Research Friday: People Choose Only What They Can Get At The Drop Of A Hat?

When Will You Use This?  

There might be some situations when it is profitable to make wait time seem more aversive and current* research helps to understand what influences consumers’ perception of wait time. For example, as the authors suggest, “the manager of an online store wanting consumers to opt for expensive expedited shipping would want the shipping wait time to seem more aversive.”

What’s The Red-Letter Bite Today? 

Tendency to assign humanlike characteristics, intentions, emotions to time is called "time anthropomorphism".

Current studies* analyze the connection between consumer reaction to wait time and his feelings of power. The authors conducted five studies, each analogous to a consumption setting. In the first study, consumers were offered a choice between a $5 gift certificate valid immediately and a $10 gift certificate valid after one week; in the second study, the consumers were offered a choice between withdrawing and investing money; in the third study - a choice between expedited and regular shipping; in the forth and fifth studies - a choice between inferior and superior products.

Customers who scored high on time anthropomorphism and low on power were more likely to choose readily available option (for example, the rewards or inferior products that were obtainable immediately) and less likely to choose the options which was postponed in time.

Addition To Your Bag of Tricks    

You might have already noticed that when the wait time stands in the way of two options, a consumer often opts for the one which is available sooner.

As authors suggest, “for low-power individuals, the potency of wait time can be heightened by anthropomorphism. So, if a manager is aware that the target segment comprises those who usually feel powerless in their lives (e.g., due to low income), inducing time anthropomorphism could heighten the potency of both aversive and beneficent wait time. However, since our studies usually find null results for high-power participants, managers may even ignore the power variable and just induce anthropomorphism in their communication.”  

*Frank May and Ashwani Monga. When Time Has a Will of Its Own, the Powerless Don’t Have the Will to Wait: Anthropomorphism of Time Can Decrease Patience. Journal of Consumer Research, February 2014. {Thanks for the material}

P.S. When you’re done reading, I’d love for you to share your experience with the wait time? Leave a comment or Tweet me, let's chat!

P.P.S. Need some help on crafting your marketing message? Let's do this together.