Surprise!

Surprise

Magnini: When something happens that they don’t expect it’s called a script deviation. That’s what the rest of the world outside of research calls a surprise.

How do you make a memorable impression? I’m Jim Metzner and this is NOT the Pulse of the Planet. Surprise!

Magnini: What my work investigates is how to make a memorable impression on a customer in a service business, whether that’s a hotel or a restaurant or a state park or a hospital or assisted-living.

Vincent Magnini is an associate professor in the Pamplin College of business at Virginia Tech.

Magnini: What we found is that today there’s so much information overload in the marketplace, especially with individuals carrying mobile devices, that one of the best ways to make a memorable impression is to surprise customers with small things that they don’t expect.

Magnini: The technical term in the research is called a script deviation. So what happens is when a consumer moves through a transaction, they have a predetermined script of what they expect. When a consumers moving through a through a hotel, it’s the front desk agent at checkout asking him or her if they like to take some fresh herbs home from the garden. Or if there’s a small child, playing peekaboo with the child at the front desk, or remembering someone’s. It’s a little something that they don’t expect that surprises them and because of the script deviation they start paying full attention.

Magnini: We remember things that surprise us. So a study that was done in 2011 — a travel blog was text analyzed. And when someone someone stated in their blog that they were satisfied, there was only about a 30% chance that they would recommend the hotel to a friend or family. When someone said they were very satisfied, only 60 – 65%. So that hotel would have trouble staying in business. But when someone wrote or typed that they were surprised during the transaction, the rate of recommendation increased to 97%, because when people are surprised they remember the transaction.

I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet. Really.

Surprise!

There's one sure way to make a memorable impression.
Air Date:03/20/2018
Scientist:
Transcript:

Surprise

Magnini: When something happens that they don't expect it's called a script deviation. That's what the rest of the world outside of research calls a surprise.

How do you make a memorable impression? I'm Jim Metzner and this is NOT the Pulse of the Planet. Surprise!

Magnini: What my work investigates is how to make a memorable impression on a customer in a service business, whether that's a hotel or a restaurant or a state park or a hospital or assisted-living.

Vincent Magnini is an associate professor in the Pamplin College of business at Virginia Tech.

Magnini: What we found is that today there's so much information overload in the marketplace, especially with individuals carrying mobile devices, that one of the best ways to make a memorable impression is to surprise customers with small things that they don't expect.

Magnini: The technical term in the research is called a script deviation. So what happens is when a consumer moves through a transaction, they have a predetermined script of what they expect. When a consumers moving through a through a hotel, it's the front desk agent at checkout asking him or her if they like to take some fresh herbs home from the garden. Or if there's a small child, playing peekaboo with the child at the front desk, or remembering someone's. It's a little something that they don't expect that surprises them and because of the script deviation they start paying full attention.

Magnini: We remember things that surprise us. So a study that was done in 2011 -- a travel blog was text analyzed. And when someone someone stated in their blog that they were satisfied, there was only about a 30% chance that they would recommend the hotel to a friend or family. When someone said they were very satisfied, only 60 - 65%. So that hotel would have trouble staying in business. But when someone wrote or typed that they were surprised during the transaction, the rate of recommendation increased to 97%, because when people are surprised they remember the transaction.

I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet. Really.