“Would you like whipped cream with your coffee?”

I am standing at a coffee shop and a friendly lady looks at me questioningly. Although I didn't intend to, a few seconds later I step out the door with whipped cream on my coffee for 50 cents extra. Delicious, of course, but not quite my intention.

Many salespeople or service providers ask questions to get us to make an additional purchase; do you want whipped cream on your coffee, do you want to receive a free newspaper, do you want to buy insurance? This is how salespeople try to influence consumers and get more return through upsell, cross sell and add-on.

This happens not only in physical stores, but also online. There you are not dealing directly with a salesperson, but often suggestions are made or guidance is given for an additional purchase. In the short term this may yield returns, but what does this message do to long-term behavior?

In psychology, there are a number of important behavioral principles that can help us gain more insight into long-term behavior change. One of these principles is autonomy, which is strongly related to intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is a predictor of our long-term behavior. In this article, we outline how to use autonomy to positively contribute in the short and long term.

Autonomy

Selling (extra) whipped cream on your coffee immediately increases your bottom line. But what does this extra whipped cream sold do to long-term behavior? Do people come back because they liked the coffee so much or did your action and message cause visitors to prefer to get coffee somewhere else next time?

Humans by nature have an innate and universal need for control over one's own life. In psychology, this is called autonomy. To what extent we experience this control affects our behavior. When we feel we have high control over our own lives we experience feelings of security, reduced stress and higher levels of intrinsic motivation. These factors increase the likelihood that our behavior can be sustained over the long term and thus become permanent.

Selling extra whipped cream may provide immediate short-term gain, but in the long run it may reduce the sense of autonomy and thus habitual behavior, which can result in lower sales. For example, by charging 50 cents for the whipped cream, what used to be an intrinsic social motivation “a friendly woman asking me a question” becomes extrinsic “I paid 50 cents for this whipped cream.” The motivation has gone from social to monetary and thus from intrinsic to extrinsic. People may then feel a sense of reduced autonomy and lack of control over the situation. Due to a lower sense of autonomy, the visitor is more likely to feel (unconsciously) insecure and stressed during the visit and thereby at the memory of his or her visit to your (online) store. As a result, the visitor will not of his or her own accord be motivated to return to your store for another purchase.

How can you apply autonomy positively?

The positive use of autonomy is very simple: keep the customer in charge. Let people make their own decisions and be transparent in the information you provide. People are self-motivated to perform certain actions and don't undermine this motivation. Be careful with factors that act on extrinsic motivation such as monetary consequences or rewards because these factors directly substitute intrinsic motivation for the less sustainable extrinsic motivation. For example, would you want people to take the extra whipped cream on the coffee without threatening the customer's sense of autonomy? Then ask the customer if he or she would like extra 50-cent whipped cream on the coffee or would prefer just a cappuccino (without whipped cream). Be transparent, careful about extrinsic motivation and offer multiple choice options.

The power of behavioral principles

Everyone is subject to behavioral influence. It is important to consider the messages, actions and extras you communicate to your customers. Messages can have short- and long-term effects on behavior. Behavioral principles and persuasion techniques can help you gain more insight to achieve both short- and long-term desired effects.

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This article was written by Lotte Cornelissen and Eline van Baal