Have you ever wondered why you want something? The deeper, beyond impulse and knee-jerk reasons that you simply crave the acquisition of objects and experiences? The field of consumer psychology seeks to plumb these particular shadowy depths.
Like all concerns and hypothesis put out by psychology, there are some things that are better understood and some that are less well understood. Keep in mind that humans, as biological machines, don’t accept or produce the same throughput as the electrical ones.
Gaining a more complete picture of consumer behavior obviously benefits marketers and those looking to produce products/services. For the consumer, knowing how they react empowers them to make better decisions and chose beyond the superficial.
All of that got your mind buzzing and feeling both daunted and eager? Good. Read on to find satisfaction to the need that’s just been created for you.
Consumer Psychology Principles
Researchers working in the field of consumer psychology place their foremost interest in understanding the how and why. The practical applications come later and often create contentious feedback that sets things back to square one.
To keep it simple, this guide breaks down the study into a few digestible components. First, the behaviors and attitudes of consumers need to be considered as individuals and as groups.
Second, research into markets needs to be conducted to see the influence of the ideas in progress. Finally, specific messages are created to chart the impact of those ideas.
Consumer Behaviors and Attitudes
The first step is obviously the largest and the most involved. Understanding how individuals function has kept psychology going for hundreds of years, splintering into more niche specialties as it goes. The picture is by no means complete, but it is functional.
Underpinning everything else is the psychology behind choice. Why do we make decisions at all and what systems do we use to derive those choices?
At some point, this leads to a discussion of free will, how it is that humans seem uniquely capable of making decisions and not simply reacting to stimuli.
What is known is that difference in experience and starting attitudes have a lot to do with choices made. Time also plays a role in how factors are weighted. Finally, ideas about how a person views themselves come into play.
Choices vs Decisions
One of the basic findings of marketing psychology is the distinction between choices and decisions. The brain loves to have choices to pick from. The wider variety of options, to a point, the happier we are.
This is why a candy store is appealing over a candy aisle. More choices indicate a higher chance to find what you want right now. Malcolm Gladwell goes on about this basic tenement in his spaghetti sauce talk.
Decisions, though, reduce all of those options to one. When people are given options to create lists of three things they prefer over one, they arrive at their list faster because all the decisions remain tentative.
People also operate differently in hypotheticals to reality because of this distinction.
Market Research
It’s all fine and well to hypothesize how people make decisions, it’s another to track those decisions being made.
Market research starts with the usual tools such as surveys, focus groups, questionnaires. From there, consumer psychology looks at the key overlaps in the data. Demographic information is always important in these situations. However, demographics expand to reveal information about education, financial stability, and inciting incidents.
Where a person was right before making a decision contributes significantly. One of the purposes of case studies is to take a trend and follow it, to see if it leads to the desired end more often than not.
Cognitive Bias and Emotion
The mental position of a consumer right before making a decision is the most important to consumer psychologists. There are many ways to manipulate a person to get to a point if the actions taken from that point are advantageous.
Emotional appeals work far better than intellectual or logical ones, after all.
Two ways that decision making is shortcut by the overtaxed mind is to revert to former experiences and simply processing.
The first, which forms the basis of cognitive bias, directs the brain to make the same decision as it made last time in a similar situation. What could happen is less desirable than repeating what did happen.
The second smooths out the choice by creating a virtual pro and con list. The difference is that only the single largest con and biggest pro make it into the crucible.
Adding time pressure, resource scarcity, and decoy options all work to funnel a choice. The consumer wants to make a choice and, at some point, doesn’t want to work on making that choice.
Market Messaging
When creating a marketing strategy, the role of narrative takes the forefront. It’s not about demonstrating that a product exists, but creating a world for the product and the consumer.
If a consumer chooses one product in a line, they are more likely to choose others from the same line.
Giving people what they want is also about creating what they want. Catering to a group’s tastes keeps them from suffering the cognitive bias they would rather avoid.
This means something different for each group. Oddly enough, risk-takers respond the same way as traditionalists. It’s the jointing a group to be a non-conformist principle. Even those that want to stand out want to do it as part of a group.
Providing marketing messaging then becomes about crafting specific information that will be absorbed and accepted without resistance. The setting and adjusting of expectations keep consumers from second-guessing their decisions which maintains the loop.
Go Deeper
The purpose of delivering a primer to a topic is two-fold. First, through awareness of the subject, you get to see the world through a new lens. Second, we hope you engage with the material and want to learn more.
We don’t dabble in this field. When it comes down to it, we put these ideas into action. Hire us and see what we can bring to your business.
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