Friday Research: Rude Service - Yes, Give Me More of That!

When Will You Use This?  

Creating and developing various ways of improving your customers' experience.

What’s The Red-Letter Bite Today? 

It’s quite common to hear luxury shoppers complaining about snobbery and rude salespeople at the high-end boutiques. But could this be good for your luxury brand?

Current research* examines the circumstances in which consumers increase their regard and willingness to pay after brand rejection.

Results showed that after threat, consumers have more positive attitudes and higher willingness to pay when:

1) the rejection comes from an aspirational (vs. nonaspirational) brand,
2) the consumer relates the brand to his/her ideal self-concept,
3) s/he is unable to self-affirm before rejection,
4) the salesperson delivering the threat reflects the brand,
5) the threat occurred recently.

'You think I don't belong here? Bring me everything from the menu!'

Addition To Your Bag of Tricks    

This research reveals that participants who expressed an aspiration to be associated with high-end brands also reported an increased desire to own the luxury products after being treated poorly. This was only true if the salesperson appeared to be an authentic representative of the luxury brand.

Basically, this shows that some people, when made to feel they don’t fit with the luxury brand, are motivated to prove they actually do - that is by making a purchase. When a retailer signals, “’No, you don’t deserve to be here,’ it looks like a challenge and a customer thinks, “I’m going to show you I have a right to be here.”

However, while the snobby salesperson could encourage an impulsive purchase, the experience ultimately leaves customer with a poor impression of the brand. The winning formula to increase sales for your luxury goods is to make your store and staff more approachable and less intimidating.

  

*Ward M.K., Dahl D.W., “Should the Devil Sell Prada? Retail Rejection Increases Aspiring Consumers’ Desire for the Brand.” Journal of Consumer Research, October 2014 {Thanks for the material}

P.S. When you’re done reading, I’d love for you to share your experience with luxury shopping? 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.

Friday Research: Why Your Shoppers Want to Consult Salesperson?

When Will You Use This?  

To improve your understanding of shoppers behavior, training your salespeople.

What’s The Red-Letter Bite Today? 

Most retailers believe in the value of salesperson consultation. But does it really increase store performance and, if so, what could motivate shoppers to seek salesperson's help?

Current research* investigates 425 shoppers and develops a model of four utilitarian and hedonic motivators of shopper consultation with salespeople. The results demonstrate that situational and individual influences, both utilitarian (i.e., shoppers’ purchase uncertainty and efficiency orientation) and hedonic (i.e., shoppers’ situation-related affect toward salespeople and shopping enjoyment) motivate retail shoppers to consult with salespeople. Moreover, salesperson consultation is found to be positively related to the amount of money spent by shoppers.

Don't Be Fooled: Purchase Uncertainty is Only One Possible Motivator Of Seeking A Salesperson

*Haas A., Kenning P. "Utilitarian and Hedonic Motivators of Shoppers’ Decision to Consult with Salespeople", Journal of Retailing (June, 2014) {Thanks for the material}

P.S. When you’re done reading, I’d love for you to share your experience with motivating shoppers for salespeople consultation? 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.

Friday Research: Early Adopters Might Lead Your Customers To Smoke And Mirrors

When Will You Use This?  

Planning and developing product and services launches, innovation projects.

What’s The Red-Letter Bite Today? 

Early adopters, who live, eat, and breathe everything fresh and new, can be invaluable for your brand. They can start a great sales rollercoaster with spreading the word and encouraging others to try the product.

However, early adopters with a high need for uniqueness may experience a communication dilemma: should I or should I not tell other about this cool new product? As once others adopt the same product, the level of differentness will radically decrease.

Current research* examines early adopters’ communication dilemma and how it leads to the “share and scare” strategy. The research reveals that sometimes early adopters use “share and scare” strategy and share information about their adoption with others, yet scare them out of adopting it, e.g. by focusing on features that diminish the innovation’s appeal for later adopters, such as its complexity, high price, or radicalness.

Limited Edition beats the Fear of Imitation?

