A Monster called Perception

I have recently come to realize how perception is hard to comprehend for non-marketers . Those with technical background have a hard time digesting ‘our brand world’ where ‘things may appear not what they actually are’, ‘ Where consumers say something and mean / do something else ‘ . I stopped counting the number of meetings where arguments of mistrust in the data came up and even worse when those who don’t get it have the upper hand in the decision .

Sharing a few eye openers from the last conferences I have attended focusing on progressive analytical tools and how we use them to make better informed decisions.

Pricing is always one big application area. The implication of $1 increase can be phenomenal in any company’s P&L. Whether you agree or not pricing (value) is a function of perception.

A fast food UK café chain ran a study – exit interviews with their customers by simple questioning if they thought it’s expensive or cheap, how much they think they have paid and then asked to see the receipt.

The findings were not related to the brand or experience or the bill, it was related to the means of payment. Those who paid cash had a perception that it is more expensive than what they would like to pay, those who used credit cards were less and even lesser those who paid by contact (mobile application).

Last November’s Neuro shopper marketing conference in Amsterdam, a banking case study caught my attention. It was about a heritage bank brand that was launching a new loan offer. The bank sales representative script was his usual as they have always done. The loan was quite competitive and had many advantages vs loans offered by other banks yet the customers engagement was very low .

The management of the bank could not figure out why. They commissioned a neuro marketing study to understand more. The study focused on how the offer was presented to the customer and measured the level of brain engagement of different sales scenarios.

The findings were that the bank employee had a personal low perception of the bank image , and that the only way to sell is to always push upfront the low interest fees . He said nothing about the bank long history , the current customer history with the bank , the risk element ..etc . The bank employee in his subconscious mind factored in all what he knows personally about other competitors and hence assumed the customer knows those points as well . While in reality the customer evaluated the loan on his perception of the banking category, bank equity, his needs, his previous experience with the bank personnel ..etc.

In short, the loan offer was lost in ‘translation’!

The bank pushed the wrong parameters, never invested in understanding ‘the hocks’ for their own customer base. Banking is rich with customer data. If these were new customers, it would have made sense not to get it right . They fatally under-valued their brand.

On the other hand , there are those who over- value their brand . Could be arrogance specially in family owned businesses but can be simple ignorance – failing to look beyond their own world.

At a higher level every category has its degree of involvement -part of how consumers perceive it and how it fits in their lives . Baby food is not Pasta. Financial services/ real estate is not hair dryer.

If you are newly launched , you don’t have brand equity . How do you price ? Cost plus is fine but if you are positioned as premium , how can you justify the high price ? A seal of quality on the pack may not be enough .

You need to do a bit of homework in understanding where your target consumers’ heart is , how they perceive the category and others (consumers do not think in silos) , what they think of your brand ( not necessarily use – a common mistake ) and the competition as this is how they create a frame of reference , hence how they evaluate you as a total bundle .

You will need to understand the trigger of purchase of the category, and the emotional cues. This goes beyond ‘ the benefit ‘. It is more around looking at the total customer experience, sought gratification and what /where the ‘pleasure points’ vs ‘ pain points ‘ are.

The word I’m trying to avoid repeating is value creation. and value means different things to different people. It can be as simple as reframing the opportunity. As many of you heard me say - Starbucks is not about coffee, it’s about the coffee experience.

If a mobile operator wants to push a business voice mail service, they can come out and say ‘ Business voice mail service can be activated with a weekly fee of just 5EGP , Dial XXX now activate . Or they can say ‘ An opportunity lies in every call . Why take a risk? Dial XXX now to activate. You will be charged per message 0.50 PT.

Businesses forget that consumers are people. They go through a journey till they acquire the product or the service. Every transaction counts. We spend globally $600bn on advertising hoping to catch their attention and when they do, no one picks up the phone!

Today more than ever we have proof that decisions are made through the subconscious mind hence it is emotional and spontaneous. Can brands understand this and play it back to their benefit or it is just more of the same? Don’t we just need to stop and think. Integrate new learnings. It is not enough that we have new technology on our desks when our thinking is still stale.

The new reality is Complexity. A consumer fragmented journey. New perceptions built with every bite, every photo, every call, and every tweet.

It is a Monster, Isn’t it?

Dahlia Zayed

18+ years of experience in Brand strategy, Consumer and Shopper insights in emerging markets . Worked on brands such as Cadbury Dairy Milk, Trident, GlobalData, TUC, Mori, Orange, Tang, Blu to name a few.

Dahlia left corporate life in 2015 to embrace the entrepreneurial spirit with her brand & retail strategy consultancy- FWD.

She is passionate about public speaking, coaching and sharing knowledge locally and regionally. In 2017 she rolled out series of TALKs on Shopper behavior, Future of retail, Content strategy, Gen Y & Gen Z, Innovation, Consumer trends, and Brand stories.

She heads the MarketersOfEgypt community group which she created in 2005. A judge in SuperBrands Egypt, and a mentor at Cheri Blaire foundation in UK empowering women in startup businesses in developing markets.

She is a proud mom, a writer, a cook, and a rock fan.

You can follow her fb and you tube channel FWD Consultancy or email [email protected].