On an industrial estate on the outskirts of Birkenhead on Merseyside, an English company is helping to shape the future of shopping.
These are the offices of Evoke Creative, which makes self-service terminals, the sort of things you see popping up everywhere from McDonald’s to your local library.
One of the reasons those large touchscreens, also called kiosks, have become so popular with restaurant chains is that they can significantly increase sales.
And that is down to behavioural science, the study of how humans behave, and what drives people to make the choices that they do.
Dean Ward is the founder and chief product officer at Evoke Creative. Among the companies his business has built terminals for are Travelodge, McDonalds and JD Sports.
He says there’s a number of reasons why the machines drive sales. « Firstly, you are removing the psychology of speaking to someone and feeling judged, we think that is a key factor, » says Ward.
« Would you like extra fries? Would you like to go large? Not all people, but I think there’s definitely a large proportion of people who may feel judged in those instances, and may say no.
« Plus, there’s really good product imagery on the terminals, so you can see the product, you can see what’s in it, you can see all the other products linked to it as well. So there’s that.
« And also around upsell. At every opportunity within the customer journey on the terminal, you are asked would you like to add this, would you like to do that? Because you’ve got more time and you’re not being judged, you’re very much more inclined to actually say yes to these things. »
The data backs up what Ward says. Some 61% of customers spend more at a terminal than a till, according to another provider of the technology, Vita Mojo. The London-based firm’s clients include fast-food chains Leon and Honest Burgers.
The increased amount that people spend per order is said to be as much as 40%.
Before it was even known as behavioural science, companies were using the psychological tools it taps into to shape our choices.
Back in the 1940s, the US tobacco company RJ Reynolds ran a famous cigarette campaign lauding the fact that « more doctors smoke Camels than any other cigarette ».
Today you can see echoes of that campaign in ads for toothpaste, with dentists recommending a particular brand.
Ben Jones is from UK and Australia-based business consultancy The Behavioural Architects, which looks at behavioural science and how it can be used by companies.
He says that in both the tobacco and toothpaste examples, the firms were tapping into something known in behavioural science as « authority bias ».
« Authority bias is the tendency we have to align our opinions, or our behaviours, with someone we see as an authority or an expert on something. When we’re unsure, we don’t know what to do, it’s kind of easy to follow the lead of those who we think are credible or knowledgeable.
« Some businesses can draw on this through things like endorsements. dentists recommending toothpaste, athletes endorsing sportswear, nutritionists with food. »
If RJ Reynolds were amongst the first to use behavioural science techniques, now everyone from big brands to the United Nations (UN) is getting in on the act.
In the UK one of the most successful applications of behavioural science has been the introduction of auto-enrolment in work pensions from 2012. It’s led to more than 10 million more people in the UK saving for a pension than before it was introduced.
The reason it has massively increased pension take up is what’s known in behavioural science as « default bias ». If you’ve never changed the ringtone on your phone, or your computer wallpaper. That’s default bias in action too.
« Generally, it’s our tendency to go with the option that’s already selected, or the option that’s already presented to us as the default setting, » says Jones. « We make thousands of decisions every single day, and defaults are one of those things that just helps us manage that overload of choices we’re always having to make.
« They let us act quickly. And one of the big success stories for defaults is the automatic enrolment in pension schemes, because many of us procrastinate saving for retirement. And the default really helps overcome the inertia we have and supports a positive long-term outcome. »
Behavioural science can also impact your choice on more sinful things too. For example, your choice of wine. It may sound like an urban myth, but there’s real science behind it.
In one experiment, Adrian North and his colleagues at Leicester University alternated the music in a supermarket between French accordion and German oompah tunes.
On the days French music was played, French wine sales dominated, on German music days the German wine sold far better. But the effect was subconscious. When asked, customers weren’t even aware of the effect, but the numbers were clear.
The World Food Programme (WFP), part of the United Nations (UN), provides food aid and advice where needed around the world.
In Tunisia the WFP worked with the marketing giant Ogilvy to create a TV drama called Salla Salla, which aired last year.
They used behavioural science to help shape the script, with the aim of getting messages around healthy eating and food waste across in a way that was palatable to viewers.
« We tried to use some innovation and some creativity to change behaviours, » says Takwa Khelifi from the WFP.
« Because, if you know the facts only, it doesn’t change people and doesn’t change behaviour. We all know better, but we don’t do better. »
The show was the fourth most-watched on Tunisian TV when it was broadcast. It led to a 22% drop in bread consumption.
Brands, governments, the UN. They’re all using behavioural science to help shape your choices in ways you might not have previously been aware.
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