Friday Research: Holymackerel, Don't Let Your Customer Buy and Avoid Buyer’s Remorse

When Will You Use This?  

Developing tactics in order to increase customer satisfaction.

What’s The Red-Letter Bite Today? 

We all know this feeling: it’s the last day of the month, your wallet is light as a feather.. Suddenly, you get seduced by a very attractive ad and buy a new pair of beautiful pumps. Just like that. They are really beautiful but you suddenly get mixed feelings: satisfied and guilty.

Current studies* measured satisfaction from purchases made with the last of participants’ financial resources. Results revealed less satisfaction with a purchase if someone thinks it will be difficult or take a long time to replenish their budget.

On the other hand, if someone comes into money without any effort—like winning cash from a contest or a lottery—they are more satisfied with their purchases if funds were running low compared to if they already had plenty of financial resources.

So Happy, So Broke!

Addition To Your Bag of Tricks    

As authors suggest, "brands looking to increase customer satisfaction can run product promotions during times of the month when they believe consumers have more money in their budgets. Additionally, to reduce the pain of spending one’s last dollar and increase product satisfaction, brands can use coupons and special pricing incentives at times of the month when they believe consumers have exhausted their budgets."

*Soster R.L., Gershoff A.D., and Bearden W.O. “The Bottom Dollar Effect: The Influence of Spending to Zero on Pain of Payment and Satisfaction.” 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 increasing customer satisfaction? 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: I Bet You're Looking At Your Screen Now. Look Away

Have your kids around?

Off your computer, then.

The food brand Kissan's new video will encourage you to stop and smell the roses with your family. 

Or grow tomatoes.

Superb storytelling anyways.

 

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

Friday Research: Do You Have to Sacrifice Quality Figurine to be Green?

When Will You Use This?  

Creating and developing positioning strategies for your new and improved products.

What’s The Red-Letter Bite Today? 

Nowadays it's quite common for companies to upgrade and add new product features in order to increase the desirability of a product. Many companies choose to redesign popular products using materials that are more environmentally-friendly. But do consumers really respond better to the "greener" products?

Current research* puts focus on green product enhancements and specifically, how the communication of environmental benefits as intended or unintended affects consumers’ purchase decisions

As authors explain, "in a series of studies, consumers learned about a company that manufactures household cleaning products and were told that the company either intended to make the product better for the environment or that the environmental gain was the result of another improvement. Consumers thought the products were higher in quality and were more likely to purchase the cleaning products when the improvement was unintended. Even when the company’s intentions were not disclosed, consumers thought the products suffered from a quality control problem, suggesting that consumers automatically perceive green products as being lower quality even when a company does not specify its intentions."

Green works for environment, but will it work on my stains?, consumers worry.

Addition To Your Bag of Tricks    

This research suggests a few communication tips for companies, manufacturing green products or thinking of improving some basic product features to become more friendly to the environment. As one of the most important issues for consumers when deciding whether or not to purchase green products is "whether the quality of the green product is undermined", the authors suggest to either position the improvement as unintended or emphasize that the primary goal is improving the quality of the product.

*Newman G.E., Gorlin M., Dhar R. “When Going Green Backfires: How Firm Intentions Shape the Evaluation of Socially Beneficial Product Enhancements.” 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 redesigning a product ? 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: This is For The Selfie Addict in You

There is no bigger love than love for yourself.

Riding on a modern selfie madness, Sony India has delicately introduced a brand new Xperia C3.

You won't see a proper promotional ad but rather a hilarious catchy video which is oh-so-true for many selfie-obessed girls out there.

Laugh yourself silly.

   

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

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.

Tuesday in India: You'll Never Look at Festivals The Same Way Again

Regular terror attacks in India send shivers down my spine.

That's why every initiative by the police to tackle this issue is welcomed with open arms.

Recently Mumbai Police has launched a film campaign in Mumbai cinemas urging citizens to stay alert and look for suspicious objects during the Ganapati festival. Time and again people go about the celebrations without paying attention to anything fishy. And this is a biggie.

Stay observant and keep your eye on the ball.




 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: Take Driver's Seat to Impress Your Online Shopper

When Will You Use This?  

Developing your website and creating a better online experience for your customers.

What’s The Red-Letter Bite Today? 

In recent years the Internet has become the main channel for consumers in search for products and services. However, the field of online retailing needs more investigation to understand what’s really significant in this new virtual environment.

Current research* uses pleasure, arousal, and dominance (PAD) model, seeking to extend existing knowledge about consumers’ activities in online retail environments by focusing on the largely ignored role of perceived dominance. If you don't know much about PAD, the original model was created by Mehrabian and Russell (1974) and it suggests that the organism response reflects the individual‘s emotional states. All emotional reactions to an environment can be categorized into 3 dimensions: pleasure, arousal, and dominance (shortly, PAD). Pleasure-displeasure dimension refers to the degree to which an individual feels happy, satisfied, pleased with the situation; arousal-unarousal dimension refers to the degree to which an individual feels stimulated, excited, energetic in the situation; dominance-submissiveness dimension refers to the degree to which an individual feels control over or free to act in the situation.

It is revealed that perceived dominance or influence over oneself has direct effects on purchasing intentions, as well as indirect impacts through pleasure. The impact of perceived dominance on pleasure also is moderated by situational involvement. Moreover, whereas high task-relevant cues exert significant effects on perceived dominance, low task-relevant cues influence arousal.

Will She Respond to Website Atmosphere as to Real Life?

Addition To Your Bag of Tricks    

This research shares a few insights to help you develop a better online experience for your customers and of course, get more conversions. The results reveal the significant effect of high task-relevant cues on dominance, meaning, tasks that are directly related to shopping goals (verbal website content, pictures of products, navigation aids, etc) should help your customer feel totally informed and confident to make the right decision, your website should radiate power and soft authority to influence the shopper.

Moreover, this study found that low task-relevant cues have an effect on arousal, which means that such website elements as colors, background patterns, fonts, icons, music, etc should arouse, stimulate and excite your customers in order to influence their shopping behaviour.

  

*Jung-Kuei Hsieh, Yi-Ching Hsieh, Hung-Chang Chiu, Ya-Ru Yang,"Customer Response to Web Site Atmospherics: Task-relevant Cues, Situational Involvement and PAD" Journal of Interactive Marketing, August 2014 {Thanks for the material}

P.S. When you’re done reading, I’d love for you to share your experience with creating great online experience for your customers? 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.