Bleeding Needs: When Consumption Begets Consumption

By Aaron Reid
August 25, 2008

At Sentient, we talk of a human behavioral driver we call “bleeding needs”. This represents an extension of a motivational phenomenon recently dubbed “reverse allesthesia” in the academic literature. Reverse allesthesia suggests that a sample of a good will increase the motivational drive to consume more of that good. In other words, a taste of Pepsi enhances the drive to drink more Pepsi. Sampling is a very common tactic used in the marketing of consumption goods (think of the last time you were in Sam’s Club or BJ’s and you were intercepted by some friendly folks offering free samples of their chicken cordon bleu bites or their new super fruity energy drink).

Wahdwa, Shiv & Nowlis (2008), in “A bite to whet the reward appetite: The influence of sampling on reward-seeking behaviors.” published in the Journal of Marketing Research, August 2008, present some compelling evidence of how sampling something rewarding increases desire to seek additional rewarding consumption. The basic notion is that consumption begets additional consumption. Across four studies the research illustrates how a bite of chocolate will increase subsequent consumption of Pepsi and a sample of Hi-C increases subsequent preference for other rewards such as a massage, a candlelight dinner, and a vacation to Bora-Bora. The research also shows that sampling something rewarding is also more likely to lead to reward seeking through the pursuit of items on sale. Thus, Wadhwa et. al. (2008) find evidence for their theory that reward sampling produce a general motivational kick to seek additional reward that is not necessarily more of the same rewarding experience that was sampled.

A simple sampling of something rewarding leads to increased reward seeking behavior of any kind. That is, when the human reward system gets a taste of something it likes, the desire is not only to consume more of that rewarding stimulus, but rather to seek out any stimulus that might provide the system with a reward.

This is “tease marketing”. Provide just enough tease, without reaching satiation, to induce approach behavior. Humans do this instinctively everyday in the mate selection game.

From a marketing perspective, one of the more important questions that arises from this research has to do with the thresholds that are sufficient to produce the effect. What is the minimum reward cue necessary to induce subsequent reward-seeking behavior? And alternatively, what is the maximum reward cue that will produce induce reward seeking behavior without satiating the consumer such that no reward seeking behavior ensues? And are these thresholds domain specific and generalizable to broader populations or target market segments?

The academic literature may seek to establish some general parameters around these thresholds, but the business world need not wait for that research to make it through the peer review pipeline. Market researchers can begin to establish their own data around sampling thresholds within their own target market segments. Custom studies showing the upper and lower thresholds will enable marketers to pinpoint an optimal reward sampling threshold to maximize subsequent consumption of the rewarding good they are trying to sell. Research firms would do well to begin to incorporate measures of reward sampling lift on subsequent consumption in their market segmentation studies for their clients.

In fact, Wadhwa et. al. (2008) show that their are important individual differences in sensitivity to reward sampling. Individuals high in behavioral activation system (BAS) scores (the motivational system responsible for approach related behaviors) show a heightened sensitivity to reward sampling – that is, it works even better among these types of individuals. And, individuals high in behavioral inhibition system (BIS) scores (the motivational system responsible for avoidance related behaviors) are significantly less sensitive to reward sampling. From a practical standpoint, this indicates that reward marketing teams should take into account the BAS and BIS scores when segmenting their markets. Fortunately, Carver and White (1994) have established a simple 24 question attitude scale that captures the BAS and BIS scores of individuals, and therefore this can easily be wrapped into any behavioral, attitudinal and demographic market segmentation solution.

Evidence suggests that sampling need not be only in gustatory form. Scents, sounds, and sights may also provide enough reward sampling to induce subsequent reward seeking behavior.

Here are some questions for Apple and iTunes:

  • Is the thirty second sample the optimal reward sample length to induce subsequent song purchase?
    • If not, what is the optimal threshold in general?
    • And further, what would the ROI be for an initiative that established the length and content of the optimal sample for each song (or just major hits to start) to maximize individual song sales?

Here are some questions for our readers in general:

  • How have you seen this applied in your organization?
  • How might this sampling be applied to help you in your marketing efforts?

Sentient’s conception of “bleeding needs” represent an extension of “reverse allesthesia” by suggesting that it is not only the sampling of a reward that will increase consumption of any kind, but rather more generally, it is the deviation from an equilibrium of a need state that drives reward seeking behavior. For example, yes sampling chocolate will heighten my senses to the notion that I like rewarding things, and therefore I will pursue the consumption of more chocolate; but also, in the absence of any sampling, if I am feeling depressed (i.e. deviated from my equilibrium state of “feeling good”) I will pursue the consumption of chocolate (or ice cream, or juicy steaks etc…). Sentient suggests this is a more general behavioral mechanism, and that reward sampling is simply one way in which the human system may find itself deviated from a desired end-state. To read more or to suggest/collaborate on research on “bleeding needs” contact us at info@sentientdecisionscience.com.

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Aaron Reid

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Founder & CEO, Sentient Decision Science, Inc.


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