The Effects of Service Clues on Likelihoods of Additional Purchase

Abstract

Customers’ overall perceptions of experiences depend on small “performances” also known as clues (Berry et al., 2006), which can be classified into three categories: functional clues, clues indicating whether the product does what it is said to do; mechanic clues, which depend on the sensory presentation of the service; and humanic clues, clues deriving from behavior and appearance of service providers. While mechanic and humanic clues are important in creating customer loyalty for future visits and purchases, the question remains whether they encourage purchase at the time service is rendered, particularly related to a dining experience. While it is known that music speeds up the pace at which customers eat their food, it has not been researched whether music and better-quality service can encourage them to purchase additional items after their meal, such as dessert. This research, therefore, seeks to investigate how music and service-with-a-smile impact customers during their dining experience as it relates to likelihoods of additional purchases. Images of the food itself and the food being served were used to simulate the dining experience. Participants were surveyed and asked to rate their likelihood of purchase. It was found that images of the food itself with lively pop music resulted in the highest likelihoods of purchase. Interestingly, surveyed respondents preferred service of desserts without human interaction (i.e., no server in the image). However, between the images in which the food items were served, participants preferred the image of a server with a smile than without.