Every new year comes with some changes, but the last two years have had the world adjust to an entirely new lifestyle. From wearing masks, continuous sanitisation, social distancing to working from home and attending schools online we all have been trying our best to adjust to the virtual world. 

One such significant change I want to focus on today is cashless transactions. Although various modes of payments were always an option for us, we witnessed a significant rise in cashless transactions in the last two years. But did you know that there is something called as Cashless Effect?

The cashless effect describes our tendency to be more willing to pay when there is no physical money involved in a transaction. We are more likely to purchase something on a credit card or any other virtual mode than if we have to pay for it with cash. This effect occurs in any scenario where we use digital forms of payment instead of cash, which these days makes up most of our transactions. Unfortunately, whether it’s a big or small purchase, we are likely to spend more money when we don’t physically have to give it up. For example, you are at the apple store to buy a phone. Can you imagine paying using cash? Paying 1000 dollars in cash or using a card to pay the same amount, what would you choose? What do you think would be easier? 

We are much looser with our money when it only exists in an evasive digital form, and often spend money that we wouldn’t if we had to make the same transaction with physical cash. The digitization of transactions has caused us to change our spending habits. 

When transactions are digital, it also means that there is a digital trace of all of our activity. Platforms use our spending habits to hit us with targeted ads, causing us to spend even more money, demonstrating how the cashless effect can quickly bring us into a vicious spending cycle. The loss of anonymity through financial surveillance can also give a lot of control to the government and reduce our freedom.

The cashless effect occurs because parting with money is not that difficult when it isn’t tangible. It is considered painful for us to give up physical money, as we feel the loss of it, known as the “pain of payment”. This may be because physical money has more obvious value than digital payments, meaning we more readily understand what we are giving up. When money is exchanged digitally, it is harder to quantify what we are parting with. Giving someone our credit card feels like a far smaller commitment than handing over cash. After all, giving someone our credit card is just handing them a piece of plastic, which in itself, isn’t worth much.

There are both positive and negative consequences to cashless transactions. More positives, if you are on the business side of the transaction. In recent years, numerous businesses have made headlines for refusing to accept cash as a form of payment. These businesses span a variety of industries, including airlines, eateries, sports stadiums, and general merchandise stores. 

Here are a few reasons why various businesses are jumping on to the cashless transaction wagon - 

1. Transactions are faster - Counting cash can take time, both for the customer and the employee. Several businesses that have gone cashless have cited benefits like faster transactions and increased store throughput. By going cashless, businesses can decrease costs, reduce opportunities for theft, and offer customers a faster, more streamlined transaction experience.

2. Encouraging impulse buys - Going cashless encourages impulse buying. Being able to buy on the fly without reaching for a wallet fits into today’s hustle-and-bustle lifestyle. The more alternate payment options you have, the more are the chances of the consumers mindlessly buying your product. 

(c) No cash handling costs - Small- and medium-sized businesses are reported to pay tens of billions of dollars annually on cash handling expenses. Eliminating cash payments eliminates the costs associated with handling and transporting cash. Cashless businesses no longer need to pay banks fees to deposit and process cash and coin. Additionally, these businesses no longer need to pay for employees to count and manage register balances throughout the day, enabling employees to spend more time helping customers instead. Given the fixed costs associated with accepting cash, it may be simpler and even more cost-effective for some businesses to not accept cash at all.

Convincing enough? Maybe, going cashless as a business can be the new thing you try this year! 

Whenever any books I have read are adapted into a show or a movie, I get excited. If the book is good, like an unreasonable child, I expect the film to be a good one as well. Clearly, I haven’t learned anything from my past experiences. I could write a book on horrible movie adaptations of brilliant books given the time and chance. 

However, I have a question for you: Why do we expect the movie to be good, just because the book was good? While you think about this, let me tell you about yet another cognitive bias called the Halo Effect. The halo effect is a cognitive bias that claims that positive impressions of people, brands, and products in one area positively influence our feelings in another area. This bias is exactly why most of us expect a good movie from a good book. 

Another example of the halo effect is when one assumes that a good-looking person is also an overall good person in a photograph. But, again, this error in a judgment reflects one’s individual preferences, prejudices, ideology, and social perception. We can find this bias in all aspects of our life, from interactions at school and in the workplace, to responses to marketing campaigns. When the halo effect takes hold of our decision-making, it can hinder our ability to think critically about other peoples’ traits. As a result, we may mistakenly judge others unfairly and miss out on valuable opportunities.

Why do you think this bias occurs? 

The halo effect occurs mainly because our social perception is a constructive process. When we form impressions, we do not rely solely on objective information; instead, we actively construct an image that fits in with what we already know. Indeed, the fact that we sometimes judge another person’s personality based on that person’s physical attractiveness is quite surprising. The term “halo” alludes to the religious concept of a glowing circle crowning the heads of saints and bathing their faces in a heavenly light. In terms of cognitive bias, the halo represents the positive light that we place upon people or things because of specific external characteristics. Because of their apparent halo-like qualities, we may be subject to overestimating the worth of people or things.

Marketers and advertisers have been using the Halo Effect for a long time, whether they were conscious of it or not. It has been known that by associating a product with something (or someone) attractive, we can raise the perceived value of the product as well. Here are a few ways brands have been using the Halo Effect as a persuasion strategy - 

1. Celebrity Endorsements - Celebrity (or authority) endorsements are widespread, not just online, but in marketing history. The logic goes, “if X important person used Y product, it must be amazing.” The thing is, if the allure of the celebrity is strong enough, there doesn’t even need to be a strong correlation between the celebrity and the product. This form is of the Halo Effect is really a highly visible type of social proof.

2. Beautiful people in design - There’s absolutely no question that advertisers have used beautiful people to sell their products for decades. A few products in specific come to mind, like perfume, clothing, and alcohol. And of course, it has been pretty empirically supported that using attractive models is effective. However, something to keep in mind is that the use of attractive people in design alone won’t usually move the needle.

(c) Beautiful Design - It isn’t just beautiful people that can induce a Halo Effect on your site; it’s beautiful images and design, as well. It turns out that first impressions are essential online, and design issues affect those first impressions, leading to a possible mistrust of a website. We know it takes about 50 milliseconds (that’s 0.05 seconds) for users to form an opinion about your website that determines whether they like your site or not, whether they’ll stay or leave. Sometimes, beautiful websites just make you think they have their stuff together.

Although the Halo Effect goes both ways – you could be limiting your testing program by ruling out variations that aren’t ‘beautiful enough.’ It’s about what works, not what’s prettiest. That said, the research tells us people tend to associate beauty with quality and all those other nice traits, so it’s good to keep in mind.

What have we done so far - 

• The halo effect is a cognitive bias that claims that positive impressions of people, brands, and products in one area positively influence our feelings in another area.

• An example of the halo effect is when one assumes that a good-looking person is also an overall good person in a photograph.

• The halo effect occurs mainly because our social perception is a constructive process.

• Marketers and advertisers have been using the Halo Effect for a long time, whether they were conscious of it or not. It has been known that by associating a product with something (or someone) attractive, we can raise the perceived value of the product as well. 

Honestly, I am not 100% sure about my feelings for shortcuts. I guess a lot depends on the context as well. For example, all those keyboard shortcuts, a big yes, but that shady shortcut lane to the office at night is questionable. Similarly, as tempting as it sounds, there are no real shortcuts to being physically fit, are there? 

Well, I am suddenly talking about shortcuts because there is this one shortcut that can help you understand shopper behaviour and influence the purchase decision of your target market. So what is this shortcut, you ask? 

The shortcut I am talking about is a better understanding of our mental heuristics. Heuristics are mental shortcuts that can facilitate problem-solving and probability judgments. These strategies are generalisations, or rules-of-thumb, reduce cognitive load and can effectively make immediate judgments; however, they often result in irrational or inaccurate conclusions. They allow us to shorten the decision-making time without constantly thinking about the next course of action. For example, over time, we recognise if a website is trustworthy or not. Does it look well laid out and designed, or does it have a lot of annoying banner ads and graphics? We then store and use this information the next time we go online to decide if a website is trustworthy or not quickly. Due to our previous learning, the second time, the process doesn’t require as much mental effort.

The thing about heuristics is that they aren’t always right or consistently wrong. There are many situations where generalisations can yield accurate predictions or good decision-making. However, even if the outcome is favourable, it was not logical. We risk ignoring important information and overvaluing less relevant information when using heuristics. No guarantee using a heuristic will work out. Even if it does, we’ll be deciding for the wrong reason; instead of basing it on logic, our behaviour results from a mental shortcut with no real rationale to support it.

Using heuristics can cause us to engage in various cognitive biases and commit certain fallacies. As a result, we may make poor decisions and inaccurate judgments and predictions. Awareness of heuristics can aid us in avoiding them, which will ultimately lead us to engage in more adaptive behaviours. Also, as mentioned above, a better understanding of these heuristics can help you understand shopper behaviour and influence the purchase decision of your target market.

Although there are a lot of heuristics that we use almost daily, here are some that will help you influence shopper’s behaviour better - 

1. Availability heuristics - This is a mental shortcut based on how easy it is to bring something to mind. For example, when calling for a cab, you may choose Uber or Lyft because their names come to mind the fastest. You may well have chosen another brand if you had more information available about it. You simply chose the one that came to mind the easiest. In other words, we often rely on how easy it is to think of examples when making a decision. The number of examples is directly dictated by how accessible these examples are. Consequently, less easily recalled information is ignored even if it is statistically (and obviously) more important.

The availability heuristic can be used in marketing by giving examples of the results your product has brought forth to make it easier for potential customers to imagine an outcome they could likely achieve if they chose it. For instance, if you buy groceries when you are hungry and are given a free snack bar sample, you will probably find that it tastes exceptionally delicious! As a result, the next time you shop for snack bars, you will recall the brand easily and might use that as your purchase decision. (This is why more samples are given out just before lunch and dinner time.) By giving potential customers a taste of what they could experience with your product, you’re not only exciting the consumer imagination but also imprinting a positive association in their memory between your product and the subsequent attractive outcome they have the power to achieve.

2. Representativeness Heuristic - This is a mental shortcut based on comparing a current situation to a representative example. To convince us that objects or products are representative of an idea or concept we might have, marketers use representativeness. For example, if we watch TV and see numerous ads with a rugged man driving a pickup truck, we may well conclude that pickup trucks are only for rugged men who work outdoors. This type of heuristic is used when a person compares information to an existing example in their mind. In marketing, the representativeness heuristic is often used to convince customers about an idea or a concept.

