Three Ways to Use Social Psychology in Marketing

Marketing – persuasion – and social psychology

First, I want to quickly answer the question: “What is social psychology?”

When I meet people and tell them I am a social psychologist, a common first response is . . . “so, are you analyzing me right now?”

I laugh – “No,” I say, “I’m a social psychologist.”

Social psychologists don’t analyze people’s insecurities, their personality, or things like Oedipus complexes . . . what we do is analyze “group” behaviour – why people do what they do in general (and with each other in mind).

For example, social psychologists break down human behavioural tendencies and motivations for things like: Why people stand in single-file lines (like at coffee shops) – or - Why people are drawn to some products but less so to other products (e.g., Coke vs. Pepsi).

We even examine how the brain “perceives” incoming stimuli (e.g., from websites and print materials) and what the brain pays attention to.

So, just to clarify, social psychology is not the study of individual people (e.g., disorders in the DSM-V) – rather, it is the study of how people interact with each other in the social environment. Some might call this a “top-down” analysis of social behaviour.

So, what does this mean for marketing? What does a social psychologist do in the real world? And what can they do for me?

Marketers, among other things, are meant to be “persuaders.” N’est-ce pas?

As a marketer yourself, wouldn’t it be nice to know what persuasion techniques are scientifically validated? – i.e., which ones are known to jab at the old heart-strings?

Persuasion techniques are tested using business research, but rarely are techniques drawn on the psychology of actual human decision-making.

You need to shake up your assumptions!!

Top marketers use knowledge that is generated in the world of social psychology – i.e., the research that determines what is true in the realm of human decision-making.

Yes, marketing outcomes depend heavily on the economy, the product and its price-point - stuff found in business research.

However, your final step should be examining your persuasion technique from the human perspective - the social psychological perspective.

Here are three things to consider with your marketing:

1. “How” the price is presented matters tremendously: Is it a stand-alone price? Or among other products/prices?

Products can be presented as stand-alone or in a group of related products with varying prices. People prefer feeling control over choosing - so, providing choice is good. (1)

However too much choice muddles our brain. (2) Researchers have identified that presenting three choices is the minimal amount to encourage people to actually make a decision.

Furthermore, it is found that people like the middle and tend to choose the middle over the outliers – so, the middle is where you should present your target product.

Why is this so? Because people need options in order to feel motivated to make the choice. Furthermore, people tend to choose the middle – simple – but well documented. (3)

2. If a product is offered at a discount, provide the comparison price (the original price) rather than a percentage-off.

Providing the “original” price anchors people on the higher price. This makes the discounted price feel concrete, real, more immediate and more palpably valued than a price with no comparison to anchor to. (4)

If I ask you to guess if Mt. Everest is higher or lower than 12,000 metres and then ask you to come up with your guess of how high Mt. Everest actually is – then you are likely to choose between 10,000 metres and 14,000 metres (which is + or – 2,000 metres).

Mt. Everest is 8,848 metres – but, as you can see, I anchored you to 12,000. When you found out that you guessed wrong, did you pay attention to the “real” height of Mt. Everest? – yes – you did.

That’s how the 12,000 metre number anchored you and made the difference of about 3,000 metres - feel palpable and distinct.

This is not to say that your product should be discounted – but if you are planning a discount, don’t just indicate that the product is 10% off – provide the actual comparison price.

People also have a hard time figuring out what 10% off “means to them.”

The brain is overloaded with a million other everyday thoughts, and it takes more effort to do mental calculations than to be told specifically. (5)

So, if you decide to discount, ensure you create that strong anchor to the original price so that your customer can “palpably feel” the value they are getting.

3. Create communications that are smooth and effortless to follow AND create “friction” at decision-points.

Some people may take the time to read your communication – however, we know that most people skim. The advent of technology has brought us further into a world of quick absorption. (6)

It is important that marketing communications flow easily – and should be written at about a grade 5 or 6 level for ease of understanding.

Don’t assume that customers might feel offended by easy language. I have a PhD and I truly enjoy a quick and easy to understand bit of text.

Whereas the body should flow; decision points need to STAND OUT !! (7)

It’s almost as if you need to hit people over the head with “what they need to do next.” If you don’t tell people what to do, they are likely to do nothing. (3) Don’t assume that people don’t want to be told – they actually do enjoy guidance – everyone does (although we tend not to admit it : )

People are busy and will not spend time machinating over what to do – most of the time we use mental short-cuts using established heuristics (for the way things are done normally). In other words, we tend to “go with old habits.”

On a web page, the habit is to scan and scroll.

Our eyes will not stop if the decision point is hard to “see” or hard to “notice.”

Create “friction” at decision-points.

Make your CALL TO ACTION (CTA) stand out. It can be as simple as putting an “arrow” next to the decision point or making the CTA button a boldly different colour than the rest of the colours on the page. (7)

SUMMARY

I've given you three examples for how to optimize your marketing efforts - however, there are hundreds of other examples (feel free to contact me with your unique situation).

Persuasion is about moving people toward “yes,” as psychology and marketing professor Dr. Robert Cialdini points out.

Check out Cialdini’s book that summarizes years of research in this field: Influence: Science and Practice. (8)

Marketers don’t need to change the features of a product or even the merits of their value campaign – but only change the way in which the features and merits of the product are presented.

Dr. Cindy Ward is a native of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada and has a PhD in social and behavioural psychology from Wilfrid Laurier University. Cindy is a business consultant in the K-W area. Cindy enjoys a good debate. So, if you disagree or have any comments, please email her at drcindywardphd@gmail.com

REFERENCES

1. Baumeister, R. F., Sparks, E. A., Stillman, T. F., & Vohs, K. D. (2008). Free will in consumer behavior: Self-control, ego depletion, and choice. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 18(1), 4-13.

2. Iyengar, S. S., & Lepper, M. R. (2000). When choice is demotivating: Can one desire too much of a good thing?. Journal of personality and social psychology, 79(6), 995-1006.

3. Presser, S., & Schuman, H. (1980). The measurement of a middle position in attitude surveys. Public Opinion Quarterly, 44(1), 70-85.

4. Adaval, R., & Wyer Jr, R. S. (2011). Conscious and nonconscious comparisons with price anchors: Effects on willingness to pay for related and unrelated products. Journal of Marketing Research, 48(2), 355-365.

5. Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., & Tice, D. M. (2007). The strength model of self-control. Current directions in psychological science, 16(6), 351-355.

6. Lavie, T., & Tractinsky, N. (2004). Assessing dimensions of perceived visual aesthetics of web sites. International journal of human-computer studies,60(3), 269-298.

7. Taylor, S. E., & Fiske, S. T. (1978). Salience, attention, and attribution: Top of the head phenomena. Advances in experimental social psychology, 11, 249-288.

8. Cialdini, Robert (2009). Influence: Science and Practice. Boston, MA: Pearson Education. ISBN 0-205-60999-6.

Image Credits:

Group Image:

http://duckboardsandstilts.com/6-sure-fire-strategies-make-persuasive/

Middle Price Image: https://www.google.ca/search?q=anchor+the+price&rlz=1C5CHFA_enCA696CA696&espv=2&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwilgLLS6OrPAhVIQBQKHeJ6DeUQ_AUICCgB&biw=1650&bih=840#imgrc=1Q2K3RwEfrA8ZM%3A

Call to Action Image:

http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/call-to-action-buttons-guidelines-best-practices-and-examples/