Product-Person Bias
We look for and value human connections in our products
Be it a human-like shape, empathic vocal feedback or humorous tone of voice in the manual: products with a positive human touch are always preferred.
Landwehr, McGill & Herrmann (2011). It's got the look: The effect of friendly and aggressive “facial” expressions on product liking and sales. Journal of Marketing.
The study
Setup
146 people were asked to view one of four cell phones that had buttons made to look like a smile or a frown with either upturned or downturned eyes. They were then asked to rate how much they liked that particular phone.
Results
Those who saw a friendly face liked their phone far more than those who saw a sad, negative face.
In detail
Key Takeaways
Make it human.
Doing so will speed up familiarity with abstract or complex products (Hart, 2013), or for new or lonely customers (Hart & Royne, 2017).
Where can you add warm humanness to your product?
Go all in.
In 2009, price comparison site Comparethemarket changed its fortunes overnight by introducing Aleksandr, a talking Russian meerkat. With his own language, highly active social media presence, soap opera, merchandise and even a pseudo-autobiography, he’s one of the most talked about ad campaigns in recent UK history.
Unboxing as ‘birth’.
Consider Flymo's Robotic Lawnmower. Many owner reviews on Amazon gave their 'new family member' a name, but Flymo could build this smoothly into the unboxing experience. How can you design for a subtle human bond at first sight? Doing so may create a stronger Ownership Bias and may lead consumers to take greater care of their product, along with being more tolerant of any of its characterful 'shortcomings'.
Product-Person Bias
We look for and value human connections in our products
Be it a human-like shape, empathic vocal feedback or humorous tone of voice in the manual: products with a positive human touch are always preferred.
Landwehr, McGill & Herrmann (2011). It's got the look: The effect of friendly and aggressive “facial” expressions on product liking and sales. Journal of Marketing.
The study
Setup
146 people were asked to view one of four cell phones that had buttons made to look like a smile or a frown with either upturned or downturned eyes. They were then asked to rate how much they liked that particular phone.
Results
Those who saw a friendly face liked their phone far more than those who saw a sad, negative face.
Key Takeaways
Make it human.
Doing so will speed up familiarity with abstract or complex products (Hart, 2013), or for new or lonely customers (Hart & Royne, 2017).
Where can you add warm humanness to your product?
Go all in.
In 2009, price comparison site Comparethemarket changed its fortunes overnight by introducing Aleksandr, a talking Russian meerkat. With his own language, highly active social media presence, soap opera, merchandise and even a pseudo-autobiography, he’s one of the most talked about ad campaigns in recent UK history.
Unboxing as ‘birth’.
Consider Flymo's Robotic Lawnmower. Many owner reviews on Amazon gave their 'new family member' a name, but Flymo could build this smoothly into the unboxing experience. How can you design for a subtle human bond at first sight? Doing so may create a stronger Ownership Bias and may lead consumers to take greater care of their product, along with being more tolerant of any of its characterful 'shortcomings'.
Product-Person Bias
We look for and value human connections in our products
The study
Setup
146 people were asked to view one of four cell phones that had buttons made to look like a smile or a frown with either upturned or downturned eyes. They were then asked to rate how much they liked that particular phone.
Results
Those who saw a friendly face liked their phone far more than those who saw a sad, negative face.
In detail
Pairings
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Product-Person Bias
