Here is an interesting piece of reverse psychology for you. Apparently consumers who get really bad service when at a store that sells luxury products, are more inclined to spend more money. Weird right? I would have thought if you get really bad service, then the natural instinct would be to get out of there in a hurry. However us humans are a complex lot and that this almost never happens.

A study done by a Professor Darren Dahl from the Sauder School of Business in Vancouver along with Morgan Ward a professor of marketing at Southern Methodist University showed that rude staff with bad service actually encouraged customers to spend more money.

Why Does Bad Service In Luxury Stores Lead to more Sales?

The theory seems to indicate that people do not like bad service, obvious of course, however when faced with bad service, people actually want to prove that they are worthy of a luxury product. As a way of protest or merely to prove a point the consumer will then proceed to make a purchase. This effect unsurprisingly only works in stores that sell expensive products. For discount stores or regular shops this perverse psychology does not work.

Should All Brands Have Rude Service?

Absolutely not, other than the fact that this strategy only works in luxury brand names, the fact remains that the individual had a bad purchasing experience. A bad purchasing experience will mean that the person will not likely shop again from you, and they will also tell everyone they know about their bad experience. The result of which will hurt the brand a lot more than merely making a sale.

Research Methodology

This little experiment was the result of surveying and studying the behaviour in a retail environment by asking more than 350 people how they react to rude stales staff. Afterwards they then did a blind test by having an actor pose as a bad sales person. The overall reaction supported the fact that people tended to make what seems like a "protest," purchase in the face of rude staff.

Article first seen on: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/05/13/youre-not-worthy-snubbed-customers-snap-up-luxury-goods/