Touch and consumer behavior

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Author: Nicolas Gueguen , PhD in Psychology, research teacher at the University of South Brittany (France). The material is published in an abridged translation from French.



Buying usually involves social contact, and the behavior of salespeople is of great importance for the behavior of the consumer. The influence of a salesperson may also depend on non-verbal factors. Touching helps to create a feeling of closeness between the buyer and the salesperson. Thus, some researchers have hypothesized that a salesperson's touch to a client can evoke sympathy and emotionally involve them in the sales situation, and therefore facilitate a purchase.

The study of the role of touch in sales began slovenia whatsapp data a field experiment by Smith and colleagues. Building on previous research on touch, they hypothesized that the effects of touch on compliance might extend to sales requests. The technique they used was simple. A product presentation table was set up at the entrance to a supermarket and a new brand of pizza was being introduced. A product demonstrator approached customers in the store and asked them to sample the pizza. While making the request, the demonstrator either touched or did not touch the subject, depending on the condition. After the subject walked away from the counter, having agreed to sample the pizza, another person approached him and asked him his opinion of the pizza he had tasted. Ratings were made on a scale from 1 (<not good>) to 10 (<excellent>). The customer was then thanked and went about his business. However, unbeknownst to him, the experimenter followed him at a distance to see if he would buy the pizza. Consequently, it was possible to establish both the number of people who tried the pizza and the number of those who bought it.

Touching made people more willing to try the offered product, but also more willing to buy it. These differences were largely independent of the product evaluation, as both groups showed almost identical evaluations (8.65 in the touch condition and 8.57 in the control condition). This suggests that consumer behavior was not influenced by the perceived taste quality of the product.