Behavioural Science: A Breakthrough in Marketing

Namrata Khatri

Millions of content feuds for consumers' attention in today's highly competitive space. Consumers intentionally or unintentionally bypass such branded content through social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, and many others.

However, only some best marketing ads are carefully latched onto consumers' attention. Marketers these days try their best to make sure that the consumers pick up their brands through eye-catching content and, at the same time, that could stand out to the consumer.

One of the most popular techniques marketers have adopted today is applying behavioural science. Behavioural science is the umbrella term given to many fields that study how human behaviour influences a person's decisions and thoughts.

These include areas such as social sciences, anthropology, and even psychology. Behavioural economics was first used by an economist named Gary Becker in 1970, connecting consumers' rationality to choice theory. Later it was further developed by Israeli psychologist and economist Daniel Kahneman, winner of the Noble prize in 2002.

Behavioural science is not a new concept, but it has been a sensational topic for market researchers in the past years. Behavioural science is all about studying human behaviour that can help leverage sales and attain customer loyalty through various marketing campaigns. The primary motive is to try and understand the broader aspects of someone's habit or decision-making process.

The better you know how customers make decisions, the more you can influence those decisions to be in your favour. As traditional marketing alone is not enough, marketers prioritise behaviorally enhanced surveys to make their marketing campaigns a significant success.

Principles

Grasping human attention is a complicated subject as it is different from one another. The most crucial task marketers should focus on these days is to design their strategies to cater to all those customers' attention. According to a Microsoft study, people's attention span will be only 8 seconds in 2022, which dropped from 12 seconds back in 2000, which clearly states human attention span is declining 88% every year.

These compressed attention spans are blurring the lines of the traditional buying funnel and forcing companies to change their content marketing strategies. As a result, the implication of various behavioural science principles is of great essence for every marketer.

Choice Architecture: Behavioural science has coined the concept of choice architecture. As per the concept of choice architecture and human choices are impacted by how they are presented. One can leverage sales for any company through the application of this principle. Reduce choice overload, default choices, avoid attribute overload, and translating attributes are the elements of choice architecture.

Let's make this clear with an example of the supermarket where branded goods are stacked on eye-level shelves; however, low priced brand versions are placed along the bottom shelves. Both product lines are made accessible to the customer, though the prominence of the branded product in the The customer's line of sight may upshot buying decisions in the branded product's favour. How we present our choices to the potential customer can affect their buying decision process.

Social proofing: Let's Question ourselves, have we ever purchased a product based on someone's recommendation? If yes, then we have been influenced by social proofing, which is an excellent marketing tactic in behaviour science. Customers these days have been vocal about the product they acquire. If the experience is exceptional, those vocals can escalate the value of a particular brand in the market.

According to the stats from the online review space, about 93% of customers use online reviews in buying decisions. Social proofing in marketing can help solidify customer confidence before acquiring any product.

Actual World Illustration: Apple

Apple is an excellent example of the implication of behavior science in marketing. The success of Apple didn't happen by chance. The heuristic is a mental shortcut that Apple has adopted since its launch in 2007. Every single detail in the packaging is direct, simple, and clean. The heuristic approach here is simple: if the packaging is this well-designed, the product must be even better. It is the triggering factor to make one buy an Apple.

Similarly, Apple has cultivated an image of confidence backed up by massive social proofing. The logic is simple; if people around the globe trust this brand, then there is no doubt about its excellence. As per the recent 20,300,300 results from Youtube on "Apple unboxing," the influence of Apple is tremendous in the gadget market. Kudos to all's efforts of Apple for applying this breakthrough before other marketing giants realise this later.

The Ultimate Goal-Customer

As Jerry Gregoire has rightly said, "The customer experience is the next competitive battleground." The success of any marketing brand hugely depends upon the customers. Since customers are the ultimate king here, technological breakthrough plays an indispensable role in the entire "mar-tech" (marketing, technology, and data analytics) space going through prodigious changes; nevertheless, the joint quest is the ideal customer experience.

Behavioural science casts light on the essence of customer experience and behaviour as it offers the right tools and lenses to explore, predict and measure a wide range of customer behaviour. No doubt, there are plenty of factors reshaping the customer decision-making process. Customers' expectations constantly evolve, and marketers' most significant challenge is understanding and delivering compelling experiences.

Bottom Line

In an era of what we call the 'Mind Economy,' the interconnection between decision-making and digital technology determines the success or failure of a brand. A deep understanding of these elements is vital.

All a brand has to do is understand, grab and engage their customers by providing insights into the human behaviour that guides buying decisions.

In the endless sea of content, marketing strategies should be impactful and efficient.

The good news is that understanding the mechanics of modern marketing application of behavioral techniques can be fruit-bearing for any brand. Here is the fact: Behavioral science is one of the most important breakthroughs in marketing because it is a powerful way to do just that.

(Khatri is Assistant Manager, ECC/IPS UNIT at Nepal Bank Limited)

TRN Online

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