Building anticipation

Anticipation shapes purchase decisions. Conventional wisdom suggests customers should rationally evaluate what they receive after purchase. Yet the expectation itself can be more intense than the possession. Long delivery times, vague announcements, and lack of preview frustrate customers. The question is: What neurological role does anticipation play in the purchase process, how can anticipation be deliberately designed, and what evidence exists to support this?

Studies

The Shopping fMRI Experiment

Brian Knutson conducted a groundbreaking experiment at Stanford University in 2007. Twenty-six subjects lay in a brain scanner while viewing products ranging from chocolate to electronics. The sequence remained constant: a 4-second product image, followed by a 2-second price display, then a decision to buy or not. The astonishing finding: the nucleus accumbens—the brain's reward center—showed its strongest activation BEFORE the price appeared, during the phase of pure anticipation. The decision moment itself showed significantly weaker activation. Based on brain activity during anticipation alone, Knutson could predict with 60% accuracy whether someone would buy—even before they saw the price. The brain decides during anticipation, not during evaluation.

The Waiting-for-the-Kiss Experiment

In 1993, George Loewenstein and Drazen Prelec at Carnegie Mellon University investigated how people evaluate delayed experiences. They asked 120 students how much they would pay to receive a kiss from their favorite celebrity at various time intervals: immediately, in 3 hours, in 1 day, in 3 days, or in 1 year. The surprising result: most students would pay more for the kiss in 3 days than for an immediate kiss. The average willingness to pay peaked at the 3-day mark, then declined. The explanation: anticipation has intrinsic value. A brief waiting period increases the total value of an experience because people enjoy the anticipation itself. Beyond 3 days, however, the wait becomes too long and the total value decreases.

Principle

Which principle for Customer Experience Design can be derived from this? The core principle is: Consciously design the anticipation phase, because neurologically, anticipation is more intense than actual fulfillment. While companies traditionally optimize the moment of service delivery, the greatest potential for engagement and perceived value lies in the time before—when customers expect, hope, and look forward. This principle works particularly well with positive, desired experiences, but can backfire with negative expectations or exaggerated promises. The key is balancing realistic expectations with emotional activation, so that anticipation doesn't lead to disappointment. The following guidelines show how to implement this principle in practice.

Guidelines

Show preview before access

Show customers what they can expect before they receive it. Provide a screenshot of the dashboard before registration, a video of the product before delivery, or an agenda before the appointment. The preview activates dopamine and increases engagement. Important: The preview must be concrete enough to trigger anticipation while remaining incomplete enough to maintain tension.

Design delivery as an experience

Use the waiting time between purchase and delivery strategically. Send updates that build anticipation rather than merely inform. "Your package is being packed right now" is more engaging than "Ordered." Show progress visually. Add surprising details: "Lisa from our team checked your order this morning." The waiting period isn't dead time—it's the phase of highest dopamine activation.

Set countdowns and fixed deadlines

Provide customers with a specific moment they can anticipate. "You'll get access in 3 days" is more compelling than "Available soon." A visible countdown heightens anticipation. Critical caveat: The timeframe must be brief—hours to a few days at most—otherwise anticipation transforms into frustration. For longer projects, establish intermediate milestones, each with its own mini-countdown.

Extend onboarding over time

Distribute access to features over several days rather than unlocking everything immediately. For example: Day 1: Basic functions, Day 2: Advanced tools, Day 3: Premium features. Each day generates fresh anticipation. Communicate clearly: "Tomorrow we'll unlock [specific feature] for you." This approach contradicts the intuition to "show everything immediately," but it leverages the more powerful neurological effect of anticipation.