Product Recalls: Working Towards Increased Consumer Participation Edward J. Heiden, Ph.D. President,...
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Transcript of Product Recalls: Working Towards Increased Consumer Participation Edward J. Heiden, Ph.D. President,...
Product Recalls:
Working Towards Increased Consumer Participation
Edward J. Heiden, Ph.D.President, Heiden Associates
May 19, 2005
• Product Safety & Risk Analysis– Evaluate company data to determine if
reportable hazard– Determine impact of recalls on future
product liability claims– Quantify risk reduction benefits of safety
devices and instructions
• Product Recall Work– Develop effectiveness projections for
proposed recalls: initial and second-round– Design effective ways of notifying “hard-to-
reach” product owners– Conduct research on recall issues– Continuing effort to dialogue with CPSC on
recall effectiveness issues
• Explore Product Registration Options– Public Forum on Purchaser Identification (March
1999)– CFA CP-01-1 Petition and Comments– Consumer Recall Database Task Force (December
2001)
• FY 2003 Recall Effectiveness Initiative– Three Workshops (May-September 2003)
• Advertising• Cognitive Psychology• Communication Theory & Media Studies• Consumer Motivation & Compliance• Human Factors & Design Research• Marketing• Recall Management• Risk Perception• Social Psychology
Wide Ranging Search for Insights
5 Not-So-Easy Steps to Participation
• Receive and Recognize a Recall Message
• Read & Understand the Message
• Store & Remember the Message
• Evaluate Benefits & Costs of Participating
• Take Action Required to Participate
Step 1: Initial Receipt & Recognition of
Safety-Related Message
• Recall Notification Techniques
• Initial Decision to Pay Attention
• Message Filtering
Step 2: Message Reading & Comprehension
• Use of Pictures, Pictographs & Symbols
• Text Content, Clarity, Wording & Form of Address
• Extent of Processing Required
• Impact of User Characteristics
Step 3: Storage & Recollection of Instructions
• Memory Limitations & Recall Decay Rates
• Facilitating Encoding of Messages
Step 4: Evaluation of Benefits & Costs of Compliance
• Formulation of Risk Perceptions:– Hazard-Related Factors– Product-Related Factors
• “Acceptable” Level of Risk
• Impact of Compliance Costs
Step 5: Actual Compliance with Message
• Role of Motivation & Social Influence
• Task Overload
• Impact of Stress & Time Pressure
Falling Off the Steps
• 88% Noticed Warning
• 46% Read It
• 27% Followed the Instructions 0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
% of Participants
Noticed Read CompliedSource: 1988 Friedmann study of drain opener and wood cleaner
Implication #1: Try to Get the Message “Closer” in Time and Space to Product Use
• Placing the message in a manner that causes temporal interruption of the task being performed may stimulate user attention… a warning about proper loading of a file cabinet was noticed by none of the participants when it was placed on the shipping carton, but by nearly all of those who were presented with a cardboard bridge placed across the width of the
top drawer.
Implication #2: Try to Make the Message Stand Out from the Clutter
• Presenting hazard information in a hierarchical fashion (i.e., with a one or two sentence summary at the top of the label) outperformed other label designs…There are potential benefits to placing the proactive information (i.e., what you should do to reduce the risk of exposure) before the information relating to the nature of the hazard (the “reactive” information).
Implication #3: Try to Mitigate even Minor Inconvenience & Time Costs
• Warning signs placed on the door to the racquetball court as well as on the front wall instructed users to “wear eye protection”. While 60 percent complied when goggles were provided in a box just outside the door to every court, no one wore them when goggles were only available at a checkout booth 60 feet away from the court.
The Task: Locating and Motivating Owners of a “Hard to Find” Product
• Outreach Program Message Delivered through Activity/Interest-Specific Channels:
– Store Posters in Garden Equipment Sections
– Newspaper Gardening Section Writers/Editors
– Gardening Magazine Publishers
– Gardening Site Webmasters
Program Achievements
• More consumer participation than in first round of recall.
• Extensive tracking data on outreach coverage and response.
Recall Participationby Source of Notification
Magazine23%
Newspaper19%
Letter/email14%
Website7%
Referral5%
Television5%
Store/Poster27%
Where Do We Go from Here?
• Develop Action Plans to Increase Consumer Notification & Participation Based on Research & Workshops
• Develop Quantitative Assessment of what makes Recalls Effective
Recall Outreach Actions Plans
• Systematic Compilation and Evaluation of Strategies
• Develop Outreach Options Tailored to Specific Recall Characteristics:– Type of Product– Nature of Hazard– User Demographics