I've been doing some reading about emotions and how they impact the way we think about brands and products. My friend Vanessa, a PhD student at Ivey Business School, sent me some fascinating academic articles about smiling, and how a smile impacts our assessment of a product.
According to Daniel Howard and Charles Gengler, in "Emotional Contagion Effects on Product Attitudes" in the Journal of Consumer Research, Sept '01, happy people have more positive attitudes to products than people in a neutral state of mind.
As well, when a person is happy, and smiling, it increases our likelihood of liking them and being happy ourselves. And, when we are happy, our assessment of a product is likely to be more positive.
Interestingly, this transmission of happiness only seems to happen if the person is smiling.
So, service with a smile isn't a cliche, it actually means something -- people really do respond to positive, happy feelings, and it can impact their perception of your business. Bring on the Crest.
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