Psychology of seat choice. I’ve been working with National Express to help promote the option to book a coach seat before you travel. Analysis found some interesting data which lead to discussing the psychology of seat choice.
I use my knowledge of psychology to help them consider the data and create a compelling press release on the psychology of seat choice.
Let’s start by thinking about why people would pay to book.
“While a seat is already guaranteed when booking on a coach, reserving a specific seat on a journey gives us extra control and the certainty our brain craves.”
I remember using a low cost airline many years ago and feeling stressed at the airport. Would we even get seats together? I was mindful of the call to the gate, and when I got on the bus to the plane, making sure I stood in the right place to be first off and get my choice of seat, near the front for me as I just had hand luggage and wanted a quick getaway. I was very much a HURRIER back then!
We looked at the data and identified 3 groups:
- Day Dreamers
- Hurriers
- Back Seat Drivers
DAYDREAMERS
56% book window seats and 44% of bookings are for aisle seats
Choosing the window seat could be that you want the view out of the window, and you may be a ‘day dreamer’ open to new experiences. It also means that you won’t be disturbed so you can ‘nest’ and have your bags around you.
It’s more likely to be the more introverted passenger who chooses the aisle seat, that means if the person wants to go to the loo, or they are getting off before the endpoint in the journey they don’t have to disturb the person sat next to them.
HURRIERS
44% of bookings are for the aisle seats in the first 3 rows
Impatient and you will choose the aisle seats at the front, so you don’t need to wait for other people and thus have a speedy exit.
BACK SEAT DRIVERS
23% of bookings are for the two seats directly behind the driver
This means we have a perfect view of the road ahead. It can be frustrating when the vehicle stops, and you don’t know why, in this position you can see what has caused the hold-up. Plus I think it reminds many of us of being on the old London Route Master buses and got the front seats upstairs.
I love my Radio Days, I have my timetable, often at 10-15 minute intervals and the pace is good! I sit in a booth and need to quickly develop rapport with the Radio Presenter. I was on 9 radio shows, mainly from a studio, but we also needed to taxi across London (Hammersmith to Broadcasting House) for BBC London.
- EREWASHSOUND (DERBY) with Paul Stacey, a lovely call to start me off
- BBC SCOTLAND with John Beattie (Pre-record)
- BBC HEREFORD & WORCESTER with Malcolm Boyden
- BBC NOTTINGHAM with Dean Jackson
- SIREN FM with Alex Lewczuk
- RADIO ESSEX with Chris Brooks (Pre-record)
- BBC LONDON with Jo Good (Pre-record)
- SFM (KENT) with Mark Hempsted
- UNITY 101 with Afzul and Gurpreet
