The Right Touch - The ConsumHERist

Posted on | April 9, 2009 |

by Delia Passi

A report on the Time.com website discusses the findings of a study that will soon appear in the Journal of Consumer Research, entitled The Effect of Mere Touch on Perceived Ownership, by Joann Peck and Suzanne B. Shu. In brief, the study reveals what is probably well known, but perhaps not proven, about how touching objects increases one’s inclination to buy as well as increasing one’s willingness to spend more on those items. Since this is something sophisticated retailers are generally aware of, it doesn’t add much to the knowledge base of that group.

The authors of the study did address the growing online market and how this touch phenomenon might be applied to online marketing. They examined how simply asking subjects to imagine owning or touching the item affected their responses and valuations. The result was much the same as for actually touching the item. Of course applying this imagining is not so simple in an online environment, since you’d have to constantly ask the customer to imagine this or that. It would get a little tiresome for the consumer.

Nevertheless, I’m going to give it a try. I have a four foot tin statue of a knight that had taken up residence in my garage because it doesn’t fit my Florida décor, and I have tried in vain to sell it on eBay. Yesterday I put it back on auction with a suggestion to the potential buyer to picture it in their entryway. Let’s see if it sells. Of course, if it does sell, it will prove nothing. I might just be lucky.

Now I need to get my prospective clients to imagine becoming WomenCertified®.

Delia Passi, Founder of WomenCertified® and author of Winning the Toughest Customer: The Essential Guide to Selling to Women is a regular columnist on ReachingWomenDaily. Delia can be reached at delia@medelia.com.