I am a relatively new player, I have heard talk about the thought bubbles of customers in the store. Many of them seem to make sense to me, although if these patterns don't hold for you, please lend your thoughts.

Heart next to any symbol means that the customer is pleased. Big heart means you have made a sale, the customer usually walks to the counter.

Green happy face with an exclamation point means that the customer is happy with your prices. Red sad face with an exclamation point means your prices are too high. Customers usually disagree with each other and sometimes change their minds, so you may be able to sell a high priced fish even if a few are displeased...and if you have a lot of customers that love the prices, try jacking them up to see if you can get a little more.

Fish with a question mark? Not sure, seems to mean that the customer isn't familiar with your inventory but I haven't been able to figure out if this means that the customer is confused/uninformed about the choices, or curious and intends to buy.

A particular small fish with no other symbol or with a heart, seems to mean that the customer came in looking for that fish...maybe this can be used as an indicator of the trendy fish to breed as sure-fire sellers.

A fish with brownish green lines means there is a sick or dead fish in the selling tank. This seems to turn off the crowd, even though you can still make sales with those fish in there. I have not been able to sell a sick fish...that is, one with a fungus or ick, but fish in generally poor health do sell and this is a good way to unload them before they die.

Customers with a coffee cup, a car, or a house in their thought bubble are ready to leave the store. I have not been able to persuade them to keep browsing.

Which leads me to traffic patterns of customers in the store. I don't know if I just FEEL more productive or not, but it seems to help my fish sell if I click repeatedly on the customers...kind of like tending to them, pitching the fish. If they are walking away from the tank but NOT too close to the door (where they usually get distracted by home, coffee, or getting to the car), I can redirect them back to the tank to keep browsing and I'm pretty sure this has gotten such customers to reconsider and sometimes buy.

If a customer is satisfied with my prices, repeated clicking on them MAY entice them to buy. If they aren't, I can sometimes get them to "talk" to me and change their thought bubble to something that indicates more interest.

A question mark with a diver means that the customer would be happier with a fancier tank...upgrade soon with a tank enhancement or a marketing research project. Heart with a diver means that they are happy with your presentation of your tank.

That's interesting. My approach to sales has been completely different. Every time I get a new fish, I round the price up to the nearest "5". Then I hit the Sell Fish button and walk away.. I find being patient makes a huge difference even if the customers don't like your pricing. Of course, getting to Level 3 on Marketing/Advertising made a huge difference as well. It's pretty much impossible to not sell a fish now that I am at that level of marketing.

I do agree with you about sick fish. If you get them into the selling tank early enough, I have found it very easy to sell them rather than end up with a dead fish in the tank...wonder what happens when they get them home? Will we see future customers coming back to complain? I hope not

Just guessing here but it seems the customers with the dollar sign over their heads are unhappy about prices.

Also, I do not have a diver yet, but see the diver happy thought bubble over customers' heads sometimes.

All this is of course predicated on the idea that the thought bubbles mean something, and are not just decorations.

You mean that thing is a car? I thought they were thinking about buying a new hat (which looked funny on some of the guys).

well Ive noticed that as soon as someone has made a purchase,before they get out of the door,that its more likely more sales will follow,or maybe im going loopy wth the fish....

agreed

I often sell the first fish as soon as I open the store, before any customers make it in the door. Has that happened to anyone else?

That happens quite a bit... I think it's a sure sign that the fish that sold is priced too low. If that happens to me, I stop selling at once, and raise the price on that breed (if I have several more of those in the Sale Tank, ready to be sold), then go back to selling them.