Recently I saw an ad for Golden Corral Restaurants. The ad showed people filling their plates with delicious-looking food like fried chicken, hot wings and steak. Oh, and perhaps some broccoli. During the entire commercial I felt like something wasn’t quite right and then I realized what it was. The dinner plates were much smaller than normal; they were almost the size of salad plates. This jumped out to me because in my house the dinner plates are the size of meat platters!
I made a mental note, figuring I’d examine it more closely at some point.
Then, the other day one of my daily reads had an interesting article on a subject I’ve never heard of: “Choice Architecture”. Now I’m not so learned that I’ve heard of everything, and having never heard of choice architecture proves the point.
Put simply, choice architecture is the placement or arrangement of options in such a way as to influence the consumer to select the options that are beneficial to the architect. It was developed in a scholarly paper and popularized in the book Nudge.
So, it turns out that the small plate strategy employed at Golden Corral is one example of choice architecture. For a restaurant the small plate strategy has the dual benefit of cutting down food waste and reducing food cost. Similarly, another way that buffet- and cafeteria-style restaurants can reduce food costs is to eliminate food trays so it’s harder to carry a lot of food to your table.
Product placement can also affect what we buy. Did you ever wonder why you have to go all the way to the back of the supermarket to get that emergency gallon of milk you need right now for your kids’ Frosted Flakes? Yup, they make you walk past all the other items that you might impulse-buy so that your bill is $27.45 instead of $3.69 for the milk.
Simplifying selections is another form of “nudging”. Have you ever gone on Amazon to buy something and there are literally dozens of options? There are so many that you don’t even know where to start. Amazon solved the complexity problem by adding a “Best Seller” or “Amazon’s Choice” tag to certain items. Now those items might actually be a best seller. Or, the Amazon Choice might be their choice because they make the most money on that product. But by nudging the buyer to certain options they make shopping easier and convert browsing to buying.
So, since choice architecture can influence us in may subtle ways, what can we do?
If you’re dieting, place the healthiest food choices at eye level. Putting high-calorie or unhealthy foods on the bottom shelf can make them a wee bit less easy to select. (Except for me – you could put potato chips in a burped Tupperware container in the garage and I’d sniff them out.)
Similarly, when you’re grocery shopping don’t just grab the first item you see – that’s probably the most profitable one for the store. Look above and below to find better prices on similar products.
Watch for preselected items on Websites. Often when you create a new account on a company’s Website they’ll have option boxes checked to receive emails for marketing or product offerings. You can minimize spam emails by unchecking these boxes.
But, let’s face it, before the economists wrote about choice architecture, wives have been using nudging for years! That’s how I got this cute dinette set instead of the barbeque smoker I was really shopping for.
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As seen on the Indian River Bay in Sussex County, Delaware (maybe)….
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This is a happy story about a woman who does a nice thing. Be sure to watch the video to the end.
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Thanks for reading. I’m giving you the subtle choice to share Random Beach Thoughts: share it or ELSE!
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