Let’s say that you’re the CEO of a large retail clothing brand. You have stores throughout the world, and you have a website. People buy shirts, pants, skirts, belts, and so on at your stores and at your site.
If you want people to enjoy the shopping process with your brand, and to be excited about buying your products, what should you do?
Let’s say your answer is: “I’m going to make shopping in the stores the best shopping experience possible. We’ll have in-store events, models wearing the clothes in the stores, and exciting sales. We’ll stock the stores with all colors and sizes, so people can be sure that when they come in, we’ll have what they want.”
No, not a good answer. I’ll give you another try by asking a slightly different question: If people are buying products from your online store, what’s the most important thing you can do to get them excited about buying a product from you?
Now you aren’t sure what to say. You thought your answer to the first question was great, but then I told you it wasn’t. You stumble for a minute and then you light up and say, “We’ll give them free overnight shipping!”
Nope, also not a good answer.
Excitement And Anticipation
Robert Sapolsky is a neuroscientist who studies dopamine in the brain. He trains monkeys to know that when a light comes on that is a signal. Once the signal arrives (the light comes on), the monkeys know that if they press a button 10 times, after the 10th time, a food treat will appear.
Sapolsky measures the amount and timing of dopamine release in the monkeys’ brains during the cycle of signal—pressing—food treat. Figure 76.1 shows the results.
Sapolsky points out that the dopamine release starts as soon as the signal arrives, and ends at the end of the bar pressing. Many people think that dopamine is released when the brain receives a reward, but dopamine is actually released in anticipation of a reward. It’s the dopamine that keeps the monkeys pressing the bar until the treat arrives.
In the first experiment, the monkeys received the treat as soon as they pressed the bar 10 times. In the second experiment the monkeys received the food treat only 50 percent of the time after they pressed the bar. What happened to the dopamine in that situation? Figure 76.2 shows that twice as much dopamine was released, even though a treat was given only half of the time.
FIGURE 76.1 Dopamine release for monkeys pressing a bar to receive a food treat.
FIGURE 76.2 Twice as much dopamine was released when there was only a 50/50 chance of getting the food treat.
And in the third and fourth experiments, Sapolsky gave the treat 25 percent of the time or 75 percent of the time. Interestingly, when the treat was given either 25 percent of the time or 75 percent of the time, the dopamine release was the same, and it was halfway between the 100 percent and 50 percent chance of getting a food treat.
It’s All About Unpredictability And Anticipation
When the monkeys got the treat all the time, a fair amount of dopamine was released during the pressing phase. When getting the treat was unpredictable, the amount of dopamine went up. Unpredictability increases anticipation. In the 25- and 75-percent situations, there was actually more predictability. If the monkey got a food treat 25 percent of the time, it meant that they mostly didn’t get one. If they got a food treat 75 percent of the time, it meant that they mostly got one. Getting the food treat 50 percent of the time was the least predictable situation.
Figure 76.3 shows what the dopamine chart looked like with the 25-percent and 75-percent condition included.
FIGURE 76.3 All three conditions.
Instant Gratification Isn’t Always The Answer
So what do monkeys pressing a bar have to do with online shopping? When people place an order for a product online, they don’t get the product right away. They have to wait. And in the waiting is anticipation. As designers, we tend to think that instant gratification is of the utmost importance. But we should think instead about the entire shopping experience. It’s important to find the right spot on the anticipation/instant gratification continuum. If you go too far on the side of instant gratification, then there’s no dopamine-fueled anticipation. On the other hand, if you make people wait a really long time, they may be more annoyed with your brand than delighted. People are unlikely to be willing to wait three months for the shirt they ordered without your brand eroding.
Why Free Overnight Shipping May Not Be The Answer
I’m aware that when I talk about these issues, some of this is not logical and some online retailers don’t agree with me. But remember that these feelings that your customers are having aren’t necessarily logical either.
In interviews I conducted about online shopping, I was surprised to discover the following:
- People didn’t necessarily want free overnight shipping. They wanted control over when the item(s) would arrive more than they wanted it overnight. For many urban people who didn’t have a car, it was especially important for them to be able to control the day and time of the delivery as much as possible.
- People commented on the excitement of waiting for the product to arrive.
- People wanted online shopping to be fun. They weren’t just looking for a quick and efficient way to shop.
Takeaways
- You can make online shopping as exciting as in-store shopping if you build in anticipation.
- Give people as much control as possible over the day and time of delivery of their online purchases.
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