Addition To Your Bag of Tricks    

This research shares a few tips to help you accomplish successful innovation launches. As authors suggest, "first, by launching a limited edition of an innovation, or premium versus common editions of the product, managers may diminish early adopters’ fear of imitation, because imitating them will be impossible. Second, managers can adjust the content of marketing campaigns to fit the needs of different adopters over time. For example, at launch, managers may appeal to early adopters with a high need for uniqueness by highlighting the product’s uniqueness and scarcity, and in subsequent stages, appeal to later adopters by emphasizing the product’s commonness and popularity. Third, managers can completely prevent the communication dilemma and the consequent “share and scare” strategy by appealing to early adopters with a low (rather than high) need for uniqueness. By focusing on benefits of the innovation separate from its uniqueness—such as functionality, hedonic value, or cognitive challenge—managers will appeal to early adopters who have a strong need to recommend the innovation but not to scare others."

*Moldovan, Sarit, Yael Steinhart, and Shlomit Ofen. "Share and Scare": Solving the Communication Dilemma of Early Adopters with a High Need for Uniqueness, Journal of Consumer Psychology: July, 2014. {Thanks for the material}

P.S. When you’re done reading, I’d love for you to share your experience with early adopters? 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.

Tuesday in India: Somewhere Coca-Cola Bottle Caps Are As Good As Money

Coca-Cola and me. No love lost.

And while I might hate their drink, I admire their marketing.

This time again: natural brilliance.

Coca-Cola had set up phone booths (as a part of “Hello Happiness” campaign) for South Asian workers all over Dubai so they were able to call back home more often.

What makes those booths special is that they accept Coca-Cola bottle caps as currency instead of coins.

 Pretty cool.

 

P.S. Just wondering how much is Coca-Cola bottle in Dubai? As workers are kind of forced to buy bottles to make calls. Precious money is still spent...

P.P.S. When you’re done reading, I’d love for you to share your favourite campaign this year? Leave a comment or Tweet me, let's chat!

Friday Research: The Big Marketing Fight - Time Vs Money

When Will You Use This?  

Developing promotional campaigns.

What’s The Red-Letter Bite Today? 

Time and money, the concepts deeply integrated in majority of today's ads, can affect consumer’s product evaluation strategy and lead to a specific product choice.

Current research* investigates time and money concepts and their importance to the consumer.

Authors show the difference between two concepts, stating: "as an important tool to gauge personal success and the ultimate media of exchange of goods and services, money is a tangible resource with its value being precise and relatively consistent across transactions. As a result, people are highly motivated and able to process money-related information in an analytical manner. By contrast, everyone receives relatively fair treatment in terms of time as we are all granted 24 hours per day no matter how we spend that time. Hence, compared to money, people are less motivated to process time-related information."

In life consumers are often required to choose between spending time to save money (e.g., buying separate products to prepare the dish) or spending money to save time (e.g., paying more for express delivery). This study reveals that increasing the salience of customers' time or money expenditure may change not only their distribution of resources, but also the products chosen.

Time is Money? Your Customers Don't Think So.

Addition To Your Bag of Tricks    

 

Current research might help you identify the evaluation strategies most likely to be adopted by consumers, and to highlight the aspects of an offer that will positively influence your consumer choice. As authors suggest, "for instance, the concept of money may be central to industries such as banking and luxury goods, whereas time may be more salient to educational institutions and delivery-services. Similarly, certain promotional programs put more emphasis on time investment (e.g., loyalty programs) while others focus on cost saving (e.g., coupons; see Lee & Ariely, 2006). Our research suggests that when time is made salient, it might be a good strategy to emphasize non-alignable differences, a unique verbal feature, or the overall attractiveness of an option. In contrast, when money is made salient, focusing on attribute-level advantages is crucial to marketing success."

*Lei Su, Leilei Gao.Strategy Compatibility: The Time versus Money Effect on Product Evaluation Strategies, Journal of Consumer Psychology: April, 2014. {Thanks for the material}

P.S. When you’re done reading, I’d love for you to share your experience with integrating time and money in the promotional material? 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.

Friday Research: Feeling Down In The Dumps? Go Shopping!

When Will You Use This?  

Creating "retail therapy" campaigns and not feeling guilty about it.

What’s The Red-Letter Bite Today? 

The so called “retail therapy” is considered wasteful and negative by majority of general public. But can an occasional episode of retail therapy help to alleviate distress?

Current research* explores whether making shopping choices could help to reduce residual (lasting for long time) sadness. The results reveal that making shopping choices helps to restore a sense of personal control over one’s environment, and thus helps to alleviate residual sadness (results based on hypothetical and real shopping). Shopping is all about choice (where to shop, whether to buy, what to buy), and previous research suggests that exercising choice can enhance one’s sense of control.

