The "SUCCESs" of Stickiness - 3

Why do things stick in our memory? The reason is "SUCCESs". I learned about this acronym in my Consumer Behavior class at the National University of Singapore and found it very interesting and worth sharing, especially some of the examples.

C stands for Concrete

Let's start with a story that you might have encountered before:

A business traveller goes to a new city, arrives at the hotel in the evening and goes to the bar to relax. He meets this beautiful woman, strikes up a conversation, and one thing leads to another...

The next day, he wakes up in the bathtub full of ice, feeling pain. The woman is gone, but there is a message written with lipstick on the mirror: "You have been a victim of organ harvesting. Go to the hospital."

Many people of the older generation have heard of a story similar to this, in fact, many people believe that this is how most illegal organ transplants happen. This is not true, but the public authorities have been unsuccessful to stop the spreading of this story throughout the media and society. Why?

The answer lies in the details. The story is very vivid and concrete. As you read it, you envision every aspect and it's easily relatable. When the story is concrete, is it easier for us to remember it, recall it and share it with others.

As a contrast, let's have a look at the widely used business language. Often, businesses use words that are very abstract and could easily be interchanged with another word. Examples are "strategic", "customer-focused", "empowering", "vision", "values", just to name a few.

We are bombarded with those words every day, on billboards, social media, and in advertisements. Those vague words blend together, making all brands sound the same. Instead, use your words to create a concrete image in your customers' heads. An image that makes them understand straight away what you are offering. Let's look at an example.

What does a wedding planner do? Many agencies say something similar to this:

"We create beautiful moments that last a lifetime. Precious and unforgettable, these moments are kept close to our hearts"

You might have a vague picture, but how easy is it to remember this and describe it to someone else? I already forgot half of the phrases while writing this.

How can we make it more concrete?

Who designs it, arranges it, brings it, loads it, drapes it, pins it. Hangs it, serves it, and then take it all down so you don’t have to? We do."

Every phrase brings up a concrete picture of the countless steps one has to do when organizing a wedding. If a person would ask me why I am hiring a wedding planner, I can give them countless reasons.

Applications in everyday communication

Climate Change vs. Global Warming

The easiest way to assess a phrase on its meaning is to look at how easy it is to create a picture or super simple description of each word.

Climate Change: What is climate? if it is the average weather condition, how can I "see" this? What is change? Is it change for the better or the worse? What part of the climate is changing? Those questions show that it is difficult for me to create a concrete visualization in my head.

Global Warming: What is global? -> It's everywhere, all around the world. What is warming? -> The rise of temperature. This gives me a clear image of, not only my hometown, but also all the places I travel to getting warmer. I might not know how much and how fast, but I can imagine what will happen.

Shattered Glass vs. Property Crime

Media likes to use different words to create or avoid certain emotions in their audience. Imagine that there was an incident of a glass wall being illegally demolished. If the goal is to keep emotions in the audience low, reporters will use abstract words like "property crime" when discussing the issue. "Property crime" does not directly create a specific image in our minds, meaning that the probability of having a strong negative emotion is low.

In contrast, if the reporters want to create a stronger response, they will concretely describe the incident, such as "shattered glass being everywhere". This creates a clear picture in our minds, with certain feelings to the destruction.

Takeaways

• When talking about your company or product, use concrete words that create vivid images in your audiences minds.
• Vivid words are more likely to bring up emotions, compared to abstract formulations.

"Concrete" is not the only C. We will explore the second one in the next article.