How to Win Frugal Consumers and Influence Them to Buy

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Byron Thompson

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When Underhill talks to his clients about signs, he is concerned with what he calls the dropout rate, or the percentage of people who don't read through an important piece of information. When there's a problem, it's because the sign isn't in a place where people feel comfortable stopping, or it's facing the wrong way, or the text is not big, simple, or helpful enough. That this sounds as much like common sense as science doesn't trouble Underhill. "The obvious isn't always apparent," he likes to say.

Underhill's work for a spice maker is an excellent case in point. The company had designed a pricey display for supermarkets, and Envirosell was hired to see how shoppers responded. The prototype categorized the bottles as spices, extracts, essences, or flavorings, and had no noticeable effect on sales. As Underhill writes in his recently updated book, Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping, the distinctions the company was making were meaningless to shoppers. "Who cares what it is? What it does to food, how it tastes and smells, are all that counts."

We move on to Williams-Sonoma (WSM), a retailer Underhill says "gives good store." We stop at a display of Peugeot pepper mills with a sign about grinding fresh pepper. The company says such signs are intended to educate shoppers. Underhill says they also help justify the prices. This sign is a bit long. Underhill figures it should be a 15-second read, which means about 30 words. This one has 100. "They could do a better job of matching the opportunity with the message," he says.

Berfield is an associate editor at Bloomberg Businessweek.

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