Yangjie Gu, Simona Botti, and David Faro have been investigating how to improve satisfaction with the decisions we make. At first I passed this research by, thinking it was only about buying things. But then it occurred to me, if you think about all decisions as buying decisions, perhaps their ideas could improve satisfaction throughout an organization.
What they found is that when you make a buying decision you’re happier with it if you perform some small act of closure…some act that shows the decision is made. Note the word “small”. A minor act is all that is required for a significant increase in satisfaction with the decision.
Something as simple as closing the menu after choosing your meal at a restaurant increases satisfaction with your dinner over choosing the same mean and leaving the menu open. It seems that restaurateurs have been working a bit of subliminal taste improvement on us with the well known method of waiting until we close the menu to come and take our order. The finality of closing the door on the decision leaves us more pleased when we taste those first bites.
How to apply this in your business? I must admit I’m not sure so thought I’d offer it up as a daydreaming exercise. Next time your brain needs a break from the rigors of 24 hour access, go off on that clarity break and think about closure…and satisfaction. What can you do to ensure little acts of closure occur throughout the day as people make decisions.
Remember, we’re talking a physical action of actually lowering a lid or something similar. My guess is that the physical act of moving is as important as seeing the menu closed. You made a decision, you closed the lid, feels great.
Let me know what you come up with.
“Turning the Page: The Impact of Choice Closure on Satisfaction”, Journal of Consumer Research, August 2013
Response to last post: Opinion?…or Fact? I received this in response to Opinion?…or Fact? “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynihan, United States Senator.