In “The Effect of Expectations”, the author argues that people’s expectations can have a dramatic impact on their experiences. He notes several examples from daily life in which this effect can be seen, and backs these observations up with experiments he and other noteworthy researchers have conducted. The results are clear: When people are presented with an expectation, whether good or bad, before an experience, their evaluation of that experience is much more likely to fall in-line with the expectation they were presented. However, this behavior was not repeated when participants were informed of a particular bias after the experience had already taken place; the results of these test groups largely aligned with the outcomes of the blind groups. Clearly, a marketer’s ability to plant an expectation in a customer before that customer has a targeted experience is an extremely powerful tool.
In order to use this knowledge most effectively, marketers must have a more complete picture of the customer they are trying to reach. While the reading showed that expectations can be extraordinarily powerful, this will not be the case for all customers or all scenarios. Many customers will already have created strong expectations before marketers even have a chance to reach them (Ex. A far-right or far-left politician), so efforts made to sway their expectations in the opposite direction will most likely be unsuccessful. This shows that marketers must first determine the likelihood that their target market can be swayed by given expectations, or risk performing a futile effort. Assuming the consumer will be swayed by an expectation given before the experience, it then becomes important for the marketer to create an experience that aligns closely with the given expectation. If you suggest to your market that you offer excellent customer support but then fail to offer such an experience, no amount of prior expectations will redeem you. However, even if you provide only adequate customer support, because the customer is already more inclined to think of your support as excellent, you may very well be able to create such an experience in the customer’s mind.
The main example that Ariely provides involves a beer taste test at MIT. He offered students two beers that were identical except for a few drops of vinegar added to one of the brews. Some students were not told what made the two beers different, but the majority was told either before or after the taste test that the differentiating factor was added vinegar. The thought of vinegar in their beer struck most students as a negative addition, and as a result, those that were told about the vinegar before the taste test tended to rate the beer with no vinegar higher than those who were told afterwards. As we would expect, this follows the expectation-experience link Ariely hypothesized before conducting the test.
In my own life, I have had experiences that reflect Ariely’s conclusions as well. I have noticed countless times that I will tend to like or dislike a particular movie based on what I have heard about it from my friends before actually seeing it. Sometimes, however, the effect is the exact opposite; I will often become wary of movies, tv shows, or video games that receive nothing but praise from my inner circle. I do not feel that I am alone in this sort of behavior which counters Ariely’s logic to some degree, and it would be interesting to conduct more research to address this discrepancy. I have also been in a position where no amount of prior expectations can change my eventual experience. As a huge Beatles fan and avid Rock Band player, no amount of bad press or negative reviews from friends could have prevented me from purchasing Beatles: Rock Band when it was released a few weeks ago, and unless the developers really messed up there was only a very small chance that I would not have liked the game after playing it. Examples such as these will always pose challenges for marketers catering to extreme markets. But these markets are probably best left to themselves in most cases, and marketers should instead focus on creating the right promotions to create expectations that align with the experiences they plan to offer their customers.
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