Swish Aside Wish List Problems

Asking customers to maintain wish lists seems like a good way to keep them interested in purchasing from you. And it is. But for best results, sweep away two problems for the retailer when using wish lists—problems shown in a pair of Kent State University studies.
     The first problem arises because placing an item on a wish list gives a bit of the satisfaction from actually possessing the item. With some consumers in some circumstances, satisfaction like this can sharpen purchase desire. But with wish lists, it can dull it. The benefits of actual ownership have been partially achieved.
     The second problem with wish lists comes about because of the delay between adding an item and buying it. Again, this could operate in the direction of increasing desire as the consumer discovers and thinks more about the item. But the passage of time often cools off passions and leads to questioning prior decisions—in this case, a decision to put the item onto the wish list. Also, in a continuing search over time for the best terms on the wish-listed item, the shopper might end up buying it from someone other than you.
     The researchers recommend that retailers develop ways for their customers to regularly interact with their wish lists. Basic purchase reminders aren’t enough. Perhaps continuing to send bits of information about the products and the latest customer reviews would serve this objective.
     Also decrease the time until purchase. Don’t let the wish list get moldy. One meaning of “swish” is “fashionable.” Let’s swish away wish list purchase delays in order to keep wish list items swish.
     When the wish list takes the form of a gift registry, there’s yet another possible problem. Researchers at Emory University and University of Texas-Austin found that people feeling closest to the intended gift recipient are quite likely to pick items different from what the celebrant has placed on the list. The reason is that close friends and family members want to personalize the gift by selecting something to signal the nature of the relationship.
     In the study, 25% of gift selections were from outside the gift registry among distant friends, while corresponding choice share among close friends was 64%. To improve the match between what the gift registrant lists they want and what the people buying the gift end up selecting, coach gift registrants to include items which carry relational messages.

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Dream Consumption Visions of the Past 

Quote Measurement Units for Future Buys 

Dread the Dead, Sell It First 

Relate Biases to Gift Registrants

Stumble Upon Serendipity as a Sales Tool

While searching for one desired thing, you unexpectedly spot something else even more appealing. Or you weren’t looking for anything in particular and cross paths with a highly appealing experience The pleasure in the discovery is greater because you avoided the expenditures of time, money, or effort specifically seeking the item and because you feel special for having been in the right place at the right time. That’s a Serendipity Effect.
     A set of studies at University of Sydney, University of Florida, University of Basel, and Rutgers University gives suggestions for mobilizing serendipity to improve the customer experience so that customers will want more. In an example analyzed by the researchers, participants were users of a subscription service such as Birchbox, Stitch Fix, or The Tie Bar. With these services an item arrives at expected intervals. The subscriber can choose products themselves or have products selected for them. The researchers found that those participants who had received products selected for them reported higher satisfaction with and feeling of meaningfulness in the purchase, greater willingness to recommend the company, and more interest in extending the subscription.
     Using serendipity to good effect requires a balancing. We’ll want to know enough about the consumer’s characteristics to select items they’ll like. But the items must be different enough from what they expect for them to feel surprised. In order for the consumer to notice us, we’ll need to let them know exactly where and when they can expect our offerings. But there must be enough uncertainty to bestow a feeling of luck when coming upon the serendipitous discovery.
     The researchers suggest you lead the consumer to believe a recommendation will be from among a large number of possibilities and that you avoid phrasing like, “We’ve made this selection carefully for you after examining your preferences.” When it seems like the person has been surveilled, the pleasant experience no longer feels fortuitous.
     Promotional discounts gain effectiveness when they have the elements of surprise and luck associated with serendipity. In a study at University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and University of Pennsylvania, people were asked to assume they had to buy an essential item at a store and they also could buy other items while there. A surprise discount resulted in about an 8% increase in the quantities purchased of other items, more than making up for the store revenues lost from the discount.