"I'll shop till I become happy as a flea in a doghouse!"

Addition To Your Bag of Tricks    

  

As a standing policy (“shop whenever your heart sinks”), retail therapy seems like a bad idea. However, don't be afraid to use the "retail therapy" card in your marketing on occasional basis. Based on the insights of current studies, shopping can help to alleviate sadness and no one has to feel guilty about it.

*Rick, Scott; Pereira, Beatriz; Burson, Katherine Alicia The Benefits of Retail Therapy: Making Purchase Decisions Reduces Residual Sadness. Journal of Consumer Psychology: December, 2013. {Thanks for the material}

P.S. When you’re done reading, I’d love for you to share your experience with retial therapy? 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.

Tuesday in India: Well, Ain't That A Touching Discovery With #AlphaStories

And again: it's not about budget, it's about story, Brands!

Sony India has launched a three-minute film: simple characters, simple editing, simple plot.

But it tells a story of a loyal product user and it's beautiful. Convincing. Heart-warming.

Watch the video below and check for yourself why “There’s more to a picture”.

 

Research Friday: How To Become The King Of Loyal Customers?

When Will You Use This? 

 

Planning and developing your commercial settings to provide meaningful experience for your customers and encourage place attachment.

What’s The Red-Letter Bite Today?

 

Place attachment is defined as one’s strong emotional bond with a specific location.

Current research* examines how people develop, experience, and act on place attachment in commercial settings. It is found that commercial place attachment emerges from experiences of familiarity, authenticity and security offered by the commercial setting, and from the associated experience of homeyness.

Moreover, it’s noted that consumers experience this unusually domesticated commercial experience as a gift from the service provider, and reciprocate with supportive behaviors toward the place, in particular volunteering, over-reciprocation, and ambassadorship.

Addition To Your Bag of Tricks    

 

Your business would only benefit from strong emotional bond with you customers. In order to provide enjoyable, extraordinary, and meaningful experience and social interaction, you don’t have to go for something extraordinary or spectacular. Make sure your customer feels comfortable at your business settings; there are a few symbolic elements that are similar to the general home environment; your interactions are always warm and respectful; your customer feels secure and safe, and it’s easy to find one’s way around a place.


*Debenedetti, Alain, Harmen Oppewal, Zeynep Arsel), Place attachment in commercial settings: A gift economy perspective, Journal of Consumer Research, 58 (Feb), 2014. {Thanks for the material}


P.S. When you’re done reading, I’d love for you to share your experience with place attachment? Do you have one specific place (not your home!) you could go to war for? 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.

Friday Research: Discriminatory Pricing Is Great. But Only When I Pay Less Than You!

When Will You Use This? 

 

Identifying effective pricing strategies for different groups of customers.

What’s The Red-Letter Bite Today?

Discriminatory pricing is a common practice today but it can also induce a sense of price unfairness with one’s customers. For example, when your customer finds out that she is paying more than another individual, she may become upset and perceive unfair treatment, leading to complaining, negative reviews, decrease in purchase behavior, etc.

Current series of experiments* explore how the power state interacts with comparative references in shaping consumer perceptions of price unfairness. The evidence supports the fact that high-power consumers perceive stronger price unfairness when paying more than other consumers do, while low-power consumers perceive stronger unfairness when paying more than they themselves paid in previous transactions.

The distinction occurs because consumers experience a threat to their self-importance from different types of disadvantaged comparisons depending on their power states.

Addition To Your Bag of Tricks  

 

You might first ask now how do I differentiate between high power and lowe power people?

Well, authors suggest an idea, saying: “although market segmentation can be performed based on variables that are highly correlated with the chronic sense of power (e.g., high vs. low socio-economic status), it is also possible that feelings of power can be easily and unobtrusively activated in the real world: for example, a psychological state of power can be induced by being exposed to words and advertisements (Rucker et al. 2011) related to power. Therefore, marketers can effectively change consumers’ relative sensitivity to different comparative standards by providing environmental cues that can momentarily shift individuals’ current state of power.”

It is important to identify effective pricing strategies for different groups of customers. As authors note, “ compared with high-power individuals, low-power individuals may need a stronger justification for price increases, but at the same time, the relative insensitivity of these consumers to other-comparisons may be helpful when firms provide differentiated products to different groups of customers.”

Also, when marketing to high-power customers, one can better elicit preference by highlighting the special treatment that they are receiving in relation to other customers.

