CUSTOMER HAPPINESS
On Sunday , my brother-in-law got into the car in the back seat , took a deep breath and said , " Ah , that new car smell ." The weird thing is I don ' t smell it anymore .
Have you ever wondered why your house doesn ' t smell weird but everybody else ' s does ? Or why you can ' t smell your own bad breath ?
Well in order to answer this question and understand what it has to do with the modern consumer , let ' s get into our noses and our brains to understand what happens when you smell a new scent .
Immediately when I hang this new air freshener , odor molecules waft through the air into the odor receptors in my nose .
These receptors send a signal to my brain where I have to identify the scent and decide what to do about it . Almost instantly , within this time span of about two breaths , my receptors turn off and the intensity of the smell starts to fade because my brain has decided that this black ice scent is non-threatening and there ' s no reason to keep paying attention to it .
Scientists have a name for this , they call it sensory adaptation . In fact your nose is the only one of the five senses than can adapt so rapidly . But what does this have to do with marketing ? Well , everything actually .
You see , when I purchased this car I was really excited about it , I wanted to have a technologically advanced , extremely nice , clean , brand new smelling car , but that didn ' t last long .
A month later , I ' ve moved on . Instead of telling people I have a new car , I just have a car ; come to think of it , I don ' t think I ' ve told anyone in like the last three weeks that I have a new car . You see , just like my nose has adapted to the black ice air freshener and that new car smell , my brain has adapted to the idea of having a new car .
HEDONIC ADAPTION
And this phenomenon of rapid consumer adaptation has a name too , it is called hedonic adaptation .
You see , buying something does make you happier , but only for a very short amount of time . You know what I want now ? I want new luggage . You see , if I just had new luggage , I ' d be happier .
How long a purchase makes you happy is directly proportional to the size of the purchase . A car purchase , for example , should make you happier than a stick of gum , theoretically .
But this chase is a treadmill , consumers are effectively chasing happiness by buying things , but there ' s always another purchase that will make you happy . In fact , it ' s called the hedonic treadmill .
SO HOW CAN WE MAKE OUR CUSTOMERS HAPPIER FOR LONGER ?
Well , take another deep breath . Have you ever wondered why your house smells funny when you return from a long vacation ? Well , the fact is it probably doesn ' t smell any different than when you left , it just seems that way . You see , while you were away your brain adapted to a whole new series of scents , and smells and experiences , and when you returned home , your brain has to readjust to the scent that only seems new .
So how can you increase your customers happiness , how can you get them off the hedonic treadmill just for a little longer ? You ' ve got to help them savor the happiness they felt when they first interacted with your product .
Ask yourself , what are you doing to invite your customer to reflect on the way that your product makes their lives happier ? Because it isn ' t about what you buy , it ' s about how what you buy makes you feel , and how long that feeling lasts .
The longer you extend that joy , the more they ' ll buy and the more people they ' ll tell . You see , happiness is like that new car smell , it doesn ' t linger long and instead of reminding your customers about your product works or how great your company is , how can you reignite the way that product makes them feel ?
Andrew Davis is a best-selling author and keynote speaker . Before building and selling a thriving digital marketing agency , Andrew produced for NBC and worked for The Muppets . He ' s appeared in the New York Times and on the Today Show . He ' s crafted documentary films and award-winning content for tiny start-ups and Fortune 500 brands . Today , Andrew Davis teaches business leaders how to grow their businesses , transform their cities , and leave their legacy .
akadrewdavis . com
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