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Subscribe to Offering Self-Image Benefits 

Convert Shoppers with Lucky Discounts 

Stack Discounts for Thrust or Surprise 

Effect Spillover Buys via Surprise Specials

Stay Open to People’s Territoriality

Shoppers get territorial. Especially when sensing their access is limited, such as when realizing a store will soon close for the day, a shopper guards their floor space and hovers over the merchandise in their cart.
     Researchers at University of Rhode Island find that territoriality at store closing time leads to shopper behaviors which could readily irritate front-line employees. Examples include people slowing down their product selection in an effort to assert control or making a mess as a way of expressing anger. If the FLE responds in turn with anger or a struggle for control, this worsens the situation.
     To avoid triggering the bad behaviors, FLEs should warn shoppers that the store is closing enough in advance to allow comfortable completion of the transactions, and should refrain from carrying out store closing tasks, such as tidying up shelves or reconciling registers, until the shoppers have departed. If it’s necessary to engage in closing time activities while shoppers are still present, still place primary attention on being of service to the shoppers and briefly explain to the shoppers how the activities are helpful to people like them. Taking care not to intrude on each shopper’s personal space is also recommended. When done well, these measures result in the shopper yielding territory graciously as this need is recognized, finishing up quickly and leaving the store satisfied.
     In many other areas of persuasion, too, territoriality is a driving force. Or sometimes a lack-of-driving force. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University and Georgia State University measured the time it took people to pull out of a parking space they’d temporarily occupied. It would seem that a driver would want to leave the space as soon as possible and that the exit would be even briefer if the driver saw another car waiting to pull in. In fact, this is how drivers surveyed by the researchers said they’d behave.
     However, territoriality appears to have applied the brakes. Drivers took about 32% longer to leave their parking space when a car was seen waiting. We might attribute this to the departing driver taking more time to exercise caution upon realizing another car is close by. But this explanation is undercut by the further observation that if the waiting car honked, the time for the egress was longer still. A honk didn’t flag “Here’s where I am” so much as “I want your territory right now.”

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Anticipate Black Friday Syndrome 

Right Store Identity with Window Writing 

Swoop In for the Sale After Disrupting 

Close Out the Purchase 

Be Present

Don’t Get Me Started on Farts

Not often do I encounter a study where the researcher intentionally directed toward the participating consumers the smell of, in the phrasing of Prof. Sina Esteky at Miami University, “fart spray and fish oil.” But he did just that. His objective was to test the long-standing assumption that if an item of merchandise is being considered in the presence of an unpleasant odor, people become less likely to buy that item. Prof. Esteky found that in some circumstances, an unpleasant odor can instead enhance sales.
     Each participant in his study selected between organic and non-organic grocery items while exposed to either a pleasant or unpleasant odor, with the odor being one people tend to consider from either a natural or a non-natural source. The pleasant natural fragrance was lemongrass and lavender. The pleasant non-natural was a gender-neutral smell of ambiguous origin. The unpleasant natural was the fart spray and fish oil, and the unpleasant non-natural was burnt engine oil.
     Compared to a control group of consumers who made their choices in an environment with no odor pumped in, the group experiencing the pleasant natural odor was more likely to select organic over non-organic items. That’s what would be predicted by common sense as well as by past research results. But the people exposed to the unpleasant non-natural odor also were more likely than those in the control group to select organic over non-organic. It’s as if the smell of burnt engine oil made the consumers long for products of natural origin as compensation.
     The groups exposed to the fart spray and fish oil or the non-natural pleasant smell were less likely than those in the control group to choose organic over non-organic. This is evidence that it wasn’t just the presence of a fragrance which affected choices.
     Prof. Esteky saw the same pattern of results when assessing the results with sounds instead of odors. The pleasant natural sound was birds chirping, the unpleasant natural sound was dogs barking, the pleasant non-natural sound was electronic music, and the unpleasant non-natural sound was construction noise.
     You probably won’t infuse your store with the aroma of burnt engine oil or prioritize store renovation projects during operating hours. However, shopkeepers in industrial neighborhoods with unpleasant outdoor smells or in areas with building construction might turn this to their advantage by offering shoppers the respite of organic items.
     Keep in mind individual differences in whether a particular smell or sound is considered pleasant or unpleasant. A fisherman might associate the odor of fish oil with a profitable catch. As to that other component in the unpleasant blend, AsapSCIENCE claims scientific evidence shows most people find their own farts pleasant, while the farts of others obnoxious.