For instance, in a product launch campaign, the marketer highlights features of the new product similar to those of another popular product that the target customers like or have previously bought.

(c) Anchoring Heuristics - This heuristic is the effect of a prior judgment of an object, the anchor, on our future judgments regarding another object. These judgements could be about a numerical value, a probability or even a moral decision. To influence consumer choice, marketers can anchor brands according to their strategic reference value points. For example, product manufacturers often introduce either a higher or lower priced item first, depending on how they influence a consumer’s subsequent decisions. If they start by introducing a higher priced model first, then the lower-priced model will look like a better deal in comparison.

(d) Attribute Substitution Heuristic - When making a purchase decision, we often substitute a more straightforward question for a more complicated one to make the decision easier and faster. For instance, when buying a new pair of running shoes, we may not inquire about the technical aspects (pronation vs supination, crash zone, foot strike area) and instead just ask the question, “Which brand do I like best?”

We can better understand shopper behaviour through an understanding of heuristics. Understanding how shoppers decide what to buy and helping them through the steps is essential. You can increase your chances of genuinely persuading consumers and driving them to action by considering heuristics in your next marketing campaign.

I, for one, find this meme super relatable. I wish there were more manuals for extroverts explaining the inner workings of an introverted mind. It would make the world a better place, don’t you think? 

I genuinely believe that there are a bunch of really smart introverts behind the invention of concepts like online food ordering, grocery shopping or booking a cab online. What motivated them, you ask? I imagine their strongest motivation would be avoiding phone calls or avoiding going out and interacting with other people at any cost. You have no idea how grateful I am for applications like Uber Eats, which saves me an awkward phone call every time I order some food. 

Even though I love these contactless processes, when it comes to brands, I like people-centric brands. Brands that have more humanised energy, the ones that have a story to tell! Thankfully, it’s not just me; in general, people respond to people. And what are brands, if not a bunch of people working towards the same goal? So why do we sometimes feel like the marketing messages being delivered are robotic? The difference between marketing that we listen to and easily forgettable marketing is creating a relatable and humanised brand to spark a connection between our audiences.

Brands that see the human behind the purchases are the ones that succeed in creating memorable, emotional campaigns across modern channels. Unfortunately, in business, we often interpret the act of purchasing products as a purely transactional experience – one that is solely between a business and its consumer. As a result, a brand rarely superimposes its ability to sell you a human experience past why its product is made for us. Too often, their marketing ensures how the offering will ultimately give us a better lifestyle experience, yet few rarely provide a narrative experience for the human in us.

The humanisation of brands is crucial in every way. But most importantly, it will help you gain traffic, generate qualified leads, nurture those leads into customers, retain those customers, and grow revenue. 

Now that you know why you should be humanising your brand, here are some steps you can take to show off your brand’s personality - 

1. Show Off Your Staff - Showing the real people behind the work helps build trust with potential customers and helps extend the longevity of a client’s likelihood of staying on. In addition, physically seeing a team behind the brand is impactful in itself. Follow these tips to get started. However, please remember to use real photos of real people who work with you. Stock photos will just not do the trick. You can even show your staff members’ funny and relatable side. Here is an example, Rock Kitchen Harris, a full-service agency, decided to skip the photos altogether and showcase the cartoon versions of their employees instead. The choice to make renderings of each employee brings a lot of character and personality to this agency’s website. Plus, it gives a chance for employees to have a bit of extra fun as well.

2. Employees as brand promoters - Most of your employees likely have active LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and perhaps even Periscope accounts. This means they have connections, whether friends, family, or strangers. You should be leveraging your employee’s networks to spread the word about your brand and show that your employees are proud to represent and serve as the faces of your company.

(c) Write with Personality - All of your site content should be infused with personality – wit, humour, emotion - these are all added pluses. These personality-infused posts will vary depending on each writing style of your content producers and contributors, and that’s ok! Your brand doesn’t need to stick to one voice. Ensure that the copy on your homepage is not generic – if another company could quickly think of the sage tagline, then ditch it. Be unique with your composition.

(d) Tell stories of failure - Often, your audience is going to relate far more when you share your failures over your successes. That doesn’t mean revealing all of the bugs in your software or about the storefront manager’s weekly delay and lack of motivation. Don’t air out your dirty laundry, but rather share personal stories or life lessons learned. For example, share with your blog readers stories of overcoming failure or share stories of how your business helper a customer overcome failure.

Remember, as marketers; we are now selling to the “experiential consumer” – the person who buys the product experience rather than just the product itself.

This is until I visited my campus…

As soon as I saw my campus, all my nervousness about living there flew away. The view was breathtaking, and the buildings were architectural marvels. On my first day, I remember thinking that I would never get used to the view. 

But, the sad part is that I did get used to the view. After just spending 4 to 5 months, I got so used to the view and the incredible architecture that I didn’t notice them anymore. Although I felt terrible about it but isn’t this how life is? We get used to things, feelings or people, no matter how marvellous they are. 

That sounds like a great life lesson, right? But, trust me when I tell you that this can be a great lesson in marketing as well. The whole getting used to something is a mental response to getting exposed to the same thing repeatedly. This phenomenon is known as Sensory Adaptation or Neural Adaptation. 

According to the American Psychological Association, Sensory Adaptation is “a phenomenon in which receptor cells lose their power to respond after a period of unchanged stimulation.” In other words, the more you are exposed to a specific stimulus, the more you tune it out. 

So, in terms of marketing, we can say that Sensory adaptation is a phenomenon that occurs when consumers get exposed to one ad for an extended period. Then, that ad no longer provides sensory input to be noted. This is why you have stopped noticing that fancy wallpaper you got for your room or the various colour lights. Instead, your subconscious takes over and clears the deck so that you can focus more clearly. And this is precisely why you can tune out thousands upon thousands of display ads so effortlessly.

As a consumer, Sensory Adaptation can be good for you. It will help you avoid the plethora of advertisements floating around on the internet. However, as someone who wants people to look at your service or product’s advertisement, Sensory Adaptation is terrible news. 

So how can you deal with this bad news? The key to snapping consumers out of this dull haze is to offer something novel that they haven’t experienced before. The logic is that when we encounter something new, particularly when we aren’t expecting it, that object is immediately brought to the forefront of our attention and is also likely to be solidified in the memory.

Following are the two most established techniques to overcome Sensory Adaptation when it comes to your advertisements - 

1. Experiential Marketing 

Experiential marketing is a marketing strategy that directly engages consumers and invites and encourages consumers to participate in the evolution of a brand. 

Rather than looking at consumers as passive receivers of messages, engagement marketers believe that consumers should be actively involved in the production and co-creation of marketing programs, developing a relationship with the brand. Consumer Engagement is when a brand and a consumer connect. 

In other words, experiential marketing is the live, one-on-one interactions that allow consumers to create connections with brands. Consumers will continue to seek and demand one-on-one, shareable interaction with a brand. For example, it has been noted that there is a lot of impulse purchasing in book shops, where customers get to browse and read in the store.

2. Ambush Advertising 

In this marketing strategy, an advertiser “ambushes” an event to compete for exposure against competing advertisers.

Most forms of ambush marketing capitalise on the prominence of a significant event through marketing campaigns that associate an advertiser with it, but without actually paying sponsorship fees to the event’s organiser to identify themselves as an “official” partner or sponsor.

An advertiser may engage in ambush marketing in “indirect” means—where the advertiser alludes to the imagery and themes of an event without any references to specific trademarks, or in “direct” and “predatory” means—where the advertiser makes statements in their marketing that mislead consumers into believing they are officially associated with the event (including the fraudulent use of official names and trademarks), or performs marketing activities in and around a venue to dilute the presence of “official” sponsors.

Ambush marketing is most common in sports. For instance, around the 2012 Olympics season, numerous brands launched their campaigns around the theme.

Some quick takeaways - 

• Sensory Adaptation is “a phenomenon in which receptor cells lose their power to respond after a period of unchanged stimulation.”

• Sensory adaptation is a phenomenon that occurs when consumers get exposed to one ad for an extended period. Then, that ad no longer provides sensory input to be noted.

• The key to snapping consumers out of sensory adaptation is to offer something novel that they haven’t experienced before. 

• Experiential marketing and Ambush marketing are two of the best-established ways to overcome Sensory Adaptation. 

What even qualifies us to be called fitness freaks? Going to the gym regularly, eating healthy, cutting?  I am only asking because I have been working out six days a week, every week without fail, for the past two years. So can I call myself a freak yet? I should probably add that I work out to make up for all the junk I keep eating. So am I still a member of the freak club?

All jokes aside, before I started to work out regularly, I used to eat away all the junk possible happily. However, these days when I reach out for those cup noodles or that pizza slice, I feel guilty. Guilty because a part of me feels terrible for all the time and effort my trainer and I put in every day. However, there is still a part of me that just wants to slurp all the noodles down. If this happens with you as well, then you are not alone, my friend. 

We all go through something called Cognitive Dissonance in life. Cognitive dissonance is when we avoid having conflicting beliefs and attitudes because it makes us feel uncomfortable. The clash is usually dealt with by rejecting, debunking, or avoiding new information. For example, I deal with my cognitive dissonance by buying wholewheat noodles or thin crust pizzaz to make myself feel better about the calorie count. 

Cognitive dissonance is a fundamental principle of psychology; however, today, we will talk about cognitive dissonance as a powerful driver of consumer behaviour. This is because cognitive dissonance reveals people’s deeply held beliefs — what they value, what they desire and fear, how they want to be perceived. A strong brand should be able to identify these subconscious drivers and narrow the gap between what people believe and what they do. This ability will help them acquire new customers pretty easily. 

Let’s break it down. To be able to understand these drivers, you need to understand what cognitive dissonance means for brands. Cognitive dissonance has been identified to be relevant to brands in two different ways - 

1. In terms of the expectations consumers have for the brand.

2. In terms of the value and beliefs of the individual consumer because it directly impacts how they use your product/services. 

Cognitive Dissonance in terms of what consumers expect from the brand - 

The first one is fairly simple. Your consumer’s expectations will depend on things like what your brand design looks like, features your product will have, or the language your brand uses in their marketing. So, for example, if you are selling a serious product like some medicine for a heart condition, your logo can’t be childish, and you can’t really use a humour-focused marketing strategy. Doing this would create cognitive dissonance for your consumers, and they will want to avoid your product because they will want to avoid the feeling of dissonance. 

