Customer Expectations: What DOES Your Customer Want?

By Kit Yarrow, PhD
Consumer Psychologist, Keynote Speaker

In a recent experiment about how people respond to colors, waitresses wearing red received 16-24% higher tips from their male customers than waitresses wearing any other color.  Similarly, researchers found that red “buy” buttons on websites got clicked 21% more often than green buttons on otherwise identical websites. 

Smart marketers have always known that color is a powerful communication tool.  But in the past few years that power has multiplied. And so has the influence of other non-verbal, sensory cues.  For example, recent psychological studies have shown that:

• We’re more likely to believe something we see in a graph or chart than read in a block of text

• We rate things more harshly when we’re standing on hard surfaces or holding rough objects

• We’re tidier when we’re eating a crumbly cookie if the room is scented with lemon

Why this shift?  One of the culprits is our digital world.  Because of our use of technology, we have shorter attention spans.  Sensory cues are absorbed and processed more quickly and effortlessly and are therefore increasingly favored over words. “Viewing,” rather than reading, is the new norm.  So today’s version of that old adage about what a picture is worth might be more like, “a picture is worth 10,000 words when it comes to the reputation of your company.”

Consumer perceptions and purchases are increasingly decided by how things look, feel, sound and smell.  Meanwhile, what businesses SAY about their products and services is losing impact. People don’t take the time to listen or read - and even if they do they don’t trust business-generated messages as much as they do their own perceptions.

So, what’s a business owner to do?

• Focus on “showing” your business's strengths and values through actions and associations rather than only “telling” your story through advertising

• Take a fresh look at your retail spaces and facilities to see, smell and hear what your customers might

• Consider substituting images, graphs and bullet points for paragraphs of words whenever you can

• Help your customers understand systems, procedures and your brand with things like color-coding

• Communicate fewer ideas at a time, but reach out more frequently

It’s interesting to note that the participants of the experiments I mentioned earlier were completely unaware that the symbols and cues being tested had influenced their beliefs and decisions.  They consistently stated that they were unswayed by the scents or sensations they encountered - but their actions say otherwise.  That’s why simply asking consumers what they want or need isn’t enough.  Today successful businesspeople need to have a deeper understanding of their consumers, and that’s what I hope to offer you in my keynote address on May 6th at the 2015 AZSA Trade Show.

In addition to more information about the new ways that consumers process information, I’ll explain three major shifts in the psychology of how, when and why consumers buy and I’ll offer eight strategies for adjusting to these shifts that you can put to work immediately.

The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Time Magazine, Good Morning America and companies such as General Electric and Merrill Lynch turn to Consumer Psychologist Kit Yarrow to understand today’s consumer mind. Professor, Consultant, and Author Kit Yarrow is the Keynote Speaker at this year’s Trade Show.

Source: Behind Closed Doors, AZSA Newsletter Archives