Compliments Could Earn Hairstylists Thousands More in Tips
[Photo by suzun]
A new experiment finds that hairstylists who compliment their customers earn one third more in tips - which could mean thousands more over a year.John Seiter and Eric Dutson of Utah State University, recruited two hairstylists who, after cutting their customer's hair, randomly pulled one of three pennies from their pocket. This was to ensure that customers were not treated differently during the haircut itself.
If the penny was marked with a 1, they gave the customer no compliment. If it was marked with a 2 they told the customer: "Your hair looks terrific". If it was marked with a 3 they said: "Any hairstyle would look good on you." The amount tipped by each customer was then recorded by the hairstylist.
To be able to compare across differently priced haircuts, the tips were converted into a percentage of the total price for the haircut. Here are the average tip percentages in each condition:
- "Your hair looks terrific." - 12.83% tip
- "Any hairstyle would look good on you." - 12.51% tip
- No compliment - 9.14% tip
As you can see the average tip percentages are one third higher in the compliment conditions than the no compliment condition. Over the months and years this can add up to a substantial difference.
This is a good practical demonstration that a simple method of ingratiation - a compliment - can actually have a persuasive, and easily measurable effect on people. Indeed, this finding could well be applicable across a wide range of service-related jobs. But I'm sure I don't need to remind such intelligent, discerning readers as yourselves of that, do I?
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Reference
Seiter, J. S., & Dutson, E. (2007). The Effect of Compliments on Tipping Behavior in Hairstyling Salons. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37(9), 1999-2007.
Labels: Persuasion
3 comments
I think this research highlights another phenomena well known in marketing - post sale dissonance.
It is common for customers to experience concerns after making a purchase decision. This arises from a concept that is known as “cognitive dissonance”. The customer, having bought a product, may feel that an alternative would have been preferable. In these circumstances that customer will not repurchase immediately, but is likely to switch brands next time.
To manage the post-purchase stage, it is the job of the marketing team to persuade the potential customer that the product will satisfy his or her needs. Then after having made a purchase, the customer should be encouraged that he or she has made the right decision
Jean, sounds about right!
Jean, I wouldn't say that making the right decision in choosing the brand would be a good way to put it. Well...depending on what it is. Like, a brand new pair of $150 sunglasses might make people sour after a week when they figure, "Hey...a $15 dollar pair would do the same thing and I could have bought...". It's more if buying was the idea.
Indulgent spending is viewed as a horrible thing by society, but I remember a few years back that there was a German study on how the act of buying would lower stress and then the indulgence in the item would further lower stress.
After your stress is gone, you start to second think what you did. Then you start to feel guilty over it, the voice of your mother starts yelling at you from your head about over spending on things you don't need and so on, then you get your buyer's remorse.
That's why you need marketing to say that the $150 dollar sunglasses will get you laid, or the haircut looks great on you. There's less of a chance you'll feel like an idiot for what you did.
It's a form of peer pressure and peer support rolled into one. Or more like peer pressure in peer support clothing...either way.