Based on the product or service you offer, people have certain expectations around what brands should look and sound like. However, there are simple yet effective steps you can take to manage these expectations. First, make sure the colours and shapes you use are consistent throughout all your marketing strategies and match your initial brand guidelines. Second, be very careful while picking a logo design and font for your brand. If you choose a logo or a font in contrast with what you sell, it will fly in the face of what people expect. This will end up creating cognitive dissonance for people who encounter it. 

Even something as small as the tone of voice can be very significant. For example, if you are a comedy club but use a very serious tone of voice, it is bound to create some dissonance. 

The bottom line is before you start to narrow down various aspects of your brand design, narrow down on what your product/service is and what your brand stands for. A good practice is to always start with the answers to three questions - Why what, and how? 

Cognitive Dissonance in the values and beliefs of the customer -

The second one is not that simple. Here we deal with the consumer’s internal cognitive dissonance, the gap between their own beliefs and actions. 

One of the most significant manifestations of cognitive dissonance in consumers is Buyer’s remorse. It is nothing but guilt or regret over purchasing a product. For example, say you need to go to the stationery store to buy a refill for your pen; however, you end up buying many other items like cute pens, sticky notes and colours. What you might feel in this situation is buyer’s remorse. There are three ways you can deal with this remorse, either you can return all the extra items you bought, or you can tell yourself that buying stationery is self-care and who doesn’t want to invest in self-care? In other words, you can justify your purchase.

This part, where the consumer is trying to justify their purchase, is where the brands can help. Brands can leverage this type of cognitive dissonance and tap into a large market by helping consumers change the way they perceive their behaviour.

Now that you understand cognitive dissonance in brands a bit better, here are a few ways you can leverage the power of the dissonance - 

1. Observe - When in your life do you experience cognitive dissonance? Try to observe the world through this lens for a while, and you’ll begin to notice the discomfort you feel when your actions don’t align with your values. By doing this sort of introspection, you’ll more easily see cognitive dissonance in others and for your brand.

2. Customers come first - Why do users come to your brand? What gets them to become users or customers? What holds them back? What do they value? Identify their pain points and see if you can unearth any cognitive dissonance that underlies them.

3. What is your approach - How will you lessen consumers’ cognitive dissonance? Will it be by changing their belief, changing/adapting their behaviour, or changing their perception of their behaviour? Again, you don’t have to opt for just one pathway here; changing more than one aspect can be even more effective.

The one thing that you have to keep in mind is that consumers want to feel good about their decisions. So, just like an ideal partner, if your brand can make people feel good about themselves, they will have no other option but to remain loyal to you! 

Some quick takeaways - 

• Cognitive dissonance is when we avoid having conflicting beliefs and attitudes because it makes us feel uncomfortable.

• The clash is usually dealt with by rejecting, debunking, or avoiding new information.

• Cognitive dissonance is a fundamental principle of psychology and can be a powerful driver of consumer behaviour.

• Cognitive dissonance has been identified as relevant to brands in two different ways, first in terms of consumers’ expectations with the brand and second in terms of their values and beliefs. 

I have lived with my flatmate for six years and have never seen her clean her room once. After gathering some courage over time, I finally asked her for a reason. Does she not like neat things? Was she just lazy? Should I clean for her? 

Do you want to know the reason why she didn’t clean? Drumrolls, please; it turns out she was waiting for her mom to offer her a reward to clean her room! Since she was a kid, her mom used to negotiate a deal with her where she always got a reward after cleaning her room. So guess what we do now? I bake her favourite oatmeal raisin cookies every time I want her to clean her room. Simple right?!

Although paying someone to clean their own surroundings sounds like a bizarre concept, it’s not a rare one. Not only cleaning but attaching a reward to any given behaviour is a well-known concept. This concept is known as Incentivisation. Not only rewards but attaching punishments or penalties for failing to do the said behaviour is also an aspect of incentivisation. 

In most cases, incentives turn out to be powerful tools to motivate people to take a specific action. Think about it. Haven’t almost anyone and everyone used this concept? For example, when our parents bought that bicycle when we performed well, our schools awarded rank holders or offices with performance-based bonuses. 

However, sometimes incentives can backfire and might decrease motivation instead of increasing it. For example, my flatmate, who was always rewarded for cleaning her room, is only motivated to get the reward and not really to clean her own space. When people are only motivated by incentives, they lose interest in work with no incentive attached and often do not keep up the behaviour once the incentive is gone. By employing incentivisation too often, we may be making ourselves less passionate, less creative, and less engaged with our work. This is where using incentives in the right manner comes in. 

If used correctly, incentivisation can work wonders in marketing. Incentive marketing can be a powerful tool for companies. Moreover, it is an effective tactic used by companies everywhere. According to the Incentive Marketing Association, in America alone businesses spend around USD 76.9 billion annually on incentives - including merchandise and gift cards.

So, how do you do it exactly? How do you use incentives in marketing? From using a loyalty program to special offers to one-off promotions, businesses have put a lot of effort into incentivising customers to purchase their products/ services. Here are some straightforward yet effective incentive marketing ideas you can pick and choose from for your customers - 

1. Loyalty programs -  Loyalty programs are a prime example. Such incentives are a staple of all kinds of businesses, for the simple reason that they work really well. At the most basic level, a card that you can get stamped to give you a free coffee or haircut is a loyalty program, as is anything that incentivises customers to stick with a brand by providing some form of reward. The reason these programs are effective is that people like to feel appreciated. They enjoy thinking that companies are grateful for their custom and they value excellent customer experience.

2. Referral bonuses for signing up family and friends - Another common marketing incentive is a referral bonus to bring in new customers. This arrangement is a win-win for firms and customers alike and is particularly effective with affiliate marketing. That’s definitely how you should sell it to consumers if you do implement the idea. Referral programs work particularly well for e-commerce websites and other online businesses. Such firms can make it straightforward for customers to recommend them. They can also track whether those referred do go on to become paying customers. Reviews and other kinds of word of mouth marketing, too, are influential in the digital world.

3. Early access to new items and sales - If you release new lines or run special offers, you may want to provide them to loyal customers before anyone else. That’s another tried and true form of incentive marketing. It’s a method often employed in the entertainment and leisure industry. Think about the last time you saw tickets for a concert or gig go on sale. You probably noticed that some people could buy them first. That might have included members of the fan club, users of a particular sponsor’s product, and others. This is a great incentive marketing idea to consider. You give up very little and could still get abundant rewards. By giving some customers early access to products or promos, you create a sense of urgency. That’s an excellent way to boost sales. On top of that, you’re still rewarding loyal customers and aiding retention.

4. Special features for premium membership - This is a slightly different way of rewarding your most loyal customers. Of course, they have to pay for their heightened membership level, but the benefits are worth it. That’s especially true for those most regular users of your product or service. Amazon Prime is the highest-profile example of this kind of marketing incentive. 

5.  Sweepstakes and contests for free merchandise - Incentive marketing isn’t all about inspiring people to buy from your brand. Sometimes, a successful marketing incentive helps you gather new leads and info. Sweepstakes and contests are highly effective techniques in this regard. Many firms use giveaways to persuade people to give them their email addresses or fill in a short survey. The former gives your brand a new channel through which to reach potential customers. The latter provides potentially invaluable detail on your target audience. Sweepstakes and contests are easy for even smaller businesses to run. You can appear generous, after all, without breaking the bank. One very desirable prize will delight entrants to your competition. It doesn’t, though, have to make much of a dent in your budget.

Incentive marketing is a potentially lucrative avenue for any brand to explore. That’s whether you want to find new customers or reinvigorate those you already have. This strand of marketing excels in aiding both customer acquisition and retention. Contests, referral bonuses, and loyalty programs, after all, have universal appeal. 

Although all the ideas mentioned above are great, you don’t have to implement all of them necessarily. Just pick what seems like the best one for you at this point!

Some quick takeaways - 

• The concept of attaching a reward to any given behaviour is known as Incentivisation.

• Not only rewards but attaching punishments or penalties for failing to do the said behaviour is also an aspect of incentivisation.

• Incentives turn out to be powerful tools to motivate people to take a specific action; however, sometimes, they can backfire. 

• Incentivisation can also be used in marketing to find new customers or reinvigorate those you already have

How badly do you want to put that piece together with the puzzle? If I give you a puzzle to solve with all the pieces available, will you be able to leave the puzzle incomplete?

Now think about another scenario. Imagine watching your favourite show, and it’s the second last episode that ends with a massive cliffhanger. You are desperately waiting for the last episode to put the whole story together, and guess what the last episode never airs (All the Game of Thrones book fans can relate). How would you feel? 

Irrespective of how it may seem, I am not trying to make you uncomfortable. I am just trying to point out that the human brain is programmed to complete actions or thoughts as far as possible. And, matters that are still open, like unsolved puzzles or incomplete stories, occupy us, and negative feelings up to stress arise. 

The incomplete nature of things affects us so much that psychologists have identified it as an effect in itself. The Zeigarnik effect is a psychological phenomenon describing a tendency to remember interrupted or incomplete tasks or events more easily than tasks that have been completed. This is also why we end up spending a lot of time thinking about things that still have to be done but which we have been putting off for ages. Another excellent example of this effect is when a person ends a relationship with another. The rejected party often desires to know the reason “why” the relationship came to an end. If the person forcing the break-up cannot provide a satisfying reason, the rejected party experiences frustration and confusion over the lack of closure.

The essence of The Zeigarnik Effect is “incompleteness”. When things are left incomplete, we feel uncomfortable, and our attention remains drawn to it until we can find some kind of resolution. Some of the highest-selling books and highest-rating Television shows are built upon The Zeigarnik Effect. As a result, people almost develop a compulsion to finish things.

This has the positive effect that we remember unfinished things, while we usually forget completed things quickly because our brain does not have to spend any more energy on it. A good example is a waiter, who knows precisely which guest still has to pay. The Zeigarnik effect also positively impacts marketing, as it encourages customers to pursue specific actions. For most people, the Zeigarnik effect is, therefore, an unconscious companion through everyday life. 

The Zeigarnik Effect was coined by a Russian Psychologist called Bluma Zeigarnik. She was fascinated by how food servers could remember lengthy food orders and match each meal to the right customer. However, she observed that the information vanished from the waiter’s mind as soon as the meal was delivered. The theory was that a yet-to-be-filled meal order created a state of “incompleteness” in the waiter’s mind, who could not let go of the information until a resolution had been made on the meal delivery.

