Good morning! If you make marketing decisions in your company then I can guarantee you’ve asked yourself this simple, but yet vexing, question: Why do people make the decisions they do? The answer is found when marketing and psychology collide.
Marketing influences behaviour. So what kind of influence are you wielding?
One of the primary reasons for branding is to encode a specific product or service benefit in the minds of a potential buyer. The goal is to increase the chance that the customer will instinctively choose your product.
This is called a cognitive heuristic. A heuristic is a mental shortcut used to speed up the process of decision making. Could you imagine if every small decision had to rely on countless information? This is why routines, habits, and context are so important, especially as you age.
If you want to influence decision making, here are two insights that can help you make your product or service more re-memorable:
Focus on One Differentiated Benefit
Most companies think they have the best product or service. They erroneously give you a laundry list of benefits, believing it will help you make the decision to buy. The problem is that no one will remember these benefits when they enter the ‘heightened awareness’ phase (aka starting the purchasing process).
The best method of creating differentiation is to creatively highlight one benefit that gives you a unique competitive advantage and doing so in a memorable way.
For example, if your product is durable, show it smashing rocks or being passed down to generations. The more visual and clear your unique benefit is the stronger your marketing efforts will be.
Everything Says Something
Along with heuristics, there is another psychological trigger at play when buyers make decisions, it’s called ‘value attribution’: the theory that people associate value, or remove value, based on non-specific items. Value attribution works by accumulating experiences, contexts, and environment to help us make that call.
For example, how do you know if your dentist is good at their job?
You don’t really know unless you take the time to visit and assess multiple dentists with the same ailment and even then you’re not really able to make that judgment. But if the dentist comes highly recommended by a friend, if their office is decorated with quality furnishings, if the receptionist is friendly and organized, if there are beautifully framed diplomas on the wall, if the dentist is personable and clearly outlines their treatment plan… you have enough information to judge that, based on this reinforced ‘image’ of professionalism, you’ve probably made the best decision possible.
Every touch point of a brand should communicate the right image and message. When you analyze every real (and perceived) detail of your product or service, and the people and spaces that contribute to their consumption, it means you’re getting in touch with the experience your buyers are going through. Understand this process and you’ll start to understand why your customers make the decisions they make.
Reflect on these points as you go about your day to see if you find new insights or possibilities. You may just start to see the world differently…like a marketer.