Research Says Ignorant Customers are Happier Customers

by , 3:35 PM EST, February 29th, 2008

Researchers at the University of Iowa have found that the less customers know about a product, the happier they are, according to the OnlineSpin blog at MediaPost on Friday.

The UI report said that customers who have only a little information about the product they bought are happier than those who know more. "We found that once people commit to buying or consuming something, there's a kind of wishful thinking that happens and they want to like what they've bought," said Dhananjay Nayakankuppam, a marketing professor at the University of Iowa.

"The less you know about a product, the easier it is to engage in wishful thinking," he continued. "But the more information you have, the harder it is to kid yourself. This can be contrasted with what happens before taking any action when people are trying to be accurate and would prefer getting more information to less."

The effect demonstrates that people are desperate to feel happy with their choice and will engage in distortions to justify their choice. It also demonstrates the emotional attachment people have with brands. Moreover, more information about a product often reveals that the customer didn't do enough homework. Too much information leads to post purchase unhappiness and makes a strong case for simplicity of design as well as marketing.

Max Kalehoff, a vice president of marketing for Clickable, wrote that this can be a dangerous approach if the purpose is to promote customer ignorance. "However, it is an incredibly useful concept in understanding how information presence influences customer reasoning, satisfaction and loyalty," the author concluded.

Apple has been using this technique for a long time. The University of Iowa research suggests why it has worked so well, even if we're unhappy with all the information the report provided.