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Smell Familiar for Purchasing Enhancement 

Imagine Satisfaction from Smells 

Grow Profits the Organic Way 

Enable Acceptable Aggression 

Reward the Purchase with a Pleasing Sound

Ricochet Shoppers Using Context

After the average North American consumer purchases a product because it’s colored black, they become more interested in donating to a cause. After the average North American consumer purchases a product because it’s colored white, they’re less open to helping others. The color need not be the primary reason they purchased the product, but for my statements to be true, it is necessary that the consumer has taken careful note of the white or black.
     The explanation for this strange effect, found in studies by researchers at Purdue University and Grenoble École de Management, is in moral balance theory. People in Western cultures generally associate white with moral purity and black with the opposite. The researchers note that children in the Western world have been shown to believe white boxes contain good objects and black boxes, bad ones. Because we often aim for balance in our moral behavior, purchase of a white product grants license to subsequently do something less moral. Those who purchase a black product feel a need to do something more moral.
     The broader implication for retailers is in using the context of a consumer decision to bounce them into a compensating direction. Researchers at Harvard University and Duke University were interested in whether shoppers who brought their own bags purchased a higher number of organic versions of items. The answer from receipts was that yes, the shoppers were. More specifically, on those trips when the consumer brought their own bags, they were more likely to buy organic than on those trips when that same consumer did not bring bags. Green actions begot green actions.
     But there’s more to the story: When shoppers bought organic, they were more likely to add candy bars and cookies.
     This sort of thing is true for all kinds of merchandise beyond food items and for ecommerce as well as store purchases. A shopper who makes a good, sound purchase decision is ready to buy an item that's mostly for fun. And when your customer is looking around for fun items, you'll want to be sure you make those items easy to find.
     The best way to do that is to have fun items displayed throughout the store and the website. More than this, whenever a customer makes the decision to buy a highly sensible item, offer them a follow-on sale of a fun item in the same or a related product category.

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License to Marry Naughty 

Get Your Sales in Black & White

Stifle Reactance to Promotional Favor Discounts

Asking shoppers to earn a discount rather than giving it to them unconditionally can make the discount seem more valuable. Yet because of the extra work involved, the requirements can irritate shoppers.
     Researchers at ESADE in Spain and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in The Netherlands analyzed the effects of promotional favors, in which a discount is offered in exchange for the customer doing a task, such as completing a marketing questionnaire, posting a review, or making a referral. The set of studies found that customers will often take advantage of the offer, and they might consider the discount more valuable because it was earned. But they’ll end up spending less than with an unconditional discount.
     In one of the studies, conducted at supermarkets, shoppers offered a 5% discount for completing a questionnaire about choosing a supermarket spent between about 8% and 17% less on their grocery purchases than did those offered an unconditional discount. The researchers checked that this decrease was not attributable to the people being rushed because they had to complete the questionnaire during the shopping trip.
     The researchers attribute the decrease to reactance, which kicks in when people sense that their freedom of choice is threatened. Customers feel they’d be foolish to pass up the opportunity to save money, but don’t like the accompanying feeling that they’re being pressured to behave according to dictates from the seller. In the studies, people offered the promotional favors tended to develop more anger and frustration than did those offered an unconditional discount.
     Because promotional favors can benefit your organization, it’s best not to eliminate them from consideration. To avoid the negative aspects, dissolve the reactance. You might accomplish this by pointing out the options for each task. “You can write a review which is positive, negative, or mixed.” “Choose from among the people you know who you’d like to refer to us.”
     Another approach to easing the reactance is to offer a range of ways to earn a discount. This month, it’s a promotional favor. Next month, it will be a gambled discount, such as a scratch-off ticket. And every month, it’s the loyalty program reward of a percentage off an upcoming purchase.
     A third approach is to present the request as a way to help you. For customers who want your enterprise to succeed, this can be seen as an opportunity, not an obligation.

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Slant Referral Rewards Toward the Referred 

React When Faced with Reactance 

Grouch If Store Reviews Are Grouch-Free 

Gambol with Gambled Price Discounts 

Convert Shoppers with Lucky Discounts 

Offer a Buffet of Loyalty Program Rewards