The Choice Factory: 25 behavioural biases that influence what we buy

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Subvert category norms — ‘ Zig when others zag’ (as John Hegarty wrote). If major lager brands sponsor football, do something different. Distinctive work is more likely to come out a small number of decision-makers than a committee. Found data — i.e. ‘exhaust’ data produced through their normal day to day activities (e.g., their search history or www.answerthepublic.com which identifies the way people ask questions). Actionable, memorable and powerful... Shotton has taken the jewels of behavioral economics and made them practical.

One theory is that our limited cognitive capacity means that our memory is saturated by the earliest items and our ability to store later information is compromised. One successful example was Sainsbury’s in 2004 who realised much supermarket shopping was done in a daze. “Sleep shopping” as they termed it. Shoppers were buying the same items week in, week out — restricting themselves to the same 150 items despite there being 30,000 on offer. Over 1,000 voters were asked their view on a proposed new policy. Half were told the policy came from one party. Half from their own party. When the policy was seen to come from their own party, they were significantly more likely to agree with the policy. Make your first impression as impressive as possible — Dial it up. Build strong imagery with the values easiest to be associated with as opposed to those values most associated with the category (I.e. another take on Byron Sharp’s mental availability — Ed) The book "The Choice Factory" by Richard Shotton explores and explains the trends behind consumer behavior.These choices might appear to be freely made, but psychologists have shown that subtle changes in the way products are positioned, promoted and marketed can radically alter how customers behave. In 1964, Festinger and Nathan Maccoby, academics at Stanford University, recruited members of college fraternities. They played those students an audio argument about why fraternities were morally wrong. The recording was played in two different scenarios: students either heard it on its own or they watched a silent film at the same time.

Contrary to common belief, consumers are more likely to take action if the incentive is of uncertain value, offering a way to make loyalty schemes both cheaper and more effective. Ensure the flaw matches the brand — Weak brands are less able to get away with this tactic than strong brands can (in the above experiment, the actor got 95% of the answers right. When he only got 30% right his accident made him less appealing). Expecting any methodology to be perfect is to burden it with unreasonable expectations. Instead, you need to be aware that it merely provides evidence to which you need to apply your discretion and judgement. Shake consumers out of their automatic behaviour — wake them out of their habitual trance to help them make new choices. Cf Sainsbury’s ad with Jamie Oliver where talks about people ‘sleep shopping’. As a result, many of my clients have witnessed an increase in sales while simultaneously reducing discounting. The below excerpts are widely available, and I have selected just a handful of the very influential nudges. I hope that you find it as helpful as I did.The problem of more data was investigated by Paul Slovic, Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon. He ran an experiment with professional horseracing handicap setters in which they were given a list of 88 variables that were useful in predicting a horse’s performance. The participants then had to predict the outcome of the race and their confidence in their prediction. They repeated these tasks with access to different levels of data: either 5, 10, 20, 30 or 40 of the variables. What people search for – Instead they search for vitamins by what they do, such as helping with muscle growth or shiny hair. (Benefit driven) People are looking for a specific desired result or to alleviate a perceived pain.

Richard Shotton, author of the acclaimed The Choice Factory, draws on academic research, previous ad campaigns and his own original field studies to create a fascinating and highly practical guide that focuses on the point where marketing meets the mind of the customer. Force yourself to be a real consumer — In judging creative work, agency and clients pore over every inch whilst normal people just give it a passing glance (Research by Lumen suggests on-line ads are looked at for 0.9 sec on average — with just 4% spending more than 2 seconds on an ad). He recommends research methodologies that more closely mimic real life behaviour ( http://www.posterscope.com/virtuocity/). The book found that 45% ofbehaviours were habitual — the same decisions being made at the same time and place without full conscious thought. You’re displaying signs of confirmation bias. Because Eva was promoted ahead of you, you’re cynical about her motivations, interpreting them through a lens of your existing feelings. Think about Listerine, which publicised its bitter taste with the strapline ‘The taste you hate, twice a day’ ....

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In a competitive market economy, performance is fundamentally relative, not absolute. Meaning competition, and other factors play a key factor in performance.

Richard Shotton is the author of The Choice Factory, a best-selling book on how to apply findings from behavioural science to advertising. For example Brand Purpose — there is ‘evidence’ on both sides for and against Brand Purpose. Shotton does not support Brand Purpose so goes to great lengths to discredit the evidence from one source (Jim Stengel’s book, ‘Grow’). Research by Festinger suggests that we are more able to influence hard to convince people when they are distracted (as their critical faculties are already being used). Even with a medium like TV, which is often the sole focus of attention, media planners can identify the programmes or times when the audience is likely to be second screening. Develop a portfolio — Price conveys a perception of quality. So over-invest in supporting your premium ranges as this perception of quality will halo across the rest of the brand.Marketing efforts should ruthlessly focus on the final category. This sounds blindingly obvious, but from my own work with brands I’ve rarely seen it applied.