One of those answers is based on observing people browsing websites demonstrate minute anxiety responses even though they're in an (assumedly) safe environment. Part 2 of this arc offered that unmet expectations is the reason for the anxiety and part 3 dealt with people responding to new forms of information. Here we discuss the difference between expectation and satisfaction.
In these and similar cases the individual has an expectation which, if unmet, leaves them unfulfilled and wanting. The sad fact is that most people we interviewed don't expect a great or even a good web experience. After several repeat visits to a favorite website they might be neutral, or they may be enthusiastic about getting emails or chatting with friends online, but here we separate the experience from the expectation and learn that most people's expectation is rather low (This is covered in Reading Virtual Minds Chapter 7, "Experience versus Expectation").
The figure on the right, "Expectation vs Satisfaction", shows the difference between people's expectation of their website experience -- a measure of their emotional-cognitive bias as they enter the website (top bar) -- versus their satisfaction -- a measure of their emotional-cognitive bias when they leave the website (bottom bar). The graph colors (red, yellow, green) indicate the type of experience (poor, neutral, good). The size of each color indicates the intensity of the experience.
The figure's top bar is predominantly yellow. This translates to the majority of visitors (size of the bar) coming to the site with neutral (yellow) expectations. Only a small percentage came expecting a "good" experience (the size of the green bar). The figure's bottom bar is predominantly green, but not mostly green. There's a recognizable chunk of people who left the site unsatisfied (red bar and it's size). A larger number of people left the site neutral (yellow bar and its size). The largest number of people left the site satisfied (green bar and its size), but note that the sum of the yellow and red bars is greater than the size of the green bar. More visitors left the site satisfied than left either neutral or unsatisfied, but fewer visitors left the site satisfied than left the site neutral and unsatisfied. Again, ET is measuring emotional states, not cognitive states.
Next up, is it possible to control expectation and satisfaction?
Please contact NextStage for information regarding presentations and trainings on this and other topics.
Links for this post:
- Blog posts about Reading Virtual Minds, Chapter 6 "Expectation versus Satisfaction"
- Blog posts about Reading Virtual Minds, Chapter 7 "Experience versus Expectation"
- Consumer Psychology posts
- Expectation posts
- Reading Virtual Minds
- Reading Virtual Minds, Chapter 6, "Experience versus Expectation"
- Site Development Lags Expectations
- Susan Prager
- The Site Development Lags Expectation blog arc:
(Information in this arc is from Chapter 6, "Experience Versus Expectation" of my next book, Reading Virtual Minds. Text and images copyright Joseph Carrabis and NextStage Evolution 2006-2007)
» Site Development Lags Expectations, Part 5 from BizMediaScience
Experience versus Expectation, Part 5 [Read More]
Tracked on: April 4, 2007 11:06 AM | Permalink to Trackback