Copyright © 2005 Priya Shah http://www.priyashah.comIn
international bestseller "Blink," Malcolm Gladwell explains why our decisions to choose brands, select a mate, sue our doctor or make choices that decide Presidential elections, aren't as simple as they seem.
Why we often let unconscious biases affect our opinions about people who are taller or have a different skin colour. And why we find it even harder to explain them when asked.
I consider "Blink" essential reading for all marketers. I mean, which blue-blooded marketer wouldn't love to know how workings of their customer’s brain will decide if their new packaging is going to work or fail?
Or why their new website is converting far fewer visitors than old one? Of course we would.
But is it really possible to understand why people choose Budweiser over Coors? George W. over John Kerry? Coke over Pepsi?
No one knows for sure. And asking people why they took those decisions doesn't necessarily give right answers.
Why? Because most of us really haven't a clue as to why we make those choices.
95% of consumer decision-making occurs subconsciously, according to research from Harvard University, cited in an article in Time. That's a hell of a lot of decisions we have little or no conscious control over. http://www.time.com/time/insidebiz/article/0,9171,1101040308-596161,00.html&e=9707
In Blink, Gladwell also shows how sometimes sort of data that marketers rely on - such as market research and focus groups - can fail miserably because they don't always predict actual consumer behaviour, as Coca-Cola discovered during New Coke fiasco.
But new research is beginning to shine a light on mysterious workings of neural processes behind those snap decisions.
Known as "neuromarketing," this controversial science could one day lead to new advertising strategies that directly stimulate hard-wired mental reflexes rather than appealing to fuzzy consumer attitudes, according to an article in Wired News. http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,67597,00.html
