Autonomous sensory meridian response in service experience: an exploratory study

This paper evaluates the role of Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) in service experience. ASMR is an enjoyable and relaxing sensation accompanied by head and/or body ‘tingles’ in response to a large variety of triggers. The paper studies the effects of six ASMR triggers (touch, sound, watching hands, soft speech, caring attention, soft temper) on customers’ service experience in six service settings with different nature of the interaction (hairdresser, coffee shop, hotel check-in, doctor, cashier, customer service call). The sample includes 2709 respondents: 2269 ASMR-sensitive and 440 ASMR-non-sensitive. The findings include: (i) the effect of each trigger depends on the service; (ii) experiencing ASMR increases the likelihood of a repeat purchase; (iii) experiencing ASMR enhances customer experience in high contact-long duration services but hinders it for low contact-short duration ones.