100 Brainy Ways to Sell to your Audience... theoretically

Behavioural Science is not new. Humans have been studying how the brain works since BC times. Herophilus of Chalcedon and Erasistratus of Ceos became the first, documented physicians to systematically dissect human cadavers in the 3rd century BC (#BrandGreece). Technically, the ancient Egyptians had been studying brain matter first, but it was more of a poke, scramble and extract into a canopic jar kind of approach (#BrandEgypt)

However, in the last 70+ years, behavioural science has been slowly creeping into other fields from public policy design to getting consumers to buy more, to buy more expensively, to buy more often, and other interesting applications. So if you are a brand manager, how would you go about tapping into these wonderful little tricks to get more out of your consumers?

For those of you "in the know", you would naturally go to the "bible" of this subject matter, Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow. A great read to be sure, but one that is famed to be the most started and least finished book ever written. In other words, it's intense. So we've gone with a slightly lighter approach to the source material, Roger Dooley's Brainfluence. Written nearly a decade ago, it serves as a good summary of various psychology experiments conducted over the years with practical tips on how these lab-learnings could be applied (or at least further researched) in the marketing and branding world.

As it is difficult to summarise 100 unique points in just 3, we'll look at some of the biggest themes which should peak your interest.

3 KEY TAKEAWAYS:

1) IF THERE IS ONE THING THE (BEHAVIOUR) SCIENCE TELL US, IT IS THAT CONSUMERS ARE NOT SCIENTIFIC (AND DONT BEHAVE THE WAY THEY SHOULD). This should be horrifying news for most brand-builders who spend 99% of their existence finding benefits, USPs, claims and other rational arguments to convince consumers to buy them and not "the other guy". Brands painstakingly build product portfolios with every benefit space and price point covered so that they can appeal to every kind of consumer. While it is a good effort, most consumers will be more/less disposed to buy your product depending on a whole host of external and non-controllable factors.

Have an expensive product priced at $20? You'll most likely be bought by someone who entered the store looking to buy something for their daughter's 18th birthday versus someone shopping for a 2-year-old (20 is numerically closer to 18 than 2).

Think consumers choose your product because of its better taste or superior nutritional value? Maybe. But it might just be that the way the aluminium foil peels off easy on your yoghurt, or the sound of your crunchy potato-chip, that's actually closing the deal for them.

Want to drive awareness and trial? Try free sampling, right? Wrong. Even though "Free samples" have high response rates, charging for your "free" sample will actually drive better interest and results.

And for those of you who read this column regularly, you know the emphasis I put on storytelling. Well, it seems our brains agree. Most of us would rather hear how Batman needed your AI-software, electric car or slice of cheese to capture the Joker instead of being told how your AI-Software can process 10 terabytes per second, your electric car has a 500km range, or your cheese was made from the milk of Swiss-Alp raised cows that were hand-fed by attractive farmers (okay, that could be an equally interesting story, sorry Batman).

2) THERE ARE PLENTY OF CHEAP TRICKS YOU CAN USE FOR SOME CHEAP SALES GAINS.

Want to promote Option B vs Option A (your competitor)? Introduce a third even-worse Option C to make Option B shine. Cheap decoys make for better diamonds. Conversely, you can also launch a super-duper, all-singing-and-dancing version of your product (priced out of this world) to funnel consumers to your more "reasonable" option. In short, emphasize how good/bad one product is to drive sales of the product you actually care about.

Are you in execution mode? Using simple fonts to reduce cognitive load--allowing your consumers to process the message more easily and pick you. If you're putting your communication in peoples' hands (DTCM, leaflets, cards, etc), make the paper heavier--the heavier it is, the more valuable your brand/product seems to be.

Need to make a genuine emotional connection but lacking the skills to do so? Images of baby-faces and attractive women are "quick wins". Everyone loves babies because it is built into the core of the human race's instincts to help the species survive. As for attractive women, it seems the general effect is positive on men, neutral on other women, and works best at the point of sale where the immediate action of picking up the product will help the buyer be "fulfilled".

Want to encourage loyalty? Give them a loyalty card/app with some of the "purchases" already pre-filled. Who doesn't want to finish a race when they've been given a head-start? You could also just be very bold (none of this subtle BS) and tell them to "trust" you--apparently that showed a +33% swing in perception and purchasing in the lab environment. The best wording for that can be found here: “You can trust us to do the job for you”??

Oh, and if you want to improve your success rate in selling, pitching, or even just getting a date, always talk into your prospect's RIGHT ear--apparently the right side of the brain is more prone to saying "yes" than the left... who knew?!

3) BUYERS ARE A MISERABLE BUNCH OF PEOPLE

Unless you are Kardashian visiting the Versace boutique twice a year to block-buy the new season's line (and being treated like a Queen by everyone in the store), shopping is a painful chore for consumers. I don't mean that they are trying to find products which solve pains they have (which they are). I mean the act of shopping creates its own set of pains to the point where many consumers approach the task as happily as they would a pack of starving hyenas. What can you do? Keep things simple, clean and short!

Give a bundled price where possible. Consumers hate sushi-pricing (pay per piece, per event, per short timeframe).

Avoid cues of death. Think clear packaging is cool and makes your brand more "transparent"? Sure, it also cues our primitive human brains that your product is not protected and open to contamination. Same response if your brand of scented candles is shelved next to the weed-killer in-store.

Have a Killer Fact. In short, do something no one else can do as well. That's ALL your consumers really need to know. Of course, Batman stories can help to make it more memorable, relatable, and transmittable... but forget the 20 claims and tell consumers the ONE THING they need to know (preferably in SIMPLE font, on HEAVY paper, with a baby face and/or attractive member of the fairer sex).

OUR PERSPECTIVE

While Dooley has done an excellent job in collecting relevant academic (and some brand) work in the behavioural science space, the ultimate disclaimer to all these findings and tips is that you need to go out and experiment on your own. Using student test-subjects in lab-conditions might reveal certain paths to try, but you have to walk them yourself to see if they will work for you and your business.

The second disclaimer is that most behaviour science principles are tested theoretically by academics, and practically by brand practitioners, in isolation of one another. You might test several principles in isolation. Then everything is deployed in the field with results coming in flat or worse. You cannot test a pricing principle, then a visual or auditory principle, then a loyalty principle, and then bundle them altogether and expect them to work. No. If you want to see what could really have an impact, you need to test all your behavioural elements at once in various combinations. Is it a Batman radio-ad with a low price delivered through the right speaker? A Baby Face in print (heavy paper) with a ridiculous price and killer fact to pivot to the cheaper service?

What is undeniable is that behavioural science, as applied to marketing, is still in its infancy. It is up to the brands and brand owners to take the real next steps and test what may or may not work for them. One thing is for sure. With all the smart-gadgets taking over consumers' lives and impacting actual behaviour in fundamentally new, evolutionary ways, the science needs to move beyond locking students (and consumers) up in rooms with floral or fungal smells to see which marshmallow-shaped cereal tastes better.

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