Use Cocktail Party Effect To Design Best Customer Experience

Customer Experience is evolving rapidly. With ready access to information, customers’ expectations from brands have changed.

Earlier the customers that would be satisfied with mere attention to their request, now demand personalization.

But to be able to concentrate on each customer individually, or at least make them believe so, marketers must learn about the Cocktail Party Effect Psychology.

This concept combined with marketing tactics can create the most impactive personalization.

Without further adieu, let’s begin by understanding what is the cocktail party effect…

What is the Cocktail Party Effect Psychology?

The name Cocktail Party Effect was derived from a psychological evaluation of human behavior in cocktail parties.

It was discovered in the early 1950s by a British scientist, Colin Charlie.

The Cocktail Party Effect psychology refers to the ability of people to focus on a single conversation (stimulus) in a room full of people chit-chatting with music playing across (multiple stimuli).

The cocktail party effect algorithm highlights the mechanism by which the human brain is able to concentrate its attention on a particular stimulus and also switch its attention between multiple stimuli.

The first phenomenon is called Selective Attention and the latter is called Attention Switching.

Consider this cocktail party effect example for instance.

You are at a party talking to your friend over the noise of the party. That is Selective Attention. Now you overhear your name being used in a conversation nearby.

With the cocktail party effect hearing, your name makes you instantly switch your attention from your friend to this new conversation. This is Attention Switching.

These two phenomenons from the cocktail party effect algorithm lead us to a personalized customer experience…

Cocktail Party Effect and Personalized Customer Experience: The Link

In the context of marketing, the noise of the cocktail party resembles the plethora of marketing efforts demanding customer’s attention like emails, SMS, TV ads, in-app notifications, remarketing, etc.

But the customer focuses only on those efforts that are important to them. Let us analyze the two phenomenons of the cocktail party effect algorithm deeply in terms of CX:

Selective Attention

When a customer chooses to expose themselves to a particular marketing stimulus, then it becomes easier to capture their attention.

For instance, if your customer is looking for a laptop, he will deliberately concentrate on all laptop ads to collect information.

For a marketer, selective attention is an opportunity to portray their brand as the most accurate solution for the customer’s problem.

Like in this case if you are an electronics brand, this customer is definitely paying attention to your ads too. This is your chance to create a personalized customer experience by showing him content related to his laptop needs.

And as per a marketing report by Smarter HQ, the demand for personalization by the customers is the only reason why 79% of marketers are investing in creating a Personalized Customer Experience.

Attention Switching

You are definitely not alone in the market. Your competitors too are targeting their efforts to capture the customer’s selective attention.

However, even if the customer is intrigued by your competitors’ ads, you can always leverage attention switching.

By creating product value that is more attractive to the customer than the competitors’ stimulus you can provoke them to switch attention.

For instance, announcing a 50% discount on the first order can be a perfect attention switch as your customer gets all his needs fulfilled at a lesser price.

Thus, using the cocktail party effect psychology, you can

• use your product features to answer each customer’s needs specifically, and
• create extra value to switch customers’ attention to your product.

How to use Cocktail Party Effect Psychology in Customer Experience?

“Customers want experiences that recognize their unique selves.” — Julio Hernandez, KPMG

For any marketer, the customer’s wants are the most important drive. A recent study by Infosys reveals that 39% of customers wish their brand experiences to be “far more” personalized than now.

That is why the personalization of CX tops the priority lists for marketers. Personalization helps to create triggers to leverage the cocktail party effect psychology.

It’s like calling your customer specifically in a noisy room full of targeting ads. But personalization goes deeper than just using customer names in marketing campaigns.

It is about understanding your customers deeply so that you can serve them with relevant information.

Some personalization strategies to get cocktail party effect in action are as follows:

Get customer ready with information

Information is the key to personalization.

• Use technology to access customer data and insights that help you understand what your customer needs.
• Keep track of what advertisements they react to, what pages on your website they spend most time upon, what are they searching for, and every aspect of that can help you personalize.

Creating personalized email campaigns

Emails can be too annoying. According to HubSpot, 69% of customers unsubscribe due to too many emails. To capture attention, your email needs to stand out amongst the flood of emails in the user inbox.

• To start with, address your customer by using their name in the subject. Attach those collaterals that cater to their needs the most.
• Offer discounts for that specific product. Attach personalized product images like pendants with scribbled initials.

Use customization during and after-sale

• At the point of sale try to know the customer’s needs and then highlight those product features for them. Tailor-make the offer for each customer like offering a quantity discount for a bulk purchaser.
• For after-sale, offer services that are relevant to the product. Ask for feedback like “Hey, hope the hairdryer you purchased from us is working awesomely for you. We have a new straightener stock. Be an early bird purchaser.”

Use online channels for personalization

Your website, social media platforms, and other online channels are great means for personalization.

• Use bot chats to understand customers better. Be transparent and show how the product is made.
• Give out free demos. Let the customer try the product on their own with free trials. And collect data at all touchpoints.

Some Cocktail Party Effect Examples in CX

These Cocktail Party Effect Examples in CX will help you create perfect personalization:

Final Words…

Consumer behavior has a long link to marketing. There are different stimuli that trigger action from each customer. And that is why a personalized customer experience can elicit more response than a mass marketing strategy. Also, personalization has its own share of benefits.

According to AdWeek, personalized customer experience reduces the cost of customer acquisition by 50%, increases revenues by 15%, and improves marketing efficiency by 30%. So, keeping a lookout to capture the right moment for personalization can be of great help to build your brand.