The COVID-19 epidemic continues to upend the lives and livelihoods of the whole world months after the novel coronavirus was first identified. About every routine of daily life has been interrupted by the pandemic. Whether spending an hour at the gym after dropping the kids off at kindergarten, going to a coffee shop for a midday break, or enjoying Saturday night at the movies, the magnitude and length of mandatory lockdowns and business closures have compelled individuals to give up even some of their most deeply rooted habits.
These interruptions of everyday experiences offer a rare moment. Consumers prefer to hold to their behaviors stubbornly in ordinary times, resulting in very slow acceptance (if any) of beneficial technologies that involve a behavior change. Currently, the COVID-19 crisis has forced customers to change their behavior quickly and in large numbers everywhere. In the United States, for example, during the pandemic, 75 percent of customers tried a new store, brand, or different way of shopping.
While the catalyst for the shift in behavior could be unique to the pandemic, in the post-crisis era, consumer businesses will do well to find ways to satisfy customers where they are today and fulfill their needs.
Behavioral science teaches us that it is central to driving behavioral change to recognize the emerging values, patterns, and “peak moments” of consumers.
For the longer term, five behaviors will help businesses influence customer behavior:
- Reinforce new strong convictions.
- Using new offerings to shape-changing behaviors.
- Maintain new patterns, using contextual signals.
- Connect communications with the mindsets of customers.
- Analyze, at a granular stage- customer perceptions and behaviors.
The collection of beliefs that a consumer holds about the world is a primary influencer of consumer behavior, according to behavioral science. Beliefs are psychological, so deeply rooted that customers are discouraged from considering alternatives objectively and thereby perpetuating current behaviors and routines. An uphill struggle is being waged by businesses that aim to motivate behavioral change by ignoring or questioning the values of customers.
However, the COVID-19 crisis has prompted many customers to adjust their habits, and their new experiences have led them to change their views about a wide variety of daily practices, from food shopping to exercise to socialization. Even long-held attitudes change when customers are shocked and pleased by new experiences, making consumers more likely to replicate the behavior, even when the cause (in this case, the COVID-19 pandemic) is no longer present. In other words, this is a rare moment in time during which businesses will enhance and form behavioral changes to boost the next usual positioning of their goods and brands
For example, during the COVID-19 crisis, approximately 15 percent of US consumers tried grocery delivery for the first time. More than 80 percent of those first-timers claim they are pleased with the ease and protection of the experience; 70 percent also find it enjoyable. And 40 percent expect to continue to deliver their groceries after the crisis, indicating that they have dismissed any previously held assumptions about the ineffective or uncomfortable delivery of groceries; instead, they were shocked and pleased by the benefits of delivery.
Another instance of shifting values requires exercising at home. Since February 2020, the US online fitness industry has seen a rise in its user base of about 50 percent; the market for digital home-exercise machines has risen by 20 percent. It is possible that during the pandemic, many people who tried such health practices for the first time felt that at-home exercise could not satisfy their needs for exercise. For many of these users, the belief has changed: 55 percent who tried online fitness services and 65 percent who tried digital exercise machines say they would continue to use them, even after reopening fitness centers and gyms.
In a recent TV ad titled “Face Off,” NordicTrack shows that online workouts can promote the same friendly competitiveness and interaction that people look for when they go to the gym or take in-person exercise classes to reinforce the new idea that online fitness can be inspiring and enjoyable.
A successful way to reinforce a new belief is to concentrate on peak moments that have a disproportionate influence on particular parts of the customer decision process and that customers appear to remember best.
First-time encounters with a product or service, touchpoints at the end of a customer journey (such as the checkout process in a store), and other moments of rapid consumer response are also peak moments.
Some businesses have concentrated on improving the first-time experience of the customer. In the early days of the COVID-19 crisis, plant-based meat producer Beyond Meat, for instance, was already benefiting from delays in meat production: its sales more than doubled between the first and second quarters of 2020.
The firm has been providing free, professionally prepared food to hospitals and other community centers in conjunction with local restaurants and catering companies. Beyond Meat is building meaningful first experiences with its product at a time when customers are more open to trial by giving away Beyond Burgers cooked by skilled chefs.
As the customer experience has evolved, so have the peak times, and defining and maximizing them is critical for businesses. In order to improve the positive relations of customers with the experience, grocers should consider including a handwritten thank-you note or some other surprise, such as a free sample.
Highly emotional occasions can spark intense customer responses and thus provide an opportunity for businesses to build peak moments relevant to their products or brands. For example, Krispy Kreme offered each 2020 graduate a dozen specially decorated doughnuts for free when graduations moved from formal, large-scale ceremonies to at-home, family celebrations.