As you must have guessed by now, you can find some self-evident examples of this effect everywhere. For example, if you’ve ever read Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, you may already know that one of the ingredients to making that book such a page-turner was that each chapter ended with a “Zeigarnik Hook”. That hook compelled the reader to continue reading to find a resolution. Apart from TV shows and movies, even news channels use this effect to create excitement for the upcoming news. 

One obvious application or example of this effect that I want to talk in detail about is the use of the Zeigarnik effect in marketing. When advertising, you can begin by telling a story that attracts a potential customer’s attention and then keep them following in search of a satisfying conclusion. By peppering more hooks throughout the sales copy or by revealing small bits of the puzzle at a time, you will be able to engage the viewer deeper and deeper into the sales process.

Here are a few ways you can integrate the Zeigarnik effect into your marketing strategy - 

1. If you cleverly integrate the Zeigarnik effect into your website, you can ensure a longer dwell time on it. You can achieve this by not placing all vital information directly on the start page. This not only provides more clarity, but the link to correspondingly more detailed subpages also ensures good networking within your website. The interested party is thus kept on the website as long as possible and, in the best case, discovers additional services or products that are relevant for him. However, one should not overdo it here. If there is a bit here and there, the visitor quickly loses interest and is frustrated by clicking through.

2. Achieve higher click and open rates by encouraging people to open the email in the subject line. The Zeigarnik effect is widespread with double-opt-in confirmation emails or abandoned cart emails: Here, you often read statements such as “Just one more click…” or “Haven’t you forgotten something?”. But this also applies to regular newsletters. If you attract attention with an interesting subject and make the recipient curious, you have almost won. In the newsletter itself, the Zeigarnik effect is used again in the form of pictures and links. Thus, newsletters are usually teasers intended to draw attention to specific editorial contributions or offers. When the recipient clicks on the link, they receive the full offer, the opportunity to buy directly or read the article in full. The recipient is thus drawn deeper and deeper into the intended action to complete it. This effect is visually underlined by, e.g. load and progress bars. Especially when only a minimum of effort is required to achieve the desired goal, many will not be able to resist the temptation.

Similarly, you can use the effect for your blog posts, announcements and other social media content. You must be aware of this effect and know how to use it in the best possible way. Therefore, it is advisable to announce products, offers, and services with a serial character to retain customers. This applies not only to editorial articles, films, series, etc., but can also succeed with product extensions, new versions, special editions, newsletter series, upgrades and updates. 

Pro tip - When the task is completed, not only does the stress drop, but our reward centre is also addressed, and endorphins are released. And you know what that means, right? Happy customers!! 

What have we learned so far - 

1. The Zeigarnik effect is a psychological phenomenon describing a tendency to remember interrupted or incomplete tasks or events more easily than tasks that have been completed. 

2. The essence of The Zeigarnik Effect is “incompleteness”. When things are left incomplete, we feel uncomfortable, and our attention remains drawn to it until we can find some kind of resolution. 

3. The Zeigarnik Effect was coined by a Russian Psychologist called Bluma Zeigarnik.

4. One of the most valuable applications of the Zeigarnik effect is in marketing. 

Which one is better? Samsung or Apple?

Do you already have an answer?

Do you think Samsung is better? Are you saying that we should ignore that Apple holds the higher ground for design and integration? Apple is so much more focused than Samsung. Even as a company, Apple is more profitable. 

Or wait, did you think Apple is better? In which case can we ignore the price range and the affordability that Samsung comes with? More importantly, Samsung has universal chargers, unlike Apple who seem to hate chargers at this point. 

Personally, I like Samsung better since I have always used Samsung phones. However, my entire family, who have always used iPhones, will pick Apple over anything else.  

I, unfortunately, can only present to you my opinion. I am not qualified enough to give a verdict in this case. However, I am qualified enough to point out how most of our opinion or preference is solely based on how familiar we are with either Apple or Samsung. I have never really met an Apple user advocating for Samsung and vice versa. What do you think? 

Similar to our preference in the Apple-Samsung case, in general as well, we tend to develop preferences for things simply because we are familiar with them. This tendency is known as the mere exposure effect. Think about it like this: if you have to choose between picking a book you have read about before and are familiar with or a completely unheard of, random book, which one would you pick? Even when we go out to eat, most of us stick to dishes that we are already familiar with or at least dishes with familiar ingredients in them. 

Although sticking to something you are familiar with sounds like a smart thing to do, it might not always be a great idea. For example, the world is full of books you haven’t picked up yet only because you are not familiar with them! Also, ideally, our decisions should be based on a logical approach and not on our familiarity or lack thereof. Moreover, sticking with what we know limits our exposure to new things, ideas, and viewpoints.

Even when you think about the repercussions of this effect on the bigger picture, it’s not very optimistic. For example, imagine companies, governments and other prominent organisations avoiding new technology or systems because they are unfamiliar with them. Similarly, schools and other academic institutions giving in to this effect can have devastating consequences. 

The mere exposure effect also helps maintain social norms. Because we are constantly exposed to all the norms in our society, we easily adopt them in our day to day lives. But, sadly, the same thing applies to stereotypes and prejudices as well. Although stereotypes and prejudice come with a bag full of negative consequences, they help us make sense of the world and make its interpretation easier. This is also one of the major reasons why we give in to the mere exposure effect. As a result, we are better able to understand and interpret things we have already seen before. For example, think about how we find it easier to understand complicated movies when we watch them again. 

Another primary reason why we give in to this effect is that it reduces uncertainty. We are evolutionarily programmed to avoid new things or to be careful around them. Familiarity also invokes the feeling of safety. For example, when do you feel safer, when you are driving in a car with a friend or in a shared cab with a stranger? 

Because of such characteristics of familiarity, the mere exposure effect is famous in the world of advertisement and marketing. The more people are familiar with your brand, the more assured they feel about it. But, let me remind you, familiarity doesn’t always mean that the customer has used your product; it might just mean that they have seen your ads or are familiar with how your product works because they have seen other people use it. 

Here are a few things you can do to use the concept of familiarity to your advantage - 

1. Repeated Exposure - While brief single exposure to an ad is enough to get someone to view it more favourably, studies reveal that repeated exposures are even more effective. While this repeated exposure effect finds an obvious application in online retargeting efforts, marketers can keep it in mind as they create integrated campaigns across multiple channels using consistent visuals and messaging. Remember, every impression, no matter how fleeting, counts!

2. Online ads work even when people don’t click on them - It’s natural to doubt the impact of marketing activities whose primary aim is to generate brand awareness. After all, you can’t measure that as easily as clicks or other performance metrics. But what the mere exposure effect suggests is that marketers might be placing too much emphasis on click-through rates.

3. There is no such thing as overdoing it - An adage says that familiarity breeds contempt. But we now have evidence that this is not true. The mere exposure effect is excellent evidence of that. Many studies suggest that consumers tend to have a relatively high level of tolerance for repeated exposure to ads. So if you are worried about overexposure — you needn’t be. (Pro tip - Don’t be scared of overdoing it but please be scared of boring your customers. Be creative!)

4. Familiarity shouldn’t be your main lead - The effects of mere exposure are subtle. It can’t possibly be your main idea. Of course, it will work wonders in the supporting cast, but dumping all the marketing responsibilities on familiarity will only bring in flops. Instead, have other robust strategies, and let your exposure effect strategies support your main lead. 

While mere exposure to one brand won’t necessarily peel consumers away from the industry leader they’ve been buying from for years, it can help the brand separate itself from the pack. And over several years, on a global scale, those tiebreakers can add up.

Some quick takeaways - 

• We tend to develop preferences for things simply because we are familiar with them. This tendency is known as the mere exposure effect.

• Our decisions should be based on a logical approach and not on our familiarity or lack thereof. 

• The mere exposure effect also helps maintain social norms, stereotypes and prejudices. 

• Strategies can be formed around the concept of mere exposure effect to improve the effectiveness of ads. 

Although trick and treating is fun, my favourite part of Halloween will always be eating candy with my siblings at the end of the festival. My mom used to make a deal with all of us; either we eat all the candy we could on that one night, or we got to take one candy each with our school lunch every day for the entire month of November.

Which one do you think we picked? But, first, let me give you some context - Because we were kids, we could only eat 5-8 pieces of candy at one go, and there were no candy or products with sugar available in the cafeteria in our school.

Now, don’t you think we would pick the second option of taking candy to school for a month? But, sadly, we always chose the first option of hogging as much candy as possible in that one night.

Why do you think we chose instant gratification over a bigger reward? Firstly, yes, we were kids and stupid. However, secondly, and more importantly, humans, in general, are inclined towards picking immediate rewards over rewards that come later in the future, even when these immediate rewards are smaller. This inclination is also known as Hyperbolic Discounting.

More examples of hyperbolic discounting would be people choosing to consume drugs or smoking for a momentary rush of dopamine over long term well being. Or, people spending money on clothes or other luxuries over saving them for the future.

As demonstrated in the above examples, hyperbolic discounting can often lead to poor decision making. Such decisions that prioritize short-term gratification often neglect our long-term well-being. Not only for individuals but hyperbolic discounting can be bad for various professions as well. For example, an organization only focusing on the goals for the next quarter might not make adjustments necessary for future benefit. Even policymakers or government parties focusing only on political gain during their term can be bad for the country’s future.

In most cases, we are well aware of the drawbacks of hyperbolic discounting, but we still fall for it. Why do you think this is? First and foremost, when we are making decisions, we always like to go for certain options. We want certainty to the extent where we settle for rewards that are smaller but certain over more significant rewards with less certainty. Secondly, we don’t like waiting. Think about it, isn’t waiting for something we want difficult? Similarly, waiting for a reward get’s difficult; therefore, most people pick instant gratification over delayed and often better rewards.

Now that we have looked at hyperbolic discounting and why it happens, let’s look at why I am telling you about it!

When it comes to driving more conversions, hyperbolic discounting can be a boon. All you need to do is incorporate it into your marketing strategy.

Here is how you can use Hyperbolic Discounting to your advantage:

(a)  Raise your price but delay payments - If you delay the payments, customers don’t think about paying but about the reward they will be getting. It automatically takes away the focus from cost, and the goods or the services become more important. As soon as you take away the attention from the price, it gives you a licence to raise your price.

(b)  Create a point system - In my opinion, Starbucks does this the best. No matter how much people want to save money by making their coffee at home, they end up falling for the point system at Starbucks or any other cafe. You get an immediate reward for buying coffee or anything else, and you also get to track your rewards through an app. What else could the impatient customer in you want??

Something like this could be perfect for an e-commerce business. Make your product/service more enticing by adding a layer of point system!

