Following up on my column about the emotional link to purchasing habits, I sat down for a podcast interview with Dr. Maura Scott, who teaches consumer behavior at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Scott's most recently published research focuses on the consumption behavior of chronic dieters, and yielded some interesting results that could be of use in helping businesses understand and predict the behavior of their own consumers. She believes some consumption behaviors are similar, no matter what type of product is involved.
Providing an interesting slant of credibility, before joining the world of academia Dr. Scott was a marketing professional for several large companies, including 3M, Motorola and Dial. During her stint with corporate marketing, Dr. Scott looked into changes in paper consumption in the early days of computer use, as well as investigating how consumers would view the change from large laundry detergent containers to the more compact containers we buy today.
Her work with those companies is what led her to where she is today. Because, she said, no matter what type of product she was selling, the questions continued to be: What factors influence the choices we make as consumers, and why? In what circumstances do we over-consume, and what factors drive us to over-consume certain products and services?
With her study of dieters, Dr. Scott found that chronic dieters tended to over-consume because they had an emotion-laden relationship with food and that stress was a trigger in overeating. These findings certainly relate to author Dan Hill's assertions about the role emotions play in decision-making, which he wrote about in Emotionomics, the book that was the basis for my last column. Hill said we feel before we think and those emotions are "subconscious, immediate and inescapable." Dr. Scott's findings regarding chronic dieters and overeating tend to prove that.
Another area Dr. Scott has been investigating is impulse purchasing. In a non-scientific study she conducted with her classes, Dr. Scott tried to determine the underlying factors of impulse purchases. All those candies, gadgets and gizmos you see at the check-out line are there for a reason. It's simple really: You're standing in line. You have nothing to do. You see a product that looks interesting or maybe one that you've been meaning to pick up but never remember to. It doesn't cost much, so you pick it up and add it to the items in your cart. Bingo! The store increases sales all day long from this type of behavior.
In Dr. Scott's classes, findings showed women to be more likely than men to make impulse purchases, and also showed women to be more interested in window shopping, using products in new and creative ways and shopping to relieve boredom.
The students also discussed when a price point shifts from being a low-effort decision to a high-effort decision. Despite the fact that the students were diverse in terms of amount and sources of income, they were relatively consistent in their conclusions about various product purchases. So, if a business wants to increase sales through impulse purchases, the product has to be priced appropriately. She says, however, businesses must take steps to make sure consumers do not experience regret later from their impulsiveness. This brings us to one of the next areas of study for Dr. Scott - buyer's remorse.
How can businesses determine what items to sell and at what price point to make consumers feel good about their purchases? They can leverage pricing information by conducting research with customers to understand their "zone of acceptance" on price. Dr. Scott believes research is essential for all businesses and emphasizes that academic research like hers is available in libraries. In other words, there are low-cost ways to find out what consumers think, whether you are part of a small business or a large one. One of the main differences in academic research versus the kinds of research most companies can afford to do is the amount of time spent digging deeper into the subject. In the corporate world, having a few months for research is a luxury as compared to years of in-depth study by universities.
For those businesses that can afford to do it, conducting focus groups provides excellent insight into consumer opinion - - what consumers think and why they think it. And now that we know the role that emotion plays in purchases decisions, looking for those emotional triggers in a focus group setting could be invaluable.
Dr. Scott is one of many researchers at the University of Kentucky that is moving the institution toward its goal of becoming a top 20 university. She believes her students have a competitive advantage because they will enter the job market with a better understanding of what makes customers tick. This is something many students from other universities may not have been privy to.
Mary Hemlepp, APR, is co-owner of the Lexington-based public relations firm Wiser, Hemlepp & Associates. Contact her at mary@wiserhemlepp.com.