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Distracted Customers' Wait Times Fly

You know what it’s like. Sit chatting with a friend, and the hours can zip by. But once someone puts you on hold [audio: bad on-hold music] or makes you wait in line, each second feels interminable. But Dan Zakay of Tel Aviv University has some tricks for businesses to keep waiting customers happy. He published the psychology research in the journal Neuro Quantology.

大家都知道我们和朋友聊天时经常不知不觉几个小时就过去了，可是一到等别人时，或者是排队等着，往往时间就会显得格外漫长。但是根据以色列特拉维夫大学的丹扎凯博士发表在杂志<神经科学数字化>上的一篇心理研究，我们可以在商业运营上运用一些小技巧来让等待中的顾客更加乐于等待。

He wanted to know how we subjectively perceive waiting time. So 50 people in one group were asked to wait, with absolutely nothing to do. Another 50 were also asked to wait the same length of time—but they could watch TV. Then both groups were asked to estimate how much time had passed. The ones who watched television thought they waited on average only half as long as the ones with zip to keep them occupied.

首先他设计了一个实验来测试人们如何主观认识等待时间的长短。一百人分作两组，要求其中一组只是等待，什么事都不做，而另一组也在相同长短的时间内被要求等待，但这段时间内可以看电视。之后两组人都分别对自己等待的时间进行估计。结果看电视的那一组平均估计出的时间比什么都不干空等的那一组将近短一半。

Zakay says businesses can use this subjective experience of time to manipulate us. Customers stuck in line could be offered coffee or visual distractions like the TV example. Long lines can be broken down to multiple shorter ones that seem less onerous. These simple techniques can keep us waiting happily. And make us more likely to be return customers.

于是扎凯博士在研究中提示商业运营者可以利用这种主观经验来“操纵”顾客。通过向排长队的顾客们提供咖啡，或是像实验中的电视一样的视觉注意力分散等方法，配合把长队拆成多个较短队伍看起来更加利落，来使焦急等待的顾客更加心情舒畅。虽然办法简单，但这可能为商店招来不少回头客呢。


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