Word: touche
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...When you touch something, you instantly feel more of a connection to it," says Suzanne Shu, a marketing professor at UCLA's Anderson School of Management and co-author of the study. "That connection stirs up an emotional reaction - 'Yeah, I like the feel of it. This can be mine.' And that emotion can cause you to buy something you never would have bought if you hadn't touched...
...prove the power of touch, the researchers placed two products, a Slinky and a coffee mug, in front of 231 undergraduate students at the University of Wisconsin. About half were told they could touch the products, while the other half were prohibited from fiddling with them. Students were then asked to express their sense of ownership of the products and to indicate how much money they were willing to pay for each...
...results were clear: those who touched the items reported statistically significant higher levels of perceived ownership. They were also willing to pay more to purchase the products. "If you don't want to spend more money, be careful what you touch," says Joann Peck, a marketing professor at the University of Wisconsin's business school and the study's other co-author. Peck happily describes herself as an expert in haptics, the science of touch; she has published six other papers on the subject. "Touching something gives you that little sense of control," she says, "and that alone can increase...
...some stores already have the right touch. But can online merchants benefit from our haptical habits, given that you can't feel a product on the Web? The answer is yes, as long as the sites compel consumers to do the closest thing possible to touching something: imagine that they're touching something...
...test this hypothesis, the authors added an extra layer to the experiment. After the students either touched or didn't touch the Slinky and the coffee mug, they were asked to imagine picking up the products and bringing them home. The other half were asked to simply evaluate the products in their minds. Among those who touched the products, imagining ownership did not affect the price they'd be willing to pay for them. However, among those who didn't touch the items - a group that shares the same hands-free experience as online shoppers - picturing ownership led to significantly...