Psychology and Physiology of Customer Experience as Applied to the Multi-Family Industry - Visual

Physiological responses to visual stimuli that make your customers feel (Psychology) happy, secure, and calm.

Lets explore the simple psychological and physiological responses in humans and apply these to how we can improve customer experience.

• Physiology is what the body physically does (the phys- part of the word) when stimulated by the environment.
• Psychology is how your brain interprets physical stimuli or in other words how it makes you feel.

Psychological and Physiological responses are completely different and separate responses to stimuli from the present environment (sound, colors, people, room arrangements, sitting vs standing, and many other factors are part of the environment) although physiological responses affect psychological responses. It is important to be able to differentiate between these as an understanding of such responses will help you create an effective environment to deal with all sorts of problems. An effective environment will help your leasing consultants close more leases, your staff will be happier and more comfortable at work, and it will even help calm angry residents.

So I will give you this scenario: A resident in your multi-unit property is furious because they have had a maintenance request open for 3 weeks, and no one has even contacted about them. Oh oh! This could mean trouble as an angry resident will not only cause you a personal nightmare, there is a distinct possibility that it could cost you a lease or more!

What if your leasing agent is in the process of having a potential new resident fill out a lease an application, or even a lease agreement?!

So what do you do? How do you set up your leasing office environment to calm an angry resident or help promote trust to get more applications and leases?

Today lets look at the visual components of the environment:

Light is the first and most important component, not just the amount of light but the type of light can make a big difference. There are several types of light, but the best and most calming light is natural light. The human body natural physiological response to light is general awareness and the general psychological response is happiness. But why is this?

• Physiology - When your eyes and skin are exposed to light several sympathetic (or rather in simple terms, excitation) responses are triggered. The stronger the source of light the more this response is elicited.
• Psychology - The physiological excitation elicits a psychological response of happiness. The best way to explain this is: What is a nice day? Sunny and warm or dark and gloomy?

The sun's light is the strongest and best source of light (plus its free!). Having several large windows will allow you to utilize this beautiful natural resource.

Good light = happy and focused staff + happy prospective residents + helps create happy calming feelings in an angry resident.

Colors are a second important component of the environment. Dark colors and red (fire-like) colors are the worst choice. You will want to have light colors that promote calm and secure feelings. To read more about the psychological response to colors click here.

• Physiology - Light colors reflect more light or rather "light up the room". Again like above this triggers the excitation of the human nervous system.
• Psychology - Like above, excitation of the nervous system caused by natural light promotes feelings of happiness.

Light or rather pastel like colors reflect more light, and promote feelings of happiness. Here is something to think about: Do you remember your high school yearbook? What color were the eyes of the superlative winner of "the best eyes"? Almost all of the time they are light blue. More on the color blue.

Light pastel colors have higher light reflectance = happy and focused staff + happy prospective residents + helps create happy calming feelings in an angry resident.

Look for our post tomorrow on how sounds can help your customer's experience.

Also keep in mind this applies for your resident's apartment living as well.

I hope you enjoyed it,

Sergio Navarrete - Apartment Marketing

PS - Comments are always appreciated. :)