(c) Offer free shipping above a specific price - When your customers head to the checkout and realize that they have just fallen short of the amount required for free shipping, they will (in most cases) go for instant gratification, which is free delivery. The more rational choice of only buying what you need will be overlooked due to hyperbolic discounts.

You can take many other steps like offering multiple pricing options, for example, $15/week for 30 minutes or $48/week for 120 minutes. In this case, most people will choose the first option, although, in the long run, the second one is cheaper.

Similarly, look for what else you can do to give your customers what they want right now! Remember, time is the key here. Any reward that’s delayed will be overlooked for something instant!

Some quick takeaways -

●     Humans, in general, are inclined towards picking immediate rewards over rewards that come later in the future, even when these immediate rewards are smaller. This inclination is called Hyperbolic Discounting.

●     Hyperbolic discounting can often lead to poor decision making. Such decisions that prioritize short-term gratification often neglect our long-term well-being.

●     Hyperbolic discounting can be incorporated into the marketing strategy to get better conversions and other advantages.

However, it’s safe to say that laughter has its benefits. Some of the most commonly known and essential benefits are reducing stress, boosting happiness, boosting your immune system, increasing your ability to tolerate pain, etc. One of the more hidden positive effects of laughter is that it enhances your memory and increases the chances of recall. 

Does this happen to you? Think about it, aren’t funny mishaps the only thing that we remember from all our family reunions? Even when you think about tv shows or movies, what we remember the most are the funny bits. 

This influence of humour on our memory is known as the humour effect. It is a cognitive bias that causes people to remember information better when they perceive it as humorous. To further understand this influence in-depth, please know that we have various types of memory with multiple functions. For example, we have recognition memory, which involves recognising things that one has encountered and recall memory, which consists of retrieving past information. Humour enhances all of these kinds of memory. Humour not only works for a verbal or visual memory but also works for a mixed one. 

But why am I suddenly talking about humour? 

As I have mentioned above, humour comes with a sea of benefits. Fortunately, almost all these benefits are applicable in the world of advertisements as well, especially the humour effect. Consumers most enjoy being entertained instead of being pitched to, therefore using humour can lead to better engagement with your brand. For example, for a company like Cisco selling $100,000 computer routers, it can be challenging to put a commercial together that will appeal to anyone but hardcore tech programmers. But thinking creatively and beyond the product, we can create something that becomes a viral hit and appeals to the customers while allowing others who may have zero intention to buy the product to share it with their friends, raising brand awareness.

Humour seems like a pretty simple tool to use. All you have to do is make people laugh, right? In general, it might be true; however, with advertisements, there is an added pressure of making the humour effective. For example, if your advertisement fails to talk about your brand effectively, will just being funny be enough? 

One of the best tricks to overcome this barrier can be to select the right kind of humour to use. Yes, you read that right. Humour can be of more than one type. For you to pick the right one, you should know the different kinds. Here are some of the most commonly used different types of humour - 

1. Deadpan humour - All the Dwight Shrute fans out there know what I am talking about.  It’s the so-blunt-it’s-almost-awkward type of comedy that is so emotionless and so weird that it evokes laughter in you. The term ‘deadpan’ means the expressionless face of someone telling such a joke, with ‘pan’ being an old slang meaning ‘face’. This kind of humour lurks just beneath a serious-sounding message meant for those who get it. Its strength lies in the surprise element. Usually, this is an excellent way for brands to convey information about their product creatively and absurdly.

2. Irreverent humour - This type of humour is certainly not for everyone as it can easily offend people but can pack a serious punch when executed well. It is very famous on social media, especially with the younger generation. This type is distinctly mocking in nature and intentionally disrespectful. A considerable drawback of such humour is that it can offend people who don’t have a taste for it. But those who enjoy it, according to cognitive studies, are supposed to be highly intelligent. This might not be a good idea if your target audience is from the older generation. 

(C) Absurd humour - It is that weird kind of humour that pays off. A little use of it, mixed with a pinch of silliness, can be perfect for delighting your customers. Absurd humour, like nonsense poems, can catch on. A bit of unpredictability goes a long way when used accurately.

(d) Slapstick humour - Slapstick comedy is a physical kind based around silly stumbles and mild comic violence – smacks in the head or people falling, etc. While it is often thought incredibly ridiculous, some of the best marketing strategies include this sort of humour. It is more action than words and requires excellent timing, animated facial expressions, and quite a bit of acrobatics to pull off.

Like everything else, if you add humour to your advertisements, you should have a purpose for it. Unfortunately, purposeless humour can very quickly turn distasteful.

Some quick takeaways -

• Humous has many benefits like reducing stress, boosting happiness, boosting your immune system, increasing your ability to tolerate pain, etc.

• This influence of humour on our memory is known as the humour effect. It is a cognitive bias that causes people to remember information better when they perceive it as humorous.

• Humour can be used in advertisements to make them more memorable and more effective. 

• Various kinds of humour can be used for advertising various products and services. 

I, for one, love making a list and organising the way I shop for groceries. Even before entering the store, I like to plan my route through the various sections I need to visit to buy everything off my list. However, the way I shop for groceries when I am hungry is an entirely different ball game. I completely ignore the list and directly go to the aisle with chips and other ready to eat snacks. I even hog a lot of items at the bakery in the store as well. Every time I go shopping with an empty stomach, I completely regret it later. 

Please make me feel better and tell me that I am not the only one. Do you think sometimes emotions get the best out of you while shopping or while making any other decision? Although we all hope to make decisions based on rationality and logic, is that always possible? While you think about these questions, look at what I have in store for you today. 

Today we will talk about something called the Empathy gap. The empathy gap describes our tendency to underestimate the influence of varying mental states on our behaviour and make decisions that only satisfy our current emotions, feeling, or state of being. It is also referred to as the hot-cold empathy gap. Hot and cold depict two visceral forms. A hot visceral state is when we are influenced by a strong emotion like hunger, fear or sexual tension. Whereas a cold visceral state is, we are thinking clearly without any significant influence from emotions. 

As humans, we keep swinging between the cold and the hot state. The gap occurs when we fail to acknowledge the temporary nature of our mental state and fail to empathise with others who are not in the same mental state as us. We either overestimate our tendency to be rational or believe that we will always be in a heated state. 

For example, imagine that you are being mugged by a man holding a knife. What would you do in this situation? I am sure that most of us would like to say that we will either run or defend ourselves. However, what we fail to take into account is the grip of fear we will be in. When under attack, we will go through a rush of various emotions, which will hugely influence our further actions. This is an example of us underestimating the influence of emotions. 

Now let’s look at another example, imagine that you had a major fight with your friend. In that moment of anger and frustration, we all end up saying some things that we shouldn’t. Or we refuse to apologise because we are angry. This happens because at that moment, we think that we will always be this angry, which is really not the case. In most cases, our strong feelings subside, and we start to reason again.

Both the above examples demonstrate the empathy gap. We could not correctly predict how we would behave in both situations because we made our predictions based on our current emotional states. In the first example, because we were in a cold state, we assumed that we would always make decisions based on logic and completely disregard the involvement of emotions. On the contrary, in the second example, we were in a hot state and assumed that we would always be in this state. As these examples demonstrate, the empathy gap acts as an obstacle for making the best decision for our long term goals, and it can occur in either direction, from hot-to-cold or cold-to-hot.

So far, we have looked at examples that showcase our inability to understand our behaviour. But empathy gap occurs even when we are trying to predict others’ behaviour. It is when we fail to predict how other people can be affected by their emotions. Think about it like this: when you are in a cold state and see your friend acting out of anger, you struggle to understand their behaviour. This is nothing but an empathy gap. The empathy gap also leads to our inability to understand other people’s perspectives, leading to conflict. 

But why am I telling you this?

Just like everyone else, your customers also showcase the empathy gap. Their empathy gap is your problem as well because unpredictable customers are not good news. More importantly, your brand itself can be a victim of these gaps. A study on more than 350 brands revealed that around 76% of brands considered themselves customer-centric; however, customers only voted for 31% of the brands as customer-centric. 

Do you realise you might not be aware of how unaware you are :P

One of the best ways to bridge this gap, both for your customers and yourself, is to involve customers every step of your way. On the other hand, building a business or a product in a vacuum without considering your customer’s needs will only take you so far. 

Here are a couple of ways you can involve your customers in your brand - 

1. Usability testing - Designers, product managers, marketers, and researchers alike can uncover and understand how real people respond to products and experiences through usability testing. From what they like and dislike, to where they get stuck and confused, to areas of improvement, the valuable insight gathered from these tests are sure to be eye-opening.

2. Customer interviews - Remember, people love to talk, especially about themselves and their opinions. So asking your customers about their opinion will give you a better insight and make the customers feel appreciated and important.

3. Focus on qualitative data along with quantitative one - In today’s day and age, it is very easy for brands to get their hands on a large amount of customer data. However, there is a scarcity of qualitative data on customers. The depth that qualitative data provides can not be reached just by using quantitative data. 

Some quick takeaways - 

• The empathy gap describes our tendency to underestimate the influence of varying mental states on our behaviour and make decisions that only satisfy our current emotions, feeling, or state of being.

•  It is also referred to as the hot-cold empathy gap. Hot and cold depict two visceral forms.

• The empathy gap acts as an obstacle for making the best decision for our long term goals, and it can occur in either direction, from hot-to-cold or cold-to-hot.

•  The empathy gap also leads to our inability to understand other people’s perspectives, leading to conflict. 

One last thing …

The best way to avoid the empathy gap is to give in to your emotions. Don’t fight your emotions, instead make peace with them and try to understand them. The better understanding you have of your emotions, the more predictable they will be for you. Once you can predict your emotions better, you will make better and more informed decisions. 

V/S

If I tell you that my favourite band is a South Korean band with seven very good looking members who have broken all records in the music industry with their dancing, singing, and rapping skills. 

Which description would make you want to try out the band’s music? (Of course, once you hear their music, no description will ever matter.) 

Even though the information provided in both descriptions are nearly the same, the second description will work better for almost all of us. What do you think makes the two descriptions different from each other? 

You are right; the difference is in how I have framed the information. It turns out that we do judge the book by its cover. By definition, book covers are made to grab your attention and to sell the books to you. 

Like buying a book, almost all our decisions are influenced by how information is presented to us. This influence is called the framing effect. The effect suggests that equivalent information can be more or less attractive depending on what features are highlighted.

