May 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 60

Operations
revenue and improve the customer
experience? Absolutely. Here are a
few ideas and tips to help you implement these marketing strategies without costing your agency anything.
First, consider publishing your customer survey results. Numbers that
suggest the overwhelming popularity
of a program can create a social norm
and get people to participate who
may ordinarily not. For instance, here
at Everett Parks we now include our
latest survey results in our marketing
collaterals. In a new guide, for example, we proudly state that, " 95 percent
of our customers describe their experience with us as good or excellent, "
and " 96 percent say they would recommend our services to a friend. " An
important component of this, based
upon research, is to have testimonials
from customers who match the demographics (e.g., age) of the people
you are targeting with your message.
Again, people want to behave like
others who are like themselves. Therefore, providing testimonials from seniors when targeting youth will not
be effective. For some of us, this will
mean taking a more active approach
in gathering survey data and recruiting testimonials from customers.
Second, consider using the social
norm of urgency. For example, if you
are operating a conference center or
rental facility, you might consider
stating, " Holiday party bookings are
extremely popular. Be sure to book
now while openings remain! " The
image of a truly popular activity,
which has a finite capacity, has been
shown to prompt people to action.
People don't want to be left out of
what others are doing or pursuing.
Research indicates a great way to get
people to engage in desired behaviors is
to include the desired behaviors in your
verbiage. For instance, in our region,
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Parks & Recreation

dog illnesses around dog parks have become a concern. While we haven't had
any confirmed cases of the illness in our
dog parks here in Everett, we have used
social norming language to influence
dog-owner behavior toward positive
action. As a result, our new dog park
signs include the following language:
" Responsible dog owners like you make
sure their dogs have up-to-date vaccinations. " We want to ingrain in people's
minds what a responsible dog owner's
behavior should look like and thereby
influence the desired behavior.
A final tip, based upon research, to
increase involvement or activity where
public behavior does not match public
opinion is to cite popular opinion (even
if it does not reflect people's actions).
For instance, if you coordinate fitness
or wellness programs, consider mentioning in your marketing collaterals
how national surveys overwhelmingly
indicate that people acknowledge the
value of participating in healthy activities. In our marketing collaterals, we
say, " Surveys indicate people believe in
a healthy, fit lifestyle. " By citing this true
statement, it can create a sense of social
norm and get people to respond accordingly, even if most people nationally
don't actually engage in wellness-related
behaviors. The research indicates that
people will be drawn to what they believe others are doing or believe in, such
as engaging in some type of wellness or
physical activity. This has been a proven
and effective way to get people involved.
An important word of caution is needed, though: We should always provide
survey information, testimonials and
other targeting promotional pieces that
are true and accurate.
Another essential consideration is
how to measure performance for such
practices. Since these behavioral decisions don't happen at the conscious
level, it will be ineffective to survey

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participants on how these strategies
impact their behavior. Rather, test
verbiage on your targeted audiences
and then compare your results. This
is something we've been working on
here at the City of Everett.
While we have a long way to go
here at Everett Parks and Recreation
in employing these strategies, we've
been experiencing some encouraging
results. For instance, we used some
of these tactics to significantly drive
response rates to a recent participant
satisfaction survey. Our most recent
response rate utilizing these principles exceeded 50 percent (up from a
previous response rate of 38 percent).
Phrases such as, " Join others like you
who have completed the customer satisfaction survey, " have proven
fruitful. The increased response rate
has really helped us obtain good feedback and data from our customers.
Most importantly, have fun with it.
Experiment with different approaches and compare results. Finally, I
highly recommend the excellent book
Influence by Robert Cialdini. The research he provides into the effectiveness of these approaches is as overwhelming as it is compelling.
I'm not sure how much money was
raised at the discount store the day
my wife visited. I do believe, however, based on what now know of social
norms, that they more than likely exceeded their revenue goal. Opportunities abound for us in parks and recreation, and for many others, too. Isn't it
time we take advantage of these strategies to enhance the customer experience and improve our bottom line? It
sure is! I'm sure most of you would
agree with this statement.
Jeff Price is the Business Manager with the
City of Everett Parks and Recreation
Department, Washington (jprice@
everettwa.gov).

May 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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