 Psychology of Marketing: Primitive Consent in the Digital Era
By Shari Worthington
President
Marketers would do well to pay heed to the old adage, "We are our own worst enemies." In our effort to push technology to new limits, we've created a complex communications infrastructure that enhances interaction and, at the same time, overwhelms. The problem is that technology has evolved faster than we have. So our natural capacity to process information is less and less able to handle the tremendous amount of data and choices that are now available.
The end result for marketers is that, more than ever before, we need to spend time understanding buyer behavior. How do customers decide what problems most need fixing in their lives? How do they determine which products might solve those problems? How do they choose the vendor they think can best pull it all together?
The pace of modern life demands that we frequently use shortcuts to make these decisions. Often, we rely on a single data point. What are other companies like mine using? Which vendor has the most supportive sales staff? Which company is the leading supplier in the industry? Which vendor has the best value per dollar that won't get me fired?
We use these cues because we often don't have the time, energy, or expertise to do the research that needs to be done. As Robert Cialdini points out in Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, "Where we are rushed, stressed, uncertain, indifferent, distracted, or fatigued, we tend to focus on less of the information available to us." For heavens sake, who isn't stressed these days?
Cialdini outlines six key principals that define the influence process. Marketers need to understand these as well as they do the 4 P's of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion.
- Reciprocation: we try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us
- Commitment and Consistency: we have a nearly obsessive desire to be (and to appear consistent with what we have already done
- Social Proof: we use the actions of others to decide on proper behavior for ourselves, especially when we view those others as similar to ourselves
- Liking: we prefer to say yes to the requests of someone we know and like
- Authority: adults are extremely willing to follow the lead of an authority figure
- Scarcity: opportunities seem more valuable when their availability is limited
That said, make sure you understand the nuances of the generation gap. The age of the Baby Boomer ended in 2003. Since then, we've handed the torch to a new generation, the Emergents. Emergents are laid back, believe in working as a team, have less confidence in "the boss," believe in doing what it takes to survive, and are more fiscally conservative. What worked before in marketing is no guarantee of success in the future. Now is the time to get prepared.
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