Your XM Weekly Inspiration | 100422

Hello!

Human beings frequently reduce task complexity in judgment and choice through mental shortcuts also known as heuristics (Kahnemai et al, 1982).

Mental shortcuts allow us human beings to shorten our decision-making time without the constant need to think about the next course of action. In the case of a consumer that has had a great or terrible experience, heuristics apply when referring to the quality of experience especially when it comes to deciding to buy or not to buy.

To understand consumer behaviour leading to a decision to buy or not to buy, it's important to understand how consumers make decisions and the impact of previous experiences on decision-making.

With an array of similar products/services available to consumers today, you will seldom find a business-to-customer (B2C) painstakingly making buying decisions. According to Anne Stephenson, there are four (4) types of heuristics that influence consumer behaviour i.e.

• Availability Heuristic. How easy it is to bring something to mind
• Representative Heuristics. Comparing a current situation to a representative example
• Anchoring Heuristics. An anchor to our future judgment regarding another object
• Attribute Substitution Heuristics. Substituting an easier question for a more complicated one to make the decision easier and faster

My experience management (XM) inspiration for this new week is on the 2nd type of heuristics i.e. Representative Heuristics using an experience as a case study to share with you the impact of mental shortcuts on consumer behaviour.

Representative Heuristics. A GOODLIFE MAGIK JUICE CASE STUDY

A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine invited me to her brother’s 40th birthday party. It was on a Sunday so because I don't get out much, I was super excited to tag along after church and be out for the rest of the day.

While enjoying a hot plate of fried rice and nicely marinated and fried turkey wings I was offered the?GOODLIFE MAGIK DRINK. It was the watermelon option (apparently there are more) but I declined and just asked for a regular and common soft drink.

Why did I turn down the offer? Years back, I was at a party (yep, another party lol) and I was offered an unknown brand of juice; DANSA juice. At the time, I loved the 5 ALIVE juice by Coca Cola and this particular brand DANSA was an alternative to my 5 ALIVE. I recognized the use of the same 5 citrus fruits used in 5 ALIVE and thought to myself, if it's the same ingredients, what could go wrong?

I poured myself a glass of DANSA's 5 CITRUS fruit juice and after the second sip, I spotted the difference and discontinued drinking it. I asked for a bottle of water instead.

Back to the 40th party and my delicious plate of fried rice (wink). When I was offered the GOODLIFE MAGIK juice, my first response was, “I do not know the brand GOODLIFE". I picked up the pack to read the instructions to find some more information about the manufacturer but after reading through, I couldn't spot anything familiar and so, I dropped the pack.

My host and friend asked me why I didn’t want it and I shared my DANSA juice experience with her i.e.?I had tried an unfamiliar brand of juice before and didn’t like so I would rather stick to what I know.?Let’s just say, I have a VERY unique taste! Lol!

Back to the subject of?REPRESENTATIVE HEURISTICS, while my experience drinking 5 ALIVE juice (a mental shortcut) facilitated my decision to try another brand with similar ingredients, a mental recollection of my experience trying an unknown brand (a?representative example) also impacted my behaviour i.e. decision to not try the same.

If I walk into a store looking for juice, from my behaviour as a consumer so far, you can tell what I am likely to do right? Let's assume my preferred option was not on the shelf and only unknown brands, would I buy or would I check out another store? What do you think?

With that understanding that?representative heuristics?can impact a customer's behaviour to not buy a product based on a?representative example, how can a business get customers like me to look past mental shortcuts (?a recollection of past and poor experiences) to make a favourable buying decision?

XM Inspiration For The Week

With the above understanding, what are some of the ways brands like GOODLIFE MAGIK juice can get customers like me to try something new?

Here are my suggestions which should be guided by a proper?CUSTOMER STUDY?before implementation so you have a good return on your experience improvement initiative to increase sales

• Use products as complementary products to pique your target customer’s interest.?Have you ever seen an unfamiliar bottle of dishwashing detergent in a store taped to a known pack of cooking utensils? Have you ever seen an unfamiliar bottle of cooking oil taped to a familiar bag of rice? In some cases, this can be a sample of your product for the consumer to try out at no cost or the cost of the utensils or rice already bears the cost of the unfamiliar brand items factoring in profits to the store.
• Provide testers.?Give your target customer the option of testing a sample of a product in-store to facilitate decision-making based on an on-the-spot assessment of your product despite several options on the shelves.
• Share testimonials. Document and share testimonials of everyday people who have used your products on channels frequently used by your target customer. Remember to profile your target customer before you select the kind of testimonials you publicize
• Use influencers.?Everyone has an aspiration and someone who influences their behaviour. Consider using influencers with customer profiles in mind to demonstrate how your target customer can use and enjoy your product. Having this in-store works its magic so if you plan to sell a product at a trade fair, for example, having an influencer on the ground, sharing both testimonials and how to use the product is a winner and will facilitate decision making in your favour.

This week,?THINK DIFFERENTLY?about your customers and the factors that influence their behaviour.?Seek to understand what mental shortcuts impact their behaviour and use insights from?CUSTOMER STUDY?to design an innovative strategy to reverse any representative heuristics that are not working in your favour to increase your sales/profits this week and beyond!

Do you need professional assistance to conduct a CUSTOMER STUDY, design an innovative strategy and implement the same to improve your sales/profits?

Awesome! Happy to serve! Please send me a DM here on Linkedin or send an email?to [email protected] and let’s get you started as you grow your business, one customer experience at a time.

Have a fab week!

Yours always,

deBBie akwara (Pan Africanism CX Advocate aka Voice of CX Africa)

Founder & CEO, Niche Customer Experience Group