New research has found that sadness increases the amount of money people are prepared to pay for a commodity. In an experiment carried out by a team from Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, Stanford and Pittsburgh universities volunteers were subjected to a short piece of video about either the death of a boy's mentor or the Great Barrier Reef. Both videos had been validated to induce either a state of sadness or no emotional response. After watching the videos the participants were then asked to buy or not buy a bottle of water at various prices.
The people who had watched the video about the death of the boy's mentor paid more for the same bottle of water than the people who had watched the Great Barrier Reef video. The researchers concluded that people's emotional state has a direct influence on how much they are willing to spend.
For years sales people have been taught to greet customers with a smile. Most people automatically smile back, and by smiling their brains assume they are happy and run their 'happy program'. The new research above suggests there may be an alternative. I'm not suggesting alienating or berating customers as they enter your premises like a retail Basil Fawlty but perhaps some low key melancholic classical music rather than Gobby Williams blaring out might put shoppers into a more self-reflective state making them more likely to pay higher prices.
Ethics aside, it's a fascinating area to be explored.
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