By Carol Wilson, Ph.D.

Social & Behavioral Sciences Senior Scientist, GOJO Industries

“More isn’t always better. Sometimes it’s just more.” – Barbara Benedek

This quote reminds me of a classic I Love Lucy episode in which Lucy and her best friend, Ethel, work at a chocolate factory. Their job is to wrap chocolate candies as they move by on a conveyor belt and to see to it that no unwrapped candies get past them. After a slow start, the conveyor belt suddenly speeds up, quickly outpacing the women’s efforts. Hilarity ensues as they try and fail to keep up by stuffing unwrapped candies into their pockets, clothing, and mouths as mounds and mounds of chocolate accumulate. Putting more and more chocolate in all the wrong places is never a good idea!

Although chocolate and dispensers may not have much else in common, the same lesson still applies. My colleague Jeff Quinn and I recently witnessed this on a site visit to a Big Ten university to evaluate the placement of their hand sanitizer dispensers. Dispensers lined both sides of hallways in the typical classroom building we visited, stationed outside the door to each lecture hall, classroom, and lab. The facilities director worried that providing hand sanitizer outside every doorway seemed excessive, yet he wanted to provide a safe, germ-free learning environment for students and faculty. Redistributing an overabundance of dispensers to additional campus locations might be possible, but whether and how to make those decisions without impairing health and well-being wasn’t clear. His question for us was evident – How many dispensers do I need in a given location to create a safe and healthy educational space?

Asking the right question – where rather than how many?

The answer depends partly on answering a more fundamental question – where should sanitizer dispensers be optimally placed? Placement location is an important issue because poorly placed dispensers can and often do lead to problems for facilities personnel and end users. For example, dispensers that are poorly placed can:

1. Fail to provide sanitizer to people when it’s most needed, affording a false sense of security with regard to minimizing the risk of germ-related transmissions (e.g., cold, flu, food-related outbreaks) within a facility.
2. Create pain points and workflow inefficiencies for staff members – for example, when dispensers that are hard to reach or hidden from view result in sanitizer product expiring before it’s fully used, or battery life being exceeded even though little product was actually dispensed.
3. Detrimentally impact image, given that seemingly arbitrary, poorly placed, or excessive dispensers may contribute to a cluttered, disjointed, and overall negative perception of the facility.

In contrast, optimizing dispenser placement means identifying and placing dispensers in locations where they are most likely to be used when people need sanitizer the most. The goal is to ensure that PURELL^® products benefit the greatest number of people in a facility, maximizing the experience of PURELL^® peace of mind, safety, and well-being. Decisions about the number of dispensers needed in a given space should be grounded in a clear understanding of where the dispensed product is most needed and likely to be used. But how should we determine where specifically to locate dispensers within the physical footprint of a particular facility?

The science behind dispenser placement guidance

Although placement advice can vary widely if the answer is based on subjective or ambiguous criteria – e.g., placing dispensers ‘where no one will run into it' or ‘in high traffic areas’ – firmer guidance can be found by taking a more objective approach grounded in science and a deep understanding of human behavior. Toward this end, our GOJO Social and Behavioral Sciences team has developed the PURELL^® brand S.E.T. & SIGNAL™ Principles. These principles provide direction for optimal dispenser placement that draws from scientifically validated theories and research on behavior change, habit formation, and human cognition and decision-making. Four fundamental truths or inferences derived from this science have informed the development of the S.E.T. & SIGNAL™ principles – namely:

• Human behavior is at the core of product placement because products don’t add value unless people use them (e.g., where will people actually use sanitizer, and why?).
• Our behavior is sometimes determined by conscious choice and at other times by influences outside of our awareness, such as our habits.
• When people make a conscious, intentional decision to use hand sanitizer, they are being influenced by different factors than when they are using hand sanitizer out of habit.
• Placement guidance should therefore be informed by a scientific understanding of how and under what conditions both sets of influences operate.

What are the S.E.T. & SIGNAL™ Principles, and how do they guide placement?

The four S.E.T. & SIGNAL™ Principles are summarized below, along with key questions that underly each guideline:

• Make it Stand Out: Is the dispenser placed where it can capture people's attention, taking into account obvious sources of distraction for the user?
• Make it Easy: Is it placed where there are few barriers that can make it difficult, time-consuming, or effortful to use or access the dispenser?
• Make it Timely: Is it placed closest to the moment when having clean hands matters most?
• Make it SIGNAL: Is it placed where it can best prompt a positive hand hygiene association or first impression among people who may enter a facility?

Whereas the first three principles are designed to encourage and support the use of hand sanitizer when and where people most need to use it, the fourth principle serves as a more general reminder of good hand hygiene practices. However, the power of SIGNAL depends heavily on the message being delivered – and, therefore, on the brand associated with that message. For example, placing PURELL^® Hand Sanitizer in an ideal location for signaling provides an opportunity to convey cleanliness and PURELL^® peace of mind to patrons and staff. This stands to increase their confidence in a facility’s safety and, thus, their willingness to enter and spend time in that space. In addition, people are 4x more likely to use a brand they trust¹ and 3x more likely to recognize PURELL^® brand dispensers when looking for sanitizer,² better facilitating good hand hygiene practices and enabling the dispenser to ‘Stand Out’ as well. Placing a less familiar or trusted brand in the same location is unlikely to generate the same positive results.

Applying S.E.T. & SIGNAL™ Principles in your facilities

On the surface, the S.E.T. & SIGNAL™ Principles may appear straightforward and easy to remember – at least, we hope that’s the case! In practice, there is often more than meets the eye when it comes to applying these principles in your facilities. Real-world settings frequently involve ambiguities that add to the challenge of making good placement recommendations – for example, situations in which a single dispenser could be used by people on both sides of the same doorway (e.g., after entering or before exiting) or by people who use the same set of stairs to travel in opposite directions (i.e., after ascending or before descending). In these fairly common situations, it’s possible to identify competing directions for ideal placement. As a result, a deeper assessment of the placement context along with consideration of any ancillary benefits (e.g., reduction of paper towel waste if dispensers are placed inside restroom exits) and potential downsides of each option are needed before narrowing to a final recommendation.

Fortunately, GOJO sales team members trained in the S.E.T. & SIGNAL™ Principles and an associated application tool are well-equipped to have these discussions and to provide expert consultations with interested customers. One of the best times to think about optimal dispenser placement is upfront, during the initial walk-through or site audit of a facility. Examining representative buildings and spaces through a S.E.T. & SIGNAL™ lens early in the dispenser installation or replacement journey helps to ensure that each unit installed is productive, efficient, and necessary. Outfitting a facility with the right dispensers in the right places is a smart way to bring the benefits of health, safety, and PURELL® peace of mind to the greatest number of people.

How can I learn more about S.E.T. & SIGNAL™ Principles from GOJO?

For more information, reach out to your local GOJO representative. If you’re unsure who that is, call our customer service team at 1-800-321-9647.

1. Results based on a nationwide online survey of 500 individuals conducted in July 2021; MR#006-102
2. Market Research Project 016-114, GOJO Industries, Inc., April 2021.