*Liyin Jin, Yanqun He, and Ying Zhang. “How Power States Influence Consumers’ Perceptions of Price Unfairness.” 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 discriminatory pricing? 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.

Research Friday: VIP Consumers Want To Share Their Rewards

When Will You Use This? 

 

Creating rewards for your most important clientele (i.e., “VIPs”).

What’s The Red-Letter Bite Today?

Many businesses often segment their customers according to consumption and loyalty, and offer exclusive products and services (e.g. special discounts, exclusive lounges) to reward the most loyal customers and make them feel a sense of status.

Many of these preferential treatment programs allow VIPs to share their special benefits with a guest, so called 'entourage'. Does the presence of an entourage affect a VIP’s felt status during the preferential treatment?

Current series of experiments* examine how the presence of guests alters the status during VIP experiences. Evidence support the hypothesis that experiencing preferential treatment along with one’s entourage enhances a VIP’s felt status, even when the exclusivity of the reward itself is compromised.

Addition To Your Bag of Tricks  

 

It has been known that preferential treatment affects one’s perceived status, can lead to stronger bond between company and customer, and increase customer satisfaction so you should try integrating it into your marketing too:

- As a common rule (the 80/20) the majority of your sales come from a small amount of customers so don't forget to reward that exclusive loyal group;

- If your budget allows, permit your VIP customer to experience preferential treatment with his/her entourage

*Brent McFerran and Jennifer J. Argo. "The Entourage Effect." 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 VIP treatment? 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.

Research Friday: Don't Reward Him When Someone's Watching

When Will You Use This? 

Creating your preferential consumer treatment programs. Most managers think that customers prefer to receive extra benefits in front of others, however, the recent study shows that this is not always the case.

What’s For Dessert Today? 

Previous studies* confirmed that preferential treatment programs (where only a few people from a crowd are offered extra benefits ) are effective at generating sales, creating stronger consumer-brand relationships and more positive word of mouth.

The current series of experiments** examine preferential treatment that is earned through effort or loyalty versus unearned preferential treatment that is awarded by chance or spontaneously. It is revealed that receiving unearned preferential treatment in front of others generates feelings of unease and discomfort and lowers consumer satisfaction. It also results in customers, receiving unearned preferential treatment, leaving the store faster and purchasing less.

These results are mainly explained by the fact that people who receive undeserved rewards in front of others feel awkward and self-conscious because other equally deserving individuals judge and examine them.

My Personal Example As Consumer

I received unearned preferential treatment only once. I was entering the cosmetic shop in London when a shop assistant asked me to fill a short form for an hourly lucky draw. You guessed it right - I won it. The winner was announced through microphone and asked to come near the counter to receive the prize. I waited for 15 minutes after announcement to approach the counter because I didn’t want to look desperate and I didn’t want any looks from unlucky shoppers. Although I was happy about the prize, it was a bit awkward too, especially when I dropped by the store to get a lip balm only. I also hadn't felt any strong positive emotions towards the shop - I simply felt I was lucky and it was an effortless win. I shopped at that place twice afterwards.

 I feel quite different about the loyalty based preferential treatments. As many promotional loyalty programs inform about the rewards you can expect for your support for the brand, I really like being in control and choosing what benefits I want to “work for”. I like getting private emails about my rewards and sharing those with my family and friends. This way a brand reaches me in a more intimate and cozy way (which I appreciate) and in return I become a more frequent shopper.

Addition To Your Bag of Tricks

• As social environment is an important part of preferential treatment program, you should consider it carefully: if you carry out an unearned preferential treatment strategy (complementary gift, scratch and save discount, instant-win promo), use private communication channels to reach your customers – face to face, insider’s email, private call, personalized postcard, etc. 

• Loyality or effort based campaigns are always appreciated by consumer and received well in public settings. You might want to experiment with your own Frequent shopper program with special benefits and bonuses. 

*Lacey, Russell, Jaebeom Suh, and Robert M. Morgan. Differential Effects of Preferential Treatment Levels on Relational Outcomes. Journal of Service Research, 9 (February), 2007. {Thanks for the material!}

** Lan Jiang, JoAndrea Hoegg, and Darren W. Dahl. Consumer Reaction to Unearned Preferential Treatment. Journal of Consumer Research, October 2013. {Thanks for the material!}
 

P.S. Need some help on creating your Promotional Campaign? Let's do this together.