Key points about this research on serendipity and consumer psychology:

• All things being equal, consumers enjoy serendipity: coming across products by chance, as opposed to having them chosen for them. This is true both for algorithmic personalization, as well as for human curation

• Serendipity is not merely an alleviation of the “pain of choosing”. When done right, it actually boosts the product experience above baseline

• In order for these feelings of serendipity to translate to stronger evaluations, this element of consumer psychology must be positive in nature. Negative products and experiences don’t get better just because they ostensibly come by chance

“What are the odds?”

We’ve all had the experience of seemingly random, chance occurrences. Of say, coming across your next-door neighbor at the market in a foreign country. Of all the people in the world, what are the odds that we see them? This is serendipity: a positive experience that seems to have occurred completely by chance. 

Given its a rarity, these are treasured experiences. If this happened to you, you’d likely write home to your friends that same day to tell them all about it. And when you and your neighbor both get home, you’d probably feel a special connection you didn’t have before. 

It turns out that serendipity can also take place with the products and brands we come across as well. But how does serendipity actually influence consumer psychology? Especially in the era of hyper-personalized algorithms, how can consumers feel they’re coming across a product by complete chance?

Led by Aekyoung Kim of The University of Sydney, a team of researchers examined exactly this. Let’s dive in.

Methodology: How Serendipity Impacts Consumer Psychology

In Study 1, the researchers examined the role of serendipity in the recent consumer purchases based on subscription services. They found that even when controlling for a range of factors such as price, product type, and perceived quality, that the consumer response to receiving products they didn’t choose was significantly more positive than when receiving products they had personally selected. 

More specifically, these “unchosen” items were perceived to be “more meaningful”, and consumers were significantly more likely to extend the subscription service and to recommend it to a friend. Lastly, these positive outcomes were due to an increase in the consumers’ feelings of serendipity. 

Previous research indicates that choice can actually decrease enjoyment, which leaves open the question: Did participants enjoy the “unchosen” items more because of serendipity, or did they enjoy then “chosen” ones less because of the pain of choosing? Study 2 addressed the issue by examining the role of serendipity in the enjoyment of paintings. 

Here, they established a baseline condition by measuring the enjoyment of just viewing a painting, and compared that to a “choice” condition in which participants could choose a painting, or an “unchosen” condition in which a painting was unexpectedly chosen for them. They found that, indeed, the serendipitous experience boosted enjoyment above baseline. Further, this “boost” from serendipity was only present when the baseline experience was already positive; it did not work for negative experiences. 

Personalized algorithms cater to one’s preferences and deliver much of the content that modern consumers receive. Study 3 looked at serendipity in the context of algorithmic personalization by creating a movie trailer recommendation platform (similar to a Netflix experience). They found that, when there’s a higher chance that the recommendation comes at random, the higher the feelings of serendipity and the more consumers enjoyed the platform. 

Further, when it’s made clear that a marketer played a huge role in the recommendation, this decreased feelings of serendipity, and consumers enjoyed the platform less. Overall, the more random the recommendation seems, the higher the serendipity and the more enjoyment. 

Lastly, study 4 looked at the limits of serendipity and hypothesized that these feelings would not lead to higher consumer enjoyment when coupled with the information that would have allowed them to make the choice themselves. Participants were given another recommendation service. This time, brain.fm, which provides functional music designed to provide increased concentration. Participants were given information about the songs that were chosen - sometimes simply listing out these basic features, while in others, illustrating why the features were key. As in Study 1, participants either chose the tracks themselves, or encountered them at apparent random. 

While the random condition did give rise to greater feelings of serendipity, this, unlike the previous investigations did not produce higher enjoyment. When consumers feel they have enough info to make their own choices, they are more satisfied with the products they choose than those they come across serendipitously. 

In other words, a serendipitous experience only matters when the consumer believes they couldn’t have deliberately chosen that experience themselves.

Discussion: The Power of The Consumer Context

Serendipity in the consumer world is when an encounter is positive, unexpected, and can be easily attributed to chance. Whether for solitary products, subscription services, or algorithmic recommendations, these feelings of serendipity provide a “boost” to the enjoyment of the experience, leading to more positive evaluations of the product and brand, and a higher likelihood or recommending it to others.  

Practically speaking for marketers, “designing for serendipity” sounds like an oxymoron. But clever practitioners can find ways of baking in serendipity into the customer experience. 

Sometimes, omitting information can completely reframe the product encounter. For example, actively telling consumers on a recommendation engine that a given product or option was “chosen for you”, reduces feelings of serendipity. Instead, placing these options in the general array and allowing consumers to stumble across them themselves may provide more opportunity for a positive “chance” encounter. 

Similarly, utilizing the psychology of surprise, or designing for happenstance, can also provide fertile ground for serendipity. 

Whatever the tactics, it all comes back to providing consumers that same, awe-struck feeling: “what are the odds?”

Original research:

Kim, A., Affonso, F. M., Laran, J., & Durante, K. M. (2021). Serendipity: Chance Encounters in the Marketplace Enhance Consumer Satisfaction. Journal of Marketing, 85(4), 141–157.

Photo by Shane Stagner via UnSplash

More on the connection between marketing psychology, neuroscience, and serendipity in my TEDx talk:

References for The Power of Serendipity In Consumer Behavior

Kim, A., Affonso, F. M., Laran, J., & Durante, K. M. (2021). Serendipity: Chance Encounters in the Marketplace Enhance Consumer Satisfaction. Journal of Marketing, 85(4), 141–157.