Marketing and the sense of touch
I can still remember my mother telling me many years ago, in a department store I know not where, to look but do not touch. And, on other occasions, to look with my eyes and not my hands. I’ve heard similar instructions being given to young shoppers with adults in tow many times over the intervening years, and seen numerous (and fairly aggressive it always seemed to me) “If you break it you own it” signs in stores that more explicitly convey the same risk and threat combo my mother was trying to import when I was young.
The reality is, those retailers that do not encourage shoppers to touch the goods they have on offer might well be missing out, big time…
The emotional response generated by touch can be a powerful one, especially for individuals who are particularly sensitive to such stimuli. It is for this very reason that in 2003 the Illinois state Attorney General’s office even went as far as to warn holiday shoppers to be cautious around retailers who encouraged them to hold products and imagine the objects as their own when shopping.
Don’t touch. It creates such a chasm between the shopper and the seller. Not much room for the “try before you buy” gambit in those stores, that’s for sure. Fortunately perhaps, the opportunity to touch or try is now much more commonplace than it was when I was five – car dealerships, computer, hi fi, gaming and mobile phone stores, are obvious examples that spring to mind. While providing consumers with the immediate option to touch products while browsing is possible for all but mail order and virtual stores, there are still some real world stores in which “Thou shall not touch” remains the overriding tenet – typically an unfortunate consequence of the way their goods are packaged or displayed.
If you’re managing brands or categories on or off line where that do not touch mindset prevails, for whatever reason, it might be timely to consider the recent research on the power of the sense of touch by Joann Peck and Suzanne Shu published in the Journal of Consumer Research in October 2009.
Most people understand through personal experience that the sense of touch can be a powerful trigger for memories and emotions. Peck and Shu however investigated whether or not simply holding an object and imagining it is yours (whether you’re a buyer or a seller) influences your perceived psychological (rather than legal) ownership of the object and your perception of its value.
Using a variety of objects (Play Foam, Slinky toys, mugs and pencils) the authors were able to demonstrate that touch does indeed lead to increased perceived ownership and an increase in valuation of each object (if the object provides neutral or positive sensory feedback).
Importantly for on line store owners, they also demonstrated that for buyers or non owners the sense of perceived ownership could be significantly increased just with the use of either touch or ownership imagery. Ownership imagery also significantly increased perceived ownership and value of objects. The authors note that, “The use of ownership imagery to increase both perceived ownership and valuation of the objects was especially effective when touch was unavailable”. Clearly, there’s a very strong message in those comments for on line and catalogue retailers in particular.
Objects that were enjoyable to touch were shown to create an increase in perceived ownership and the positive affective reaction increased the perceived value of the object for both buyers and sellers. Touching objects that were less enjoyable to touch (eg the Play Foam) still enhanced perceived ownership but decreased the affective reaction (and so perceived value of the object in those circumstances did not increase).
Peck and Shu’s research certainly provides a possible explanation as to the relationship between touch and impulse purchase, and the success of tactics such as “free trial” periods. However, their work also highlights an opportunity for the owners of virtual stores. On line retailers who use ownership imagery as part of the interaction with potential buyers on line may be able to significantly increase perceived ownership and value, and hence the amount those shoppers are willing to pay to acquire the goods on offer.
The authors have shown the effect of ownership imagery is a powerful one, however, even then they may have understated the effect in real terms, as their experiments deliberately used products in which touch would not provide additional and meaningful attribute information. They recommend additional research should be conducted into “products that provide both positive sensory feedback as well as information through touch input”.
So, there you have it: merely touching an object – or even simply viewing imagery encouraging touch – results in an increase in perceived ownership of that object. Perhaps my mother, all those many years ago, already knew this to be true. She’d recognised even at the age of five my Gollum-like consumerist streak, and could see the future more clearly than could I. My little precious Mechano set/Scalextric Track/Raleigh Chopper/Rubik’s Cube/Sony Walkman/X Box 360/Flatscreen TV/iPhone… I’m sure you get the picture.
Next time I go shopping, come to think of it, I’’m going to try and keep my hands in my pockets just for once.