How I learned to stop worrying about the queues, thanks to Rory Sutherland and behavioural economics

It’s always a joy see the wonderful Rory Sutherland talk. His entertaining, erudite and irreverent take on the world of communications created guffaws of laughter when he spoke last week at the launch of the joint Ogilvy Action/Logica proposition called Applied Consumer Insight (ACI). This is not the right place to explore the proposition, but essentially it’s about encouraging CMOs and CIOs to work more closely together to collect, interpret and act upon the overwhelming quantity of data generated, for commercial benefit. You can read more about it here ACI event page. It’s pretty ground-breaking stuff and a really interesting partnership. Back to Rory. His exploration of the tensions between human psychology vs technology vs economics and how this impacts marketing and communications strategies was fascinating. His interpretation of behavioural economics for the comms industry is held in huge respect. He took us through the pantheon of great thinkers in the field at a rumbustious  pace and with his inimitable, ribald take on the subject matter. Like an indulgent parent, he scolded us when we failed to keep up with his roll call of leaders in the field. Sorry Rory. His illuminating take on some of the most mundane aspects of our everyday lives – and associated behavioural insights – gave me lots of food for thought. Did you know, for example, that one of London Underground’s best investments per passenger head was the dot matrix system showing when trains will arrive? It vastly improved the customer experience as it clearly sets expectations. When you know how long you have to wait, you know what you’re dealing with and you can relax into that wait. As we all know, there is nothing worse than not knowing. Of course London Underground invests in new rolling stock and improved schedules (do they?!) but improving perceptions in this way is a highly effective tactic.

As the London Underground example shows us, the nature of impatience is changed when you have a clear sense of the parameters. Behavioural insight is clearly where it’s at. Rory told us about a country – I think it was South Korea – or it might have been China – where red traffic lights count down. And for the same reason, we have the loading bar in software installation. Who remembers the early days of dial up internet connections? That wait was often agonisingly long. Rory then took us through some of the failures in this space. How the buttons on DVD players respond so slowly to the touch that we impatient humans press again, only to have the player eject and immediately retract! Oh the frustration of it! This got me thinking to supermarket queues. Our local Chiswick Waitrose has got it so wrong. The queue system consists of one long line that often snakes out of the entrance – we’re all herded down the one channel waiting for a free till to come up. I’m not sure the wait is any longer than the M&S down the road, but it certainly feels like it. Until recently, I preferred to walk the five minutes to M&S and choose one of the 8 or so queues that looked the shortest. I felt in control of my own destiny in a way that I don’t in Waitrose. Well, I did, until when a few weeks ago M&S installed a number of self-service tills and reduced the number of manned tills. Now the situation is horrendous. Is it perception or fact? I’m not sure, but it doesn’t really matter. They’ve scored an own goal. Then I got to thinking of our office phone systems. Voice mail retrieval is a frustrating experience. I’m given the time of call, then the caller number and other useless guff (how many of us recognise numbers these days?) until I’m allowed to get to the main action, which is of course the message itself. Absolutely no understanding of human behaviour! Grumbling over, but relevant grumbling! Rory finished off with some wonderful examples of brands that have got it so right. We humans have “leaky” brains, he explained, and that’s why the rational approach may not be the best one. While Waitrose might fall down on queues, its approach to selling eggs is genius. Faced with the difficult shelf choice between six and 12 eggs, it came up with the idea of offering us nine – a halfway house that does the trick perfectly. Sometimes, Rory explained, it pays to think small. Websites that have reduced the check out process by just one step have seen massive uplifts in sales. Sometimes it’s about coming up with the kind of simplicity that can have this kind of inordinate effect. In a parting shot, Rory explained, when it comes to strategic decision making it’s vital to have someone who understands human behaviours and motivation on the board. Food for thought indeed. Until next time, thank you Rory.