A funny thing happened on the way to the checkout : Try using humour to keep your customers happy and satisfied

The answer to the eternal question of how to keep customers engaged and satisfied is simple. Make ’em laugh, or at least try to. Even a grouchy customer will be more satisfied when service staff crack a joke, according to new research. Evidence that businesses are on to the benefits of the funny factor in service encounters is all around, from the dentist who glibly lures customers with the notice, “Sorry, we are open”, to the Tweed Coast café that wryly alerts parents to the fact that their children are not great gardeners – if they touch the pot plants they’ll be given a puppy and a Red Bull to take home, its sign warns.On Brisbane’s Southbank, a wine bar blackboard urges prospective customers to avoid novinophobia, the fear of running out of wine, by seeking treatment inside. And the Berlin public transport organisation, BVG, informs travellers its new seats are “just like the Kardashians, 80% plastic, 20% style”.Even big corporations are getting in on the act. Following an awkward complaint on Facebook about some mouldy hummus in which the customer invoked the stern words of rapper Ice Cube, social media service employees at Australian supermarket giant Woolworths bounced back with a quick, confident response in the rapper’s lyrics.This may seem brave or even daring, but a new study, by researchers in Australia and Germany, reports that making customers laugh or amusing them with light-hearted banter presents an all-round win-win. UNSW Business School, Business Think, 18 May 2016 Read more