According to this effect, we focus more on how a piece of information is presented than on the information itself. As a result, the final decision might still be correct, but it won’t be well informed. Additionally, poor information or an inferior product can be framed positively using this effect. Similarly, a better product or a good piece of information can end up ignored or sidelined due to a less favourable presentation. 

For example, One aloe vera shampoo might say - A shampoo with only 5% added preservatives and another one made say - with 90% preservative-free substances. Although the first one has fewer preservatives, some might choose the second one due to the framing effect. 

The framing effect can majorly influence public opinion as well. For example, public affairs or political campaigns can be interpreted very differently based on how they are framed. Sometimes, issues or positions that benefit most people can be seen unfavourably because of negative framing. Likewise, policy stances and behaviour that does not further the public good may become popular because their positive attributes are effectively emphasised.

Why do we give in to the framing effect?

If you have read my previous newsletters, you already know that we tend to avoid losing even at the cost of an equal amount of gain. Our tendency to avoid loss is one of the biggest reasons why the framing effect works. If you can showcase your product as an essential to prevent any kind of loss, your framing will be better than others. For example, while buying a sanitiser, you come across two different brands - One says that it kills 95% of the germs, and the other states that only 5% of the germs will remain after using the sanitiser. So naturally, most people would choose the first one. After all, 95% killed germs sounds so much better than 5% remaining germs. 

Now that we are done with the why let’s look at how you can use the framing effect to your advantage. 

There are various types of frames, five to be precise. The five major categories have been psychologically studied: gain frames, loss frames, temporal frames, value frames, and goal frames. 

Gain Frames - Gain frames are used because people generally like certainty when it comes to gain. Individuals will choose a guaranteed small amount of gain rather than selecting a chance at a considerable gain. A message with gain framing shows the client what they have to gain from following the advertiser’s message. For example, if you advertise dentures or medical implants, you can use a gain frame and focus on everything the client will gain after using the implants. 

Loss Frames - Loss frames focus on what the customer will lose if they don’t comply with the message in the advertisement. This frame is generally used in public service announcements. For example, an anti-drug or pro-vaccination campaign focuses on what the public will lose if they don’t stop using illicit drugs or get vaccinated against covid-19. 

Temporal Frames - This frame focuses on smaller and immediate rewards. Most people have a hard time with delayed gratification; they want it now. Temporal framing is why fiscal responsibility and retirement planning is such a hard sell.

Value Frames - These frames focus on what is valued more by the customers. People may ignore information with no framing but then respond to the same information if it is framed as affecting something they care about. These framings can just be based on interests and hobbies but tend to be political (human rights, gun control, wealth redistribution, etc.) For example, an advertisement for eco-friendly shoes might stand out to an environmentalist even if they aren’t interested in shoes. 

Goal Frames - Similar to value frames, these frames are personal. They focus on information that supports customer’s goals. For example, you can promote both family or individual health goals for your toothpaste brand. 

The best understood and universally used frames are the first three, Gain, Loss and Temporal. Goal and value frames are more personal and can only target a small group at a time. There it should be tailored for the target audience. 

Depending on your product/ service and brand image, you can pick different frames for different advertisements. Just make sure that you consider all the pros and cons that your chosen frame comes with. 

Some quick takeaways -

• All our decisions are influenced by how information is presented to us. This influence is called the framing effect.

•  The effect suggests that equivalent information can be more or less attractive depending on what features are highlighted.

• According to this effect, we focus more on how a piece of information is presented than on the information itself. As a result, the final decision might still be correct, but it won’t be well informed.

• Five frames can be used in advertising: Gain frame, Loss frame, Temporal frame, Value frame and Goal frame. 

One last thing…

The framing effect is a dangerous one. Can you imagine the same piece of information invoking different kinds of reactions in different people? But, on the other hand, a better understanding of various frames can leave you with the power to manipulate any type of information to get what you want out of it. It almost sounds like a superpower, doesn’t it? 

I honestly feel like this one was tailor-made for me. Similar to everyone else, I have intense feelings of love for Netflix. But sometimes I miss just putting on a channel and watching whatever is on. The weight of picking a movie/tv show amongst the countless options on Netflix gets tiring, especially after an already exhausting day.

It turns out I am not the only one. Getting tired of too many choices is a whole concept in itself. Choice overload describes how people get overwhelmed when they are presented with many options to choose from. This concept has multiple names like overchoice, choice paralysis, or the paradox of choice.

I know what you are thinking; the general assumption is that more choice is a good thing. However, multiple kinds of research have shown that we have a more challenging time choosing from a more extensive array of options. Maybe this is why many prefer restaurants with a more selected menu or a cafe that sells simpler coffees like black or espresso.

The amount of time I spend while selecting a drink at Starbucks or selecting what to watch on Netflix or any other OTT platform is unparalleled. But these are some examples of not-so-important decisions. Choice overload can cause us to delay making decisions, even the more important ones. For instance, we might get flustered by so many available career options and find it challenging to make the final decision.  

The process of decision-making is not the same for everyone. Based on their decision-making approach, we can broadly categorise people into two types. The first ones are called Maximizers; these are people who are compelled to find the very best option available. They compare all their choices and evaluate alternatives on a whole host of attributes before they feel ready to make a decision. The other kind of people are Satisfiers; they are just looking for something that meets their basic requirements. They are content with ‘good’ and don’t feel the need to seek out the ‘best.’

Both Maximizers and Satisfiers undergo some sort of fatigue due to multiple choices. There are a lot of reasons why this fatigue happens. Some of the most prominent reasons are -

(a)  Cognitive Cost - It’s a well-known psychological fact that our capacity to process anything is just 7 (plus-minus 2) at any point in time. With time our choices have grown exponentially, but our ability to process information remains the same. For example, If I buy shoes and am presented with 7 to 9 options, I will process them and decide. However, if I am presented with more than nine options, I will have trouble processing all the choices. This is when we start relying on heuristics and cognitive biases to make decisions.

(b)  Overwhelming feeling - Imagine you are in a grocery store to buy something as simple as tomato ketchup. When you reach the respective aisle, you see five big rows filled with different brands or types of tomato ketchup. How would you feel? This is how your customer also feels when bombarded with a lot of choices.

(c) The weight of responsibility - In the earlier days with less or no competition, we could easily blame a particular brand if we were not satisfied with the purchase. However, now we are the ones responsible for picking the better product. Therefore, the more choices we have, the more expectation will be with our final selection.

Now that we know how problematic choice overload can be, let’s look at the other side of the coin. The bad news is that your customers have a problem. The good news, my friend, is that you can be their knight in shining armour.

Here are a few things you can do to make things easier for your customers -

(a)Take off the cognitive load - If you are a brand with many products or a shop with multiple categories of products, provide a filter for your customers. If you have ever used Amazon or any other good website, you know what I am talking about.

You can also use technological advancement to your advantage. Don’t be scared to become personal shoppers for your customers. Based on their purchasing history, offer them product recommendations and spot-on deal offers.

(b) Don’t let your customers delay their decision - Because of various choices, making a final decision might become a dreaded process. Therefore, you need to persuade your customers at this point. Use the urgency principle (give them a time limit) or the scarcity principle (limit the quantity of the product) for this purpose.

(c) Help cut down on the post-purchase regret - Provide reassurance to your customers. For example, a post-purchase email saying - “I hope you enjoy the product. In case of any problems, please reach out to us.” can make them feel like they made the right decision.

The bottom line is that your customer is a damsel in distress, and you have to find a solution for them to stand out amongst all the other knights.

I will be rooting for you!

Some quick takeaways -

● Choice overload describes how people get overwhelmed when they are presented with many options to choose from.

● Based on their decision-making approach, we can broadly categorise people into two types, Maximizers and Satisfiers.

● Significant reasons for choice overload are - Cognitive cost, overwhelming feeling and the weight of responsibility.

● A better understanding of problems caused by choice overload can help you stand out in the competition and, more importantly, can help you help your customers better.

Out of the two math problems mentioned above, which one do you think is easier?

Let’s look at another example,

98*0=? Or 28*2=?

Again, which one is easier?

Irrespective of how good or bad we are at math, we all will choose the first problem in both cases. We know that the presence of zero makes the equation easy. It’s almost like zero is a shortcut.  

Similar to math, zero helps us make quick decisions in other aspects of our lives as well. For instance, when we talk about risks, we would prefer a situation with zero risks v/s a situation with some amount of risk. Won’t we?

Humans tend to choose situations with zero risks or absolute certainty. Thus, we tend to opt for conditions that can eliminate risk, seeking solace in the figure of 0%, over alternatives that may offer more significant risk reduction. This tendency or this bias is called the zero-risk bias.

For example, if I give you two options -

(a)  A zero-risk health policy with a 50% chance of being appropriately implemented or

(b)  Another health policy with 5% risk but an 80% chance of being implementer properly

Which one would you choose? According to the zero-risk bias, most people will pick the first option even though the second option has better odds.

Why do you think this is the case?

There are multiple reasons why we give in to this bias. First, like other cognitive biases we have discussed in the past, the zero-risk bias is also a mental heuristic or mental shortcut. These shortcuts help us reduce cognitive strain and the time taken to make a decision. Instead of calculating the optimal solution, we just look at the term zero-risk to make our decision quickly and with minimal effort.

Secondly, zero-risk bias and the loss-aversion bias is very closely connected. Both the biases are based on the concept of losses being perceived as larger than gains. By altogether eschewing risk, we eliminate the possibility of any loss. This elimination will be more reassuring than an increased probability of any gains.

Some bigger-picture effects of zero-risk bias can be seen in public policies. For example, public pressure on policymakers to provide zero-risk policies might lead them to make erroneous decisions or choose suboptimal policies.

Similarly, on a business level, management decisions may be influenced by the zero-risk bias. Taking a certain amount of risk is essential for businesses of all shapes and sizes. However, with a pre-existing bias to eliminate risks, companies might lose out on many growth opportunities.

Making decisions influenced by this bias will not always be an intelligent choice. However, using the zero-risk bias to promote your product/service and your brand will always win you brownie points.

Due to this bias, customers prefer the complete elimination of a small risk over an exponential decrease in a large risk. Similarly, If you look at it the other way round, customers prefer few guaranteed benefits over the possibility of more significant benefits. Therefore, if you can attach a zero-risk quality to your product or service, go ahead and do it. This will give you an added edge over your competitors.

Another great strategy would be to offer two lines of products - one with a greater value of money but a larger risk factor and another more expensive one with zero risks or a 100% guarantee. This strategy will help you present your products in a way that makes them appear much more desirable due to the zero-risk bias.

