Add Vibrations to Product Selections

Give haptic feedback during product selections.

For example, customers bought more items while online shopping if they felt a vibration upon adding items to their cart (Hampton & Hildebrand, 2021).

Vibrations feel like physical touch, which is key to ownership (Li et al., 2024; Peck et al., 2013).

Plus, vibrations feel rewarding because they frequently co-occur with social messages. Akin to classical conditioning, vibrations encourage customers to repeat whatever action they just performed (e.g., adding a product) because the vibration activates a hit of dopamine.

How to Apply

• Pair Selections With Any Feedback. Help users see an immediate consequence of selecting products. Devices without vibration (e.g., desktops) could animate items into the basket.
• Extend Vibrations for 400ms. This length was optimal.

Stronger For

• Multi-Selections. Like grocery retailers that handle many selections. Or a list of add-ons:

• Hampton, W. H., & Hildebrand, C. (2021). Pavlov’s Buzz? Mobile Vibrations as Conditioned Rewards.
• Li, J., Cowan, K., Yazdanparast, A., & Ansell, J. (2024). Vibrotactile feedback in m‐commerce: Stimulating perceived control and perceived ownership to increase anticipated satisfaction. Psychology & Marketing.
• Manshad, M. S., & Brannon, D. (2021). Haptic-payment: Exploring vibration feedback as a means of reducing overspending in mobile payment. Journal of Business Research, 122, 88-96.
• Peck, J., Barger, V. A., & Webb, A. (2013). In search of a surrogate for touch: The effect of haptic imagery on perceived ownership. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 23(2), 189-196.