The Psychology of Anticipation in Customer Experience

Why the “Before” Phase Might Be Your Brand’s Most Powerful Asset

Imagine you’ve booked a stay at a boutique wine estate. Weeks before your arrival, an email appears in your inbox. It doesn’t scream “Sale” or “Last Chance.” Instead, it greets you with the glow of a winter greenhouse, baskets of fresh produce, and a quiet note about seasonal treasures waiting for you.

You haven’t even packed your bags, and yet — in your mind — you’re already there. That’s the psychology of anticipation. And it might be the most underutilised driver of loyalty and revenue in customer experience today (Pine & Gilmore, 1999).

The Science Behind the “Before”

In behavioural psychology, anticipation isn’t just about looking forward to something — it’s a neurochemical event. Research in neuroscience shows that dopamine, the neurotransmitter often associated with pleasure, spikes not when we receive a reward, but in the moments leading up to it (Schultz, 1997).

Three key principles explain why this matters for brands:

1. Reward Prediction – Humans are wired to get excited when we expect something good to happen (Schultz, 2015).

2. Peak-End Rule – We remember experiences based on their most intense moments and the ending; anticipation can become the first peak (Kahneman et al., 1993).

3. Affective Forecasting – We tend to overestimate the happiness we’ll feel, making the pre phase an ideal time to build perceived value (Gilbert & Wilson, 2007).

   
   

Spotlight Case Study: Babylonstoren – Growing Anticipation Like a Garden

When it comes to designing anticipation, few brands do it as elegantly as Babylonstoren, the South African wine estate and farm hotel known for its seasonal storytelling and immersive experiences (Babylonstoren, 2025).

Their July “Stories” email is not a promotional blast — it’s a prelude. Every detail is crafted to spark the imagination before a booking happens.

How They Seed Anticipation

1. Seasonal Anchoring The headline asks, “What’s on in July?” This instantly positions the experience as time-bound — miss it, and it’s gone. This taps into temporal scarcity, a driver of perceived value and urgency in decision-making (Lynn, 1991).

2. Sensory Immersion A lush image of a woman carrying a basket of winter produce outside a greenhouse triggers embodied cognition — the brain simulates the sensory experience, increasing emotional connection (Barsalou, 2008).

3. Layered Storytelling Rather than selling one offer, Babylonstoren builds a tapestry of mini-journeys:

   • Winter’s Wonderful Gems: romanticising the produce of the season.

   • Workshops in July: hands-on opportunities to learn and create.

   • Garden & Spa: indulgence and restoration in the colder months. This diversification taps into multiple anticipation triggers, from learning and novelty to sensory pleasure (Loewenstein, 1987).

4. Experience-Specific CTAs Calls to action like See the Menu or Book a Workshop feel more like personalised invitations than sales prompts, increasing click-through and conversion likelihood (Benedicktus et al., 2010).

5. Pacing the Emotional Runway The tone is warm, slow, and grounded. They don’t push you to “buy now”; they invite you to linger — sustaining dopamine levels without exhausting them (Berridge & Robinson, 2003).
   

Why It Works Babylonstoren understands that the journey starts at the moment of imagination, not the moment of purchase (Pine & Gilmore, 1999). By carefully designing the “before” phase, they make the “during” and “after” more meaningful — and more profitable (Kwortnik & Ross, 2007).

Brand Drill: Designing Your Anticipation Phase

Step 1: Identify the gap between decision and delivery in your customer journey.  Step 2: Ask — how can we use this space to heighten excitement rather than let it go cold?  Step 3: Choose your anticipation tools:

• Seasonal Anchors – Tie the experience to a unique, fleeting moment (Lynn, 1991).

• Sensory Cues – Use imagery, audio, or even scent to spark imagination (Barsalou, 2008).

• Layered Offers – Give multiple ways to engage before arrival (Loewenstein, 1987).

• Micro-CTAs – Invitations that make the imagined tangible (Benedicktus et al., 2010).

• Paced Reveal – Drip-feed details to sustain engagement (Berridge & Robinson, 2003).

The Funnel & Revenue Impact

• Awareness: Teasers spark curiosity and organic sharing (Berger & Milkman, 2012).

• Consideration: Anticipatory content creates an emotional bond that competitors can’t easily break (Kwortnik & Ross, 2007).

• Conversion: Early-bird perks and exclusive previews drive urgency (Lynn, 1991).

• Loyalty: Post-purchase touchpoints reduce churn and increase repeat visits (Reinartz & Kumar, 2003).

When executed well, anticipation can shorten decision cycles, reduce cancellations, and increase upsell opportunities before the main event even happens.

Closing Reflection

In a marketplace obsessed with speed and instant gratification, anticipation slows the experience down — but in doing so, it makes it richer. The most memorable brands don’t just deliver great moments; they plant them in the mind long before they arrive.

As Babylonstoren shows us, anticipation isn’t a waiting room — it’s part of the show. And if you design it with care, your customers will already feel they’ve stepped into your story before they even cross your threshold.

💬 Do you think anticipation can be a brand’s most underrated growth tool — or is it just romantic marketing fluff? Share your thoughts in the comments.

References

Babylonstoren. (2025). Stories – July edition. [Email newsletter].  Barsalou, L.W. (2008). Grounded cognition. Annual Review of Psychology, 59, 617–645. Benedicktus, R.L., Brady, M.K., Darke, P.R., & Voorhees,

C.M. (2010). Conveying trustworthiness to online consumers: Reactions to consensus, physical store presence, brand familiarity, and generalized suspicion. Journal of Retailing, 86(4), 322–335. 

Berger, J., & Milkman, K.L. (2012). What makes online content viral? Journal of Marketing Research, 49(2), 192–205. 

Berridge, K.C., & Robinson, T.E. (2003). Parsing reward. Trends in Neurosciences, 26(9), 507–513. Gilbert, D.T., & Wilson, T.D. (2007). Affective forecasting: Knowing what to want. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16(3), 135–139. Kahneman, D., Fredrickson, B.L., Schreiber, C.A., & Redelmeier, D.A. (1993). When more pain is preferred to less: Adding a better end. Psychological Science, 4(6), 401–405. 

Kwortnik, R.J., & Ross, W.T. (2007). The role of positive emotions in experiential decisions. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 24(4), 324–335. 

Loewenstein, G. (1987). Anticipation and the valuation of delayed consumption. The Economic Journal, 97(387), 666–684. 

Lynn, M. (1991). Scarcity effects on value: A quantitative review of the commodity theory literature. Psychology & Marketing, 8(1), 43–57. 

Pine, B.J., & Gilmore, J.H. (1999). The Experience Economy. Harvard Business Review Press. Reinartz, W.J., & Kumar, V. (2003). The impact of customer relationship characteristics on profitable lifetime duration. Journal of Marketing, 67(1), 77–99. 

Schultz, W. (1997). Dopamine neurons and their role in reward mechanisms. Neuron, 19(3), 473–485. 

Schultz, W. (2015). Neuronal reward and decision signals: From theories to data. Physiological Reviews, 95(3), 853–951.