One of the best use of this bias is offering a money-back guarantee. This tool is super successful because of the way it leverages the zero-risk bias. It eliminates the risk of the purchasing decision turning out to be a bad one. Even you are not satisfied with the product; a full refund guarantees no loss. Multiple research studies found that retailers using the money-back guarantee see a boost in sales and profit and increase customer purchase satisfaction.

Now that you understand the zero-risk bias, make sure you eliminate all the possible risks for your customer and provide as much guarantee as you can for your product/service.

I guarantee 100% success with this method!

Some quick takeaways -

●     Humans tend to choose situations with zero risks or absolute certainty.

●     We tend to opt for conditions that can eliminate risk, seeking solace in the figure of 0%, over alternatives that may offer more significant risk reduction. This tendency or this bias is called the zero-risk bias.

●     Zero-risk bias is a mental shortcut that provides an easier way to make decisions.

●     Customers prefer the complete elimination of a small risk over an exponential decrease in a large risk.

●     The zero-risk bias can be used in various marketing strategies.

One last thought…

Risk-averse advertising is a lot easier for an already established brand. However, for a new venture, it is much more critical to eliminate all the possible risks. Your pitch or your communication should also be done in a way that naturally garners trust. One of the best ways to do this is by being 100% authentic to your brand. Any form of false assurance will eventually lead your customer count to zero.

I am sure most of us (yes, including me) don’t know what gluten is, but we give in to the fad of the gluten-free diet. But is gluten always bad for us? Are gluten-free products always healthy? Should we avoid gluten entirely even if we are not allergic to it? I guess we should have answers to all these questions before we start targeting poor gluten.

Similar to the gluten-free diet trend, multiple trends have gained popularity just for the sake of it. For example, do you remember the ice bucket challenge? The association of the challenge with the ALS disease was not the reason for its popularity. On the contrary, people hardly knew about the reason for the challenge. It gained popularity because of the participation of various celebrities, social media influencers, and several industry giants.

No, I don’t have anything against trends; I don’t live under a rock. I am only attempting to understand why these trends end up becoming so popular. One of the culprits is something called the Bandwagon effect. The effect refers to our habit of adopting certain behaviors or beliefs because many others do the same. The most prominent examples of this effect are fashion trends, social media challenges, diet trends; furthermore, this effect is a massive part of the music and the publishing industry. Think about it: how often do you listen to music topping the charts or pick up the best-selling books? What are we doing, if not following others?

Irrespective of the industry, we can very easily incorporate this tool into our marketing strategy. The bandwagon effect can help us increase our conversion rates and should be taken into account both while developing a brand and while developing various campaigning strategies. However, before we jump on how you can use this effect to your benefit, let’s take a closer look at the bandwagon effect.

The Bandwagon effect is a helpful tool because it directly impacts our decision-making ability. However, we should be worried that it can and does easily override our critical thinking that is often a part of a good decision-making process. Think about it like this, for example; you take bus no. 5 from office to home every day. You decided to take bus no. 5 after considering bus routes, bus frequency, no. of stops, bus fare, etc. Now, if one day you find out that almost everyone from your office takes the bus no.7, would you switch your bus only because bus no.7 is more popular amongst your colleagues? No? Yes?

But this is precisely what most of us do when forming a political opinion or following any trend in any aspect of our life. The same effect on a systemic level can easily turn into a mob mentality. Mob mentality is nothing but a group of people following something or someone blindly. If left unchecked, it can quickly take an ugly turn.

Therefore we should be careful while using this effect. It’s like a racehorse; if trained well, it will listen to you and help you win the race, but if you fail to prepare it properly, it will have a mind of its own, and you will probably fall off the horse.

Here are some tips to prepare your racehorse well -

(a) Influence and win - Gone are the days of traditional advertising. Instead, focus on showing your consumers how other people are enjoying your product. If you don’t have the budget, you don’t have to involve a celebrity. Just get your product used by various influencers on social media with a significant amount of followers.

(b) You jump, I jump - For your customers to jump on the bandwagon, you need to do it too. So, for example, if you are a haircare brand and you see that paraben-free products are the new trend, maybe you can do it too. If you don’t want to mess with the already existing product line, you can introduce a new line of paraben-free products. This will also give you a chance to compare what works better.

(c) Use holidays and other calendar events - Why do we end up participating in the black Friday sale irrespective of our needs? Why do we desperately have to buy Christmas gifts for every possible person we know? Yes, my friend, the answer is the bandwagon effect! So why not take advantage of this phenomenon? For example, if you are a chocolate brand, you should go all out during valentine’s season.

Apart from the tips mentioned above, an effortless way to use the bandwagon effect is always to showcase feedback from your happy customers. Already existing customer base can create a whole new bandwagon for your brand. No matter how unique your consumers think they are, they will always fall for this simple but effective trick.

What have we learned so far -

1. The Bandwagon effect refers to our habit of adopting certain behaviors or beliefs because many others do the same.

2. The Bandwagon effect is a helpful tool because it directly impacts our decision-making ability.

3. It can also easily override our critical thinking that is often a part of a good decision-making process.

4. The bandwagon effect can help us increase our conversion rates and should be taken into account both while developing a brand and while developing various campaigning strategies.

One last thing -

A unique way to use the bandwagon effect is through online quizzes. This concept started for fun but has now turned into a valuable tool used by many brands. A quiz is a great CTA that will ensure maximum engagement while providing every possible information the brand might need about its consumers.

Look at how majestic they are! 

As someone who loves wildlife, I wish we could bring back all the species that have gone extinct. But have you ever wondered why so many species, including these ferocious-looking mammoths, have gone extinct with time? I know, in modern times, human activities are to be blamed for most of the extinction, but we can’t deny the role of natural selection, can we? 

So, how is our species surviving? Emotions play a rather significant role among other factors like greater adaptability and a larger and more functional brain. The most famous naturalist, Charles Darwin, proposed that emotions evolved because they were adaptive and allowed humans and some animals to survive and reproduce. For example, feelings of love and affection lead people to seek mates and reproduce. Feelings of fear compel people to either fight or flee the source of danger.

In Psychology, there is a theory on emotions which states that emotions motivate people to respond quickly to stimuli in the environment, which helps improve the chances of success and survival.

I am throwing these multiple facts at you today because I want you to realize the mammoth role that emotions play in our lives. Ignoring (for now) the fact that emotions literally have helped us survive what dinosaurs and dodos couldn't, let's focus on how emotions drive us to respond or make decisions quickly. 

Who doesn’t want decisions to be entirely based on logic, but they can be best understood as the interaction between reason and emotions. This is why brands need to recognize the value of Emotional marketing. 

Emotional marketing refers to marketing and advertising efforts that primarily use emotion to make the audience notice, remember, share, and buy. Before we look at why I am talking about emotional marketing today, let’s look at a couple of successful examples of emotion-centric marketing -

(a) Uber’s anti-racism billboard - Uber launched a billboard saying, If you tolerate racism, delete Uber. The brand directly tapped into the emotions of unrest surrounding the Black Lives Matter Movement.

(b) Life Insurance’s Unsung Hero - One of the most incredible emotional marketing examples that comea to mind is Thai Life Insurance. They have an ad called Unsung Hero, which doesn’t mention the product; instead, it directly speaks to the human in you. 

(c) #Like a girl campaign - The brand, Always, came up with this brilliant campaign #Likeagirl. Always is an American brand of menstrual hygiene products, and through this campaign, the brand explored the feelings of their target audience to present its idea of stereotyping the term "like a girl."

Now that you have seen some compelling examples of emotional marketing, let’s look at why should your brand give emotions a chance - 

1. Great first impressions - Which brand do you think will make a greater first impression, one that simply talks about its product or the one that tells you a story, makes you laugh/cry while telling you about the product? If your answer is the second one, you are a survivor! An excellent first impression can help your brand stand out and become more memorable. 

2. Speak to both the reason and the emotion - As mentioned before, our decisions can be understood as an interaction between our reason and emotions. By building an excellent and valuable product, you are already taking care of the reason side. However, to confirm a win, you need to speak to the emotional side as well. This is the biggest reason why your brand should be investing in emotional marketing. 

3. Emotions are inspiring - Different emotions inspire different actions in people. For example, happy content makes people share it with others. Now, wouldn’t you want that for your content? Similarly, sadness makes people empathize and connect with the brand. So, depending on what your brand requires, you can choose a particular emotion and its action. 

Who knows, maybe emotional marketing will help your brand survive the not-so-natural selection in the market!

Some quick takeaways - 

• Emotions motivate people to respond quickly to stimuli in the environment, which helps improve the chances of success and survival.

• Our decisions or choices can be best understood as the interaction between reason and emotions.

• Emotional marketing refers to marketing and advertising efforts that primarily use emotion to make the audience notice, remember, share, and buy.

• There are various reasons why emotions should be a part of your marketing strategy. 

One last thought…

Storytelling is hands-down, the best way to connect with your audience. And I don’t think stories are possible without emotions. It will be like eating a dumpling without any filling.

No matter what emotion you pick, you can always spin a story around it. Just make sure that the story you are telling has a purpose and always connect your stories to your brand. 

I know, asking this question is like opening a pandora’s box. But, honestly, have you ever thought about it? How does the same religious text comfort everyone and anyone who believes in it, regardless of class, gender, or economic background?

One of the most plausible explanations is that religion can be very subjective. Your interpretation of religion depends mainly on who you are and what you seek in life.

Similar to religion, in general, we tend to look for things that affirm our existing beliefs. Unfortunately, this tendency very easily turns into a bias known as The Confirmation Bias. It describes that we tend to focus on and give greater credence to evidence that fits our existing beliefs.

This bias explains how flat-earthers or anti-vaxxers can sustain their beliefs despite overwhelming evidence against them. Everyone with a socio-political opinion might also be guilty of indulging in this bias. For example, liberals or radicals (or anyone else) will only focus on evidence supporting their argument while either ignoring or dissing the proof that goes against their stand.

Conclusions drawn from such biased evidence can lead to some very problematic standpoints. Can you imagine what will happen when various individuals with such a standpoint come together? A group of people who are so engrossed in their own set of beliefs that they are not willing to listen to the other side. Sounds like trouble, right? Well, the good news is, if we want to, we can overcome this bias.

The first step of overcoming this bias is to look at why this happens. In some of my previous newsletters, I have mentioned that our brain uses shortcuts called heuristics. Although Confirmation Bias is not officially recognized as a heuristic, it helps our brain cut down on efforts. For example, forming new beliefs or explanations takes time, so our brain takes the path of least resistance and sticks to existing beliefs.

