Susan’s research (The Effects of the
Business Reception Area on Potential Clients: A Case Study of Two Modest
Business Reception Areas – University of Wisconsin-Madison -2009)
involved 24 subjects who entered two different reception areas. Subjects
were asked if the reception area would influence their decision to do
business.
Subject Comments:
”The space has a positive influence on my
decision. This business wants people to be comfortable.”
“I cannot get a sense of this business’
personality. It does not leave a good impression.”
“I am not likely to come here. If your
place is not up to date, is your service up to date?”
“The first impression is good and they
would have my business based on my first impression.”
“The lack of design for comfort and the
busyness of the space would make me pause about retaining them.”
“I would feel tentative on my first visit
because of the reception area. This would prompt me to think – is this
the right business for me?”
“I would question the capabilities of the
professionals due to how the reception area looks.”
“The music and the couch tell me they want
this to feel like your living room. I would come back for sure.”
“Privacy issues would have me question
doing business here. Safety and comfort are important.”
While there has been a general understanding
that our environment does have an effect on our behaviors, the depth of
this knowledge has been researched and documented only in the last sixty
years producing greater clarity about the specific elements in our
environments and how they influence us.
BJ Babin and JS
Attaway
The physical environment evokes emotions, these emotions help determine
value, and this value motivates customers to patronize a given choice
repeatedly.
MJ Bitner
The environment can be viewed as a form of non-verbal communication –
imparting meaning through what is called ‘object language’.
P Kotler
If patients receive treatment in a rundown facility, they are likely to
demean not only the facility, but the treatment as well.
A Mehrabrian and JA
Russell
Consumers respond to a place with one of two responses – approach or
avoidance. A well constructed environment invites approach behavior which
is experienced by pleasure.
JS Ott
The physical environment communicates to customers, information about the
organization’s technology, beliefs, values, assumptions, and ‘ways of
doing things’.
LW Turley and RE
Milliman
Consumers often react to minute changes in the atmosphere even when they
are not consciously aware of that particular element.
Architect and
Author of Spirit and Place - Christopher Day
Places speak to us. What they say affects us and influences our behaviour.
Their messages stem from the underlying attitudes with which places are
planned, made, used, and maintained.
Business Consultant
and Author of A Sense of Place - Fritz Steele
We can design settings (physical and social) and do it better or worse
depending on how well we know the characteristics of likely users, and what
values we use to make choices about the experiences that ‘should’
happen there.
