Human beings like to be praised. It makes us feel good and appreciated. Receiving gifts can also make us feel valued by the gift giver. In the world of marketing, understanding how to make consumers feel good can help boost sales.
On May 22, the last webinar of this season’s BizInsight series looked at The Art and Science behind Flattery and Gift Pricing for Marketers. The webinar featured Professor Jaideep SENGUPTA, one of the world’s leading experts in customer psychology, and Professor Ralf VAN DER LANS, an award-winning researcher and teacher on Pricing Strategy and Marketing Research. Both professors presented valuable and practical insight on how marketers could use the persuasion tactic of flattery and the positioning strategies of gifts to boost sales.
Professor Sengupta explored insincere flattery as a powerful yet practical persuasion tactic and applied it to a broad range of cultures and contexts, from everyday encounters to sealing business deals and setting marketing approaches. Flattery can produce positive feelings in a person. Even if it is insincere flattery, the positive feeling remains for a long time even after the person has the time to think more logically about the situation. Consumers who experience positive feelings triggered by flattery are more likely to commit to a purchase.
As simple as this tactic sounds, flattery requires thoughtful planning. Too much flattery can cause a reverse effect as the person would have heard the same flattery too often, internalizing it as a fact rather than a compliment. Furthermore, people from different cultural backgrounds approach their work and rapport sequences differently. “Everybody responds to flattery. You just need the right button to push. Those buttons may be different for different people in different cultures. But if you push the right button, you'll get the response.“
Riding on Professor Sengupta’s presentation, what’s a better way to flatter someone than to give them a gift? Professor Van de Lans shared his usage of the marketing research methodology of conjoint studies to explore how to maximize profits by positioning specific products as gifts. Gift-giving is an important gesture to signal the value of the relationship between the giver and the receiver. When people don’t know what the receiver wants as a gift, they tend to spend more to demonstrate their sincerity in a relationship.
These findings have important implications for retailers that want to maximize profits, as well as consumers that want to avoid overspending on gifts. For retailers, they should use price discrimination as an effective pricing strategy to charge more for gift items, while being able to segment consumers who are shopping for themselves from the ones shopping for gifts. By comparison, consumers can avoid overspending by finding out what the receiver wants by using tools like wish lists. Professor Van de Lans also recommends signaling the value of the relationship in a different way, such as investing your time to create a gift.
Whether you are at work or at home, we all have an innate desire for others to like and appreciate us. The art of flattery and gift-giving only works if it is thought out and planned carefully. Watch the full webinar to learn more as Professor Sengupta and Professor Van der Lans chat about how these tactics can be applied in the contexts of digital platforms, B2B marketing and more.
TO REVIEW:
https://hkust.zoom.us/rec/share/u-xXPrrIxm9LQZHAuHnaHf8GJb3XX6a8hiAfr_VfxU9crsqGj2LVSOeNryMUcDqZ
BizInsight will return next year with a new season of insightful webinars from our faculty members. Stay in touch with us to receive the latest updates