Our decisions and behavior are always influenced by several factors, including those factors that are unconscious. To better understand human behavior, I did a master’s degree Economic and Consumer Psychology. I studied the psychological mechanisms that underlie many of our choices and decisions concerning consumption and other economic behaviors. To fully comprehend and predict people’s behavior, we need to unravel the brain. Neuromarketing successfully identifies one piece of the puzzle at a time. In the New Neuromarketing blog, I will share these new insights with you.
When in Italy, my father-in-law has a proven technique for finding the best wine in the supermarket: By checking which shelf is the emptiest, he knows which wine is being drunk by the locals and thus is the best to get at that moment. In other words, he gladly uses the scarcity principle when being confronted with many choices in a fairly new and uncertain environment.
Sex in advertising campaigns can go both ways. On the one hand, it is an attention grabber. Being able to capture a consumer’s attention in this overly crowded world is potentially one of the best qualities an advertisement can have. Additionally, watching a sexual advertisement is a positive and rewarding experience.
On the other hand, sex can disgust people. Imagine watching tv with your friends, colleagues or family. All of a sudden, a naked woman is promoting the newest fragrance by some brand. You go red and avert your eyes. Seeing such a sexual image makes you feel dirty. How and why does sex sell, when it can bring about such different feelings in consumers?
By letting customers build their own products, IKEA is able to sell their furniture for low prices since construction is one of the most costly aspects of furniture. Additionally, their customers have a higher liking for the IKEA products, because they have to build it themselves. This sounds contra-intuitive: We like it when others cook for us or clean for us, so why would we prefer to construct a table ourselves?
Marketing and psychology are thick as thieves: by increasing their knowledge on psychology, marketeers are able to gain a deeper understanding in the behavior of their customers. However, keeping your knowledge up to date may be problematic in this quickly expanding field. In the past, people read books, scientific journals or attended conventions.
