3 surprising things that influence consumer decisions
According to a report by McKinsey, massive shifts have taken place recently in the consumer landscape. In particular, big changes have been seen in what people want; where they shop; and how they shop.
In understanding how people shop, a critical consideration for many successful businesses has been the psychology of buying.
This article describes three common but surprising psychological influences on consumers…as well as what businesses can do about them.
In summary, it describes how consumers can be influenced by:
1. False information
2. Jingles and rhymes
3. Appeals to nature
Let’s begin with the first surprising influence…
1. Consumer decisions can be influenced by false information
Is Carlsberg the best beer in the world?
Maybe to some…but probably not to most.
However, with Carlsberg annual sales hitting £190.9m in the UK alone, how important is the believability of claims like this?
According to the well-researched psychological “mere exposure effect”, people develop preferences for things they’re more familiar with.
Therefore, one reason for Carlsberg’s strong sales figures is its ubiquity.
However, research also suggests familiarity has a dark, and surprising side.
In particular, the “illusory truth effect” describes how greater familiarity can increase our likelihood to believe false – as well as true – information (as long as this false information contains an element of plausibility).
In other words, contrary to the well-known saying, familiarity does not breed contempt… even when information isn’t true.
So what?
While I would not actively suggest businesses indulge in promoting falsehoods, I do suggest endeavouring to tap into the mere exposure effect and striving for greater familiarity more generally.
From a message testing perspective, the above suggests that while there does need to be some element of believability to any claim, we should not over-emphasise believability as a metric, relative to others.
2. Consumer decisions can be influenced by jingles and rhymes
Are your consumer decisions influenced by jingles and rhymes?
Maybe. Maybe not.
But why are rhymes like the above used by businesses?
The psychological “rhyme as reason” effect suggests that in some circumstances, people base their judgment of a statement’s truth value in part on its aesthetic qualities.
Take this study. Here people were asked to judge the accuracy of sets of two short, similar statements.
The authors found that rhyming statements (e.g. “Woes unite foes”) were perceived to be more accurate than apparently equivalent non-rhyming statements (e.g. “Woes unite enemies”).
So what?
While rhymes are not necessarily a guaranteed way to win over consumers, they are more likely to be effective when deployed in situations where consumers lack the knowledge and / or the motivation to scrutinise message content.
Especially for these types of consumers, message testing research should seek out participant views on influential real-world indicators such as ease of understanding message content – as well as on more traditional metrics.
3. Consumer decisions can be influenced by appeals to nature
Are consumers’ “natural” (to be expected) choices prone to be the most “natural” (derived from nature)?
Again, not necessarily. However, it is striking, if you take a stroll down the aisle of your local supermarket, just how much produce nowadays is described as natural.
Why is this the case?
The final psychological effect we’ll consider is the “appeal to nature fallacy”. This describes how something may be assumed to be superior simply because it is more "natural".
In an early study, participants were asked whether they prefer a natural or processed version of various food items (including peaches, lettuces and peanut butter). In this study, the authors found that the natural versions tended to be more preferred than the processed versions.
Subsequent studies have found consumer preferences for items described as natural in other domains such as beauty products, medicine, and cigarettes.
Finally, it appears even physicians are not immune: one study showed a strong preference among obstetricians and gynaecologists for using a natural hormone replace therapy compared to a human-made one – even when they were described as identical.
So what?
Depending on your business’ category, consider amplifying the references to natural in the marketing of your products (assuming they exist!).
In message testing research, also where appropriate consider including perceived naturalness (versus other products) as a key metric to measure.
Conclusion
This article has presented three surprising psychological influences on consumer decisions:
1. False information
2. Jingles and rhymes
3. Appeals to nature
Critically, while this article has focused on how awareness of the above can help businesses influence future consumer decisions, these should also be seen as important in providing evidence-based explanations for current or past consumer decisions.
Thanks for reading – and please get in touch here if you’d like me to help your business better understand, predict or influence consumers.