"BBB - Buy Button in the Brain" review

INTRODUCTION

Recently I enrolled for a Mini-degree in "Digital Psychology and Persuasion" from CXL Institute. I would love to share whatever I will learn from this Mini-degree through a series of articles.

This is my 2nd "Digital Psychology and Persuasion" review article in a series of a total of 12 articles. I will be posting an article on each Friday for consecutive 12 upcoming Fridays in which I will cover all the tactics and principles of Digital psychology and Persuasion and Neuro-Marketing which will surely help anyone passionate about marketing.

WHAT IS THE BUY BUTTON?

Why do thousands of people stand out all night in the cold before the Apple iPhone release during limited-time sales? Is it driven by a complete understanding of how well the technology will improve one’s workload or personal enjoyment? No. For many, the desire to obtain an iPhone stems from an emotional response that is linked to neuronal connections triggered by personal and social variables, fueled no doubt by Apple’s clever and methodical desire-building product launch magic. Non-believers, sitting safely at home viewing the PR spectacle on television, and watching hyper-early adopters climbing over each other as the Apple Store opens, are probably thinking, “Do these people really need to buy it – now?” The so-called “lucky” consumers interviewed after the purchase, clutching their new iPhone in their arms do say things like “I just had to have it”. Some may feel that they need to be part of the first wave of social consumption, while others think they just really wanted to own one “now”. What are the actual answers? The truth is that most of us, on the buying and selling side of these recurring scenes of consumption, do not know the real depths of these emotional, cult-like connections to products, services, brands, and events – not yet anyway.

Note the common characteristic of these and many other Apple commercials: they focus on the people who use each product. These ads convey little or no actual product information and instead mock PC users while portraying Apple users in a favorable way.

So to succeed as a marketer in this highly competitive era we need to focus on the core reasons that why someone buys a specific product and what are the values they carry in their minds for a product that is highly popular and doing very well in the market. You may not realize this, but each day you create messages to persuade others. It could be one of the hundreds of emails you regularly send to your colleagues, friends, or customers. Alternatively, you may participate in the creation of an ad, a web page, a corporate video, or slides for a sales presentation. Often, cognitive effort and money are invested in many of these tasks.

However, have you ever wondered how effective all these attempts are from the perspective of people’s brains? What attention can you truly recruit? What are your chances of rewiring pre-existing beliefs and opinions? Can you trigger the “buy” buttons in your targets’ heads?

WHAT TO DO

Brands that appeal to multiple senses are more successful than brands that focus on only one or two. To be truly successful, your marketing should encompass every human sense. This isn’t an exhaustive list of possible sensory topics, but check them off and see which you are addressing now and which are successful enough that your customers would recognize them on their own:

• Sight—logo, product design, color(s)
• Sound—music, product sounds, tunes
• Taste—product taste, edible favors/gifts, addons 
• Smell—environmental aroma, product aroma, fragrances used in showrooms or courier package
• Touch—product surface and shape, marketing materials, environment surfaces

Consistency is the key to building the sensory aspects of your brand. These elements should be the same across time, in any location, and in any use. Your brand must appeal to your customers even when they are not aware of it.

HIDDEN DRAGS IN CONSUMER'S MIND

We receive far more information than our brain is capable of absorbing consciously. In contrast to the conscious one, the unconscious counterpart of our mind takes care of all the vital processes of our body, of things people have learned and recorded, even if unaware of it. As it turns out, the conscious component is the tip of the perception iceberg which for the most part remains unconscious. As mentioned above, reliance on unconscious mode is to an extent beneficial in terms of lower energy consumption. Unconscious perception allows many bits of sensory information to be perceived simultaneously by different senses concurrently with the information that enters consciously. Suppose one is on an escalator moving up in a department store (leading to a section with the items of interest), overlooking a number of displays, and coming across other people going in the opposite direction. A lot is actually happening but if the shopper is not involved in those “distractions” they will get unnoticed. In contrast, conscious perception is of a unique nature: it uses only one channel at a time (although simultaneously messages are received unconsciously through alternative channels). When we listen, we hear. When we watch, we see. And when we experience, we feel, unless we consciously apply more than one channel at a time. In that sense, consciousness is closely linked to focusing attention. Information is perceived consciously when we register it at the present moment, for example, when we notice the price of a product exhibited on the shelf in the supermarket or in a display window. 

We use the two in combination, paying selective attention to certain aspects of the situation and ignoring others. Further, the transition from conscious to unconscious behaviors is a gradual outcome of learning, as explained above. Unconscious, however, does not mean that the information does not enter the memory. Exposure to the signals arriving below the perception level leaves its traces in the brain and also impacts the responses to the consciously processed stimuli.

As a conclusion, we must not underestimate the powers of human behavior and marketing psychology in order to get success as a good marketer and to grow our business exponentially.

Congrats! You are now one step ahead in the competition after understanding Marketing Psychology and Consumer behavior.

Stay tuned for next Friday!

 (This article is a review for the mini degree, "Digital Psychology and Persuasion" from CXL institute".)

Thanks :-)

Gaurav Panwar