producing a short video to persuade others—such as for social media platforms—we’ll often aim to stuff in as many selling points as possible. We also may recall the evidence that young adults—often a top target audience for our persuasion efforts—seek the excitement of speed. The result is a fast-paced portrayal in the short video.
     A set of studies from researchers at Tilburg University, Goethe University Frankfurt, and University of Colorado Boulder argue for us to consider slowing down. Sometimes, slow-motion video significantly enhances persuasion.
     The findings apply when the short video portrays complex movements which the viewer finds to be pleasant. Portrayal of a basketball dunk or wave crashing on the shore, for instance. Decelerating the action facilitates comprehension and appreciation of the details. The advice doesn’t clearly apply to longer videos, in which slowing the action can come across as boring, foolish, or faked.
     Nor is the advice intended for situations where the video viewer is not seeking comprehension fluency. Examples of this include portrayals of unpleasant images or with a consumer who prefers incomplete comprehension. But in the proper circumstances of the studies, slow-motion videos increased ad sponsor preference and willingness to pay compared to equivalent normal-motion videos.
     The advantages of sometimes slowing down apply not just to short videos, but also to entire sales transactions. There are circumstances in which we do well to slow down the shopper as they settle on a course of action. Premature closure can have bad consequences ranging from returned items to safety risk.
     Easing the speed is a particular challenge when serving people high in a personality trait called “need for cognitive closure.” These consumers want to make shopping decisions promptly and then lock in those decisions. They’re uncomfortable with ambiguity. They are the polar opposite of shoppers who evidence a strong need to analyze as much information as possible before deciding.
     Researchers at Baylor University and University of Cincinnati found that shoppers with a high need for cognitive closure will slow down their decision making and work harder to analyze information when they believe the effort will be useful for making similar decisions in the future. An example of this is when the choice is about a newly introduced item or experience which is likely to become recurrent. This finding indicates that a marketer can encourage more contemplation during a transaction by highlighting those characteristics of a choice.

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Slow Decision Making Among Shortcutters 

Visualize Beyond Three Claims