The Subtle Side of Marketing: Getting in Touch

A great deal of marketing involves trying to persuade, impress, and draw in consumers. But advertising, public relations, and marketing firms may be overlooking the influence that touching products can have on consumers’ valuation of objects and their sense of ownership. In a new research paper currently under review, Marketing Professor Suzanne Shu and co-author Joann Peck of the University of Wisconsin-Madison explore the role of physical touch and its relationship to the endowment effect—when individuals value an object more highly because it is in their possession.

Background

Twenty-five years of research has shown that consumers’ valuation of an object increases once they have taken ownership of it, also know as the endowment effect. But how does this physical contact with the object affect the endowed consumer’s sense of ownership and valuation? Can aspects of the object’s physical features, such as how much fun it is to touch and hold, influence valuation? And how might individual differences in sense of touch interact with these physical features? These issues have implications for marketers who must consider the physical, psychological, and behavioral aspects of attracting, persuading, and connecting customers to their products.

Shu comments that this research is particularly relevant in ebay transactions. Because sellers may be more attached to their objects for sale—focusing on positive qualities and attributes that others are unaware of—they will tend to value it more. The authors also directly measure psychological ownership and find that it impacts the relationship between touch and valuation of an object. Psychological ownership, which can include the perception of the external object as being “part of oneself,” comes from both having control over the object and feeling continuity with the object based on physical proximity or exposure.

Through three different studies, Shu and Peck examine differences in the endowment effect when participants are given the opportunity to handle an object that is fun to touch (a slinky, in this case), and consider individual differences in preferences for touch.  The authors also incorporate objects that are not as fun to touch (such as a keychain), again considering individual differences. The construct of touch has not been directly measured before in endowment literature.

The Marketing Context

Recent advances in investigating the role of touch in consumers’ purchase decisions suggest that preferences for a product are indeed sensitive to haptic, or touch, factors. The use of haptic information varies across products, consumers, and situations. Consumers with a preference for touch are more confident and less frustrated when they can touch products while shopping. “Advertisers or marketers need to get customers in the right frame of mind so they can have or experience a sense of ownership,” Shu explains. “The framing effect or changing the way in which people view the object—the psychological side of marketing—is a powerful tool.” The research points out that the endowment effect is alive and well, and can be leveraged through touch factors. Shu mentions a host of stores and products which have capitalized off the concept—Brookstone, Sharper Image, the brightly-colored, extremely squishy pillows, squeezy balls, and so on.

Besides characteristics of the individual that may exaggerate the endowment effect, the characteristics of an object also have an influence. In the research, the basic endowment effect was found with sellers valuing the slinky more than buyers. Sellers in the touch condition felt more ownership of the slinky compared to sellers in the no touch condition. Similarly, sellers who could touch the slinky valued it more than those sellers who could not touch the object. Both psychological ownership and valuation were higher among individuals who could directly touch the object. The results thus far suggest that touch has a larger effect on reservation price for sellers when the object is fun to touch (the slinky in Study 1) than when an object is not as fun to touch (the keychain in Study 2).

It has been recognized that touch excels at obtaining specific types of information, which include texture, softness, weight, and temperature. If a product category varies in a way on one or more of these attributes, consumers will be more motivated to touch the product prior to purchase. It has also been found that a soft texture unrelated to a specific product attribute can result in greater persuasion, especially for those individuals high in the need to touch. “It’s possible with regular shopping items, if you put customers in the right frame of mind, then you can help them imagine that they own the item. They may then focus more on the positive qualities about it,” Shu suggests. The authors pose a question: Could sellers and buyers, instead of actually touching the object, be prompted to imagine the fun experience of touching a product, with the same results?

Concluding Remarks

The research findings may have implications for the parallel universes of the online world and the physical retail world. Would certain segments of a market gravitate to physical locations versus an online venue for purchase, particularly the high-need to touch people? It’s hard to reproduce the touch effect online, i.e., virtual touch.  Shu discerns that what marketers should aim for is the deeper, more psychological connection to a product or service versus simply conveying more information.

The influence of touch on psychological ownership and product valuation may not come as a surprise to consumer advocates and practicing marketing managers. It may also help explain the link between touch and impulse purchase. Marketing managers for highly tactile objects have also realized the power of touch, many of them recently devising innovative ways to allow shoppers to touch an object within its packaging. For example, a trip to the pen aisle of any office supply store will reveal packages with various holes and cutouts designed to encourage touch. Although the endowment effect has been well-identified in research for over two decades, the ways in which it impacts the consumer’s shopping experience remains a rich area of exploration. Shu concludes, “Marketers need to try to figure out how to take advantage of the endowment effect coupled with the boost generated by touch factors (the fun factor).”

The research paper “To Hold Me Is to Love Me: The Role of Touch in the Endowment Effect” by Suzanne B. Shu and Joann Peck is currently under review.

Summary by Jennifer Warren