Another reason why this bias occurs is that it protects our self-esteem. Can you think of an instance when you were wrong about something? How did you feel then? Most people feel bad and unintelligent when their belief is questioned or worse when it is proved false. And, honestly, no one likes this feeling. This is why confirmation bias pries on groups as well. We tend to avoid people who challenge our beliefs and stick to the ones who validate them.

Just like always, there is a reason why I am telling you about yet another bias. The confirmation bias has the potential to shape an individual’s or a group’s worldview. Don’t you think various brands and marketers would use such a strong bias to promote their products/services?

Here is how you can use the confirmation bias for your brand’s advantage -

(a) Highlight your solutions - Before you introduce your product/service, educate the customers about the problem and then highlight your answer to the given problem. When you make the customers aware of the problem, you build up a belief system in your customer. And when you introduce your product, it will confirm with the belief that already exists in your customers.

(b) Reinforce your brand image - Once you have achieved a certain level of brand awareness, you can use the confirmation bias to reiterate what your brand stands for. For example, irrespective of how healthy or unhealthy coca-cola products are, we always associate the brand with the feeling of happiness and bubbliness. This association has everything to do with how the brand portrays itself.

Thanks to the confirmation bias, most loyal customers begin to associate their identity with a particular brand. If you have ever crossed paths with a heavy Apple user, you know what I am talking about.

There are many other ways you can use confirmation bias to your advantage; however, you should be cognizant. This bias can sometimes act as a double agent; here is how -

• Imaginary audience - Frequently, marketers or developers, due to confirmation bias, assume many factors about their audience. Unfortunately, working with these assumptions will be like throwing darts in the dark. What you can do instead is use strategies grounded in reality and data collected from the actual customers.

• Unnecessary inventions -  Confirmation bais is the voice in your head that tells you not to wait for test results because you know what the outcome will be. While testing a new product or making creative changes, always ( I can’t stress enough) wait for the test results to check what works best with the customers.

Confirmation bias is innate to humans, but we can learn to work around the bias, as I have mentioned before. The best way to do that is by learning about the bias in-depth. The more you know, the better your decisions will be. So learn away, my friend, learn away!

Some quick takeaways -

(a) Confirmation Bias is our tendency to focus on and give greater credence to evidence that fits our existing beliefs.

(b) Confirmation bias can hinder the ability of decision-making, both in individuals and in groups.

(c) Confirmation bias occurs because it is a shortcut used by our brain, and also it helps us protect our self-esteem.

(d) It is a powerful bias that can be used to enhance a brand’s image.

This seemingly easy-to-play game has a mountain of Psychological theories backing it up. I am here to talk about one such theory that can be of great help to you.

The theory says that if you play this game twice a day, every day for a week, your sales will increase by 50%.

You are right, not a great joke. However, if you stick with me increasing your sales will become easier (with time and hard work) than playing this game twice a day.

The actual theory of the day is the theory of The Priming Effect. Priming or the Priming effect is when an individual’s exposure to a particular stimulus influences their response to a subsequent stimulus without awareness of the connection. Reread it.

Priming is what happens in the word association game as well. So, for example, if I say jam, you might think of bread or peanut butter. This happened because jam and peanut butter or jam and bread are closely associated in your mind. But, again, this association will occur without your conscious awareness.

This effect is mysterious and complex. For example, Suppose I say something as simple as a dog, you might think of companionship, or you might think of a dangerous animal. But, of course, this will depend on your past experiences, personality traits, and god knows what else.

Priming has a significant impact on our behavior. We can be primed to behave in a particular manner based on what we read, watch and hear. If similar priming happens on a larger scale, it has the power to impact a large group of people as well. A simple example of this can be if, as a store manager, I want people to buy more beer, I might play the latest party trend music playlist in the store. The playlist might remind people of parties where they drank beer, and they would want to buy more beer in the store.

Why does this happen?

In the world of Psychology, ‘schemas’ is a word used for units of information stored in our memory. These schemas are activated by our senses like smell, sight, and sound. After the activation of these schemas, it becomes easier for us to access our memory. Priming suggests that activation of one schema might lead to activation of a related schema. For example, a schema related to a pencil may activate multiple schemas related to erasers, pens, and a school backpack.

Why am I telling you this?

However complex, Priming can turn out to be a great marketing tool.

Here is how -

(a)Direct Attribute Priming - A good tactic can be starting your sales pitch with a question related to the attributes of that particular product. For example, if you are selling a phone with a great camera, you can start your pitch with a question: Are you tired of carrying your DSLR everywhere? Or Do you wish your phone was as good as your DSLR? These questions will automatically make the customer focus more on the camera than the other attributes of the phone. Similar tactics can be applied to your service as well.

(b)Indirect Attribute Priming - Best example of this tactic is to play a certain kind of music in your store/restaurant to promote a particular type of product. Another great example would be to make your holiday/vacation-related billboard blue in color. The blue in your ad will make the customers think of the sky and the sea, making them more receptive to the idea of taking a vacation.

(c)Brand Priming - Brand priming is used to influence the customer’s thoughts and actions through the name and the logo of the brand. There are great brand priming examples like Redbull - the brand tries hard to associate itself with concepts like energy and speed or Nike - All the ads, taglines, and pictures used by this brand are focused on exercise and feeling of achievement.

(d)Priming with colors and pictures - Different colors have different meanings and emotions associated with them. So while choosing a brand color, you can pick one with the right emotions related to the color.

Similarly, the pictures used in ads also portray particular emotions. For example, Coca-cola, in one of their campaigns, decided to use images associated with happiness.  

Priming is, so far, my favorite marketing tool because it doesn’t call for significant changes in your branding but focuses on small fixes that can lead to a more substantial result!

Some quick takeaways -

• The Priming effect is when an individual’s exposure to a particular stimulus influences their response to a subsequent stimulus without awareness of the connection.

• Priming is a complex procedure that is associated with our subconscious mind.

• Priming has a significant impact on our behavior, both at an individual and at the societal level.

• A better understanding of the priming effect can help you build your brand better.

One last thing….

While researching the Priming effect, I found many articles questioning the ethicality of using Priming as a marketing tool. I understand it might look like you are manipulating or tricking your customers into buying your product or service; however, that’s not the case. Priming is mainly dependent on individual differences. For example, the party playlist in your store might remind one customer of the good times they had at a party. Still, the same music might remind another customer of the horror of being a part of an embarrassing family party. The customer with a positive association to the music might buy your beer, but the negative one will want to leave your store.

Look at it like this - You are just putting in your efforts; the final decision still is the customer’s right. Therefore, the customer is still the king!

Gladys and Glynnis are these two horrendous wall art pieces made by Phoebe (a character on Friends). Even though both the art pieces are not aesthetically pleasing, to say the least, Phoebe holds them in very high regard.

Why do you think that is?

I know Phoebe is known for her quirky and weird taste. However, one other explanation is that because Phoebe made Gladys and Glynnis, they were important and more valuable to her. 

Similar to Phoebe, when we make something ourselves, we tend to value it more. This bias is also called The IKEA effect. “The IKEA effect” was first used in a research publication: The Ikea Effect: When Labor Leads to Love. The research showed that consumers tend to value products more if they've partially created them.

Because of this effect, we are often willing to pay more for experiences requiring more effort, such as DIY candles, soaps, and furniture. I understand that the experience of making a candle on your own can be fun, but most of the time, we overpay for such experiences. The IKEA effect also works as rose-colored glasses for us. It makes us overconfident to the extent where we start loving our Gladys and Glynnis wall art. Businesses like IKEA or Build-a-Bear thrive on this effect. 

Why does the IKEA effect work?

One of the significant components of our mental health is our belief in performing well and controlling our own lives. This component is also why the IKEA effect works. For example, when we make our soaps or build our furniture, it boosts our belief in ourselves and makes us feel good. This good feeling makes us value that particular object more. 

Another reason for this bias to work is our tendency to like things that are associated with ourselves. Our optimism for ourselves is also extended to the things we own or even things we associate with ourselves. The IKEA effect might happen because our positive self-concepts spill over into the things we have made, leading us to see them as superior or more valuable.

A case study - 

One of the first case studies of implementation of the IKEA effect is not IKEA.

Even before the term was coined, the marketers realized that putting effort into something makes customers enjoy it more. This realization happened through trial and error. One such example is that of the cake mix. When instant cake mixes were first introduced into the market, they were not successful at all. It turned out that with an instant mix, the homemakers didn’t feel invested enough in the process, putting almost no value on the product. So marketers played smart and decided to involve everyone in the process. 

They changed the recipe, where the homemakers had to add eggs to the mix for it be ready. With this simple step, their sales went up, and now the market is filled with hundreds of instant cake mixes recipes!

There were other factors as well that lead to this fall and the rise in cake mixes. However, one of the significant factors was people's perceived lack of involvement in baking and lack of attachment to the product that came with it.

What can you do with this information?

Here are a few ways you can use the IKEA effect to up your marketing game - 

1. Get people to interact with your product. One such example can be a design platform providing templates that the user can easily edit. This will make the users feel more involved and will give them a sense of accomplishment. 

2. Give an option for the customers to customize your product. For example, many hair care brands allow you to customize your shampoo and conditioner. They let the customers pick the color, the fragrance, and the ingredients most suitable for their hair type. This helps customers feel in control which can lead them to pay twice as much!

3. Offer experiences that are not too challenging. Make sure that your product does not require too much effort. On the other hand, if it’s too easy, the customers might not feel invested enough. Therefore find the right balance; your goal should be to leave your customers with a sense of accomplishment. 

4. Similarly, give your customers some space for creativity. Again, research shows that limited freedom to express creativity can help customers feel ownership of the product. 

Make sure that your DIY product is like adding eggs to the cake mix. Not too easy or difficult, just perfect enough to result in a yummy fluffy cake :)

Some quick takeaways - 

• The IKEA effect describes how people value an object more if they make (or assemble) it themselves.

• Because of this effect, we are often willing to pay more for experiences requiring more effort, such as DIY candles, soaps, and furniture.

• A better understanding of this effect can help you take your marketing game to the next level. 

One last thought…

Studies show that for the IKEA effect to work, three factors should be met -

• Effort

• Display of competence 

• Completion

An effortful task is essential, but it will do no good if the customers cannot complete it. In a study, customers were unwilling to pay much for products that they could not put together. Even when they assembled a product but were asked to disassemble it, there was no IKEA effect.