"Decoding Decisions: Marketing in the messy middle (New research: How people decide what to buy is hidden in the 'complex world' of the buying journey)

New research: How people decide what to buy is hidden in the 'complex world' of the buying journey

As the internet has grown, it has evolved from a tool for comparing prices to a tool for comparing everything. This is clear when we look at how purchasing behavior on Google Search has changed over the years. Consider the terms "cheap" and "best." Worldwide search interest for “best” has far surpassed search interest for “cheap.”1 For example, when “cheap” and “best” are translated into local languages, the same dynamics continue to occur in places around the world, such as Germany, India, and Italy. It is also valid in other countries.

The exact meaning of "cheap" may vary from person to person, but it still means one thing. "Best" can have a wide range of meanings, such as quality, performance or popularity.

• Applying Behavioral Science Principles to the Purchasing Decision Process

Geçen yıl tüketicinin karar verme sürecine bakış açımızı yenilemek için harekete geçtik ve Davranış Mimarları olarak adlandırılan davranış bilimi uzmanlarının da yardımıyla, tüketicilerin ne satın almaya nasıl karar verdiğinin şifresini çözmek için bir yolculuğa çıktık.

Yazılı eser incelemeleri, alışveriş davranışı çalışmaları, arama trendi analizleri ve geniş ölçekli bir deney yürüttük. Amacımız, son derece bol seçenek ve sınırsız bilgi sunan online bir ortamda tüketicilerin nasıl karar verdiğini anlamaktı. Sonuçta, insanların bu büyük ölçekle ve karmaşıklıkla başa çıkmak için psikolojilerinin derinliklerinde kodlanmış bilişsel ağırlıklandırmaları kullandığını gördük.

Bu ağırlıklandırmalar internetten çok önce de var olduğundan, insanların satın alma kararlarını günümüzde nasıl etkiledikleri bizim için merak konusu oldu.

*What's going on in the "complex world"? Two mind modes

Through research, an updated decision-making model began to take shape. At the center of this model is the complex world we talked about. This is a complicated area between triggers and purchase, and this is where customers are won and lost.

People search for information about products and brands in a category and then weigh all the options. This balances two different modes of mind in the complex world; discovery, which is an expansionist activity, and evaluation, which is a reductionist activity. Everything a person does across a wide range of online resources, such as search engines, social media and review sites, can be classified into one of these two mental modes.
People move between these twin modes called discovery and evaluation, repeating this cycle as many times as they need to make a purchasing decision.

*Cognitive weighting that influences purchasing behavior and decision making

As people explore and evaluate, cognitive weighting shapes their shopping behavior and influences why they choose one product over another. There are hundreds of these weightings, but we prioritized six in our research:

*6 weightings that affect the purchasing decision

-- Category, finders: Brief descriptions of key product features can simplify purchasing decisions.

-- The power of now: The longer you have to wait for a product, the less powerful the offer is.

-- Social proof: Suggestions and comments from others can be quite persuasive.

-- Scarcity weighting: As the stock quantity of a product decreases or its availability becomes more difficult, the demand for that product increases.

-- Authority weighting: Referral by an expert or trusted source.

-- The power of freebies: A gift given free of charge in exchange for a purchase can be a powerful motivator, even if it is unrelated.

These weightings formed the basis for our large-scale shopping experiment. In the experiment, real in-market consumers simulated 310,000 purchasing scenarios from financial services, consumer packaged goods, retail, travel and services.

In the experiment, shoppers were asked to choose their first and second favorite brands in a category and then applied a series of weightings to see whether they would switch preferences from one brand to another. To test an extreme scenario, experiments included a fictitious brand in each category that shoppers had never encountered before.

The results showed that even the lowest-impact product managed to be preferred by 28% of shoppers when given a “superpower” of five-star reviews and an extra 20% free offer. And at the extreme, a fictitious auto insurer achieved 87% of consumer preference when reinforced with benefits across all six weightings.

This experiment demonstrated that, when applied intelligently and responsibly, behavioral science principles and their parallel behavioral and information needs are powerful tools for winning and retaining consumer preference in the dispersed environment.

• How can marketers succeed in a complex world?

While this may seem like a complicated area, it's important to keep in mind that for consumers, this is nothing more than normal shopping. The aim is not to force people to break out of the cycle depicted in the model, but to provide them with the information and reassurance they need to make decisions.

The good thing is, whether you're a category giant or a competitor, your approach is the same:

*Make your brand stand out. This way, your product or service will be strategically top of mind for customers when they are in the discovery phase.

*Apply behavioral science principles wisely and responsibly. This makes your offer stand out as consumers weigh their options.

*Shorten the time your current and potential customers are exposed to competing brands by closing the gap between trigger and purchase.

*Avoid traditional branding and performance inefficiencies that will likely leave gaps in a complex world by working with flexible, strong teams that can perform different functions.