Misery Meter
By Rick Segel

When I first penned this term, my purpose was to use it as a humorous memory peg for a simple concept.

The concept is that the more miserable the customer thinks the retailer is, the more they will attend the sale. On one end of the misery meter is the 5% or 10% off incentive. All the way to the opposite end of the meter is the Going Out of Business Sale, which is a sale so powerful that every state in the union has laws pertaining to it. Dropping down from that level is the store closing sale, then a total liquidation sale, and then the percentages: 75% off, half price, a third off, 25%, etc.

Don’t play with the expectations of the misery meter or you stand to lose the customer for life. If you are running a store wide liquidation, then your prices had better reflect that and the store must look like that. There are too many stores that use strong sale names, such as liquidation or going out for business, just to dupe the customer. Customers might come in the first time, but they won’t come back.

The Misery Meter works like blood in the water for a shark or a vulture circling. It’s human nature--just be aware of it and use it to your sale’s advantage. Use it, but don’t abuse it!