The consumer unconscious — why it matters to marketers

May 29, 2009

As marketers, most of the assumptions we have about consumer behavior are outdated. New research techniques and technologies (neuro-imaging) have shown that consumer unconsciousness is the driving force in how and why consumers buy. It seems counterintuitive, but 95% of all consumer behavior is driven by our unconscious minds. What follows is a quick primer on some of the new thinking on cognitive processes and some of the implications for marketers.

Behavioral economists and cogitative psychologist identified two cognitive processes that guide how we think:

• Reflexive (or automatic) process
• Reflective (or controlled)

As marketers and communicators, understanding how cognitive processes work and work together can be the difference between success and failure.

Automatic System
The automatic system is emotional, habitual and unconscious. It is our brain working on autopilot. This cogitative process is associated with the oldest parts of our brain — the part we share with lizards! The automatic system is a coping mechanism for us to deal with complex environments. It enables us to perform many tasks at one time. This was demonstrated to me this morning as the person in the car next to me driving, talking on the phone and applying lipstick all at the same time. Thankfully, the automatic system was firing on all cylinders!

Controlled System
The controlled system is rational, logical and conscious. It is our brain in an active mode (think problem solving). This cogitative process is personified by Mr. Spock. This system helps us make difficult decisions — one decision at a time. Multitasking is not allowed (the automatic system kicks in to handle all other additional tasks).

As marketers, our norm is to appeal the controlled system — tell a logical, rational story that entertains and informs the consumer. Give them plenty of reasons to believe. Our work is talking to the conscious mind, not the unconscious mind that will ultimately control 95% of consumer behavior.

Here are three things marketers can do to understand and benefit from this unconscious consumer behavior.

1. For a product or brand to succeed, it must first make a connection with the existing concepts in the unconscious mind. Marketers must do a better job of understanding the cognitive cues that fire an automatic cognitive response.
2. Most consumer research is based on exploring conscious thought. It is during that consciousness, that consumers rationalized their behavior, thereby misleading marketers. Research techniques that are observational and explore the automatic cognitive process will provide much truer insights.
3. Most advertising and marketing programs are designed to change perceptions or attitudes or the conscious mind. Marketers should be exploring how they change behaviors or create new behaviors.

posted by brian newberry May 29, 2009 in rehavior

comments

Steve Pickens says: June 8, 2009 at 3:33 pm If you are looking for ways to generate these insights, I suggest you examine means- end research as popularized by Thomas Reynolds. I’ve been using it for about 10 years now and it gives great insight to the emotional needs being satisfied through consumer decisions. It allows the researcher to use “focus group” style interview techniques to generate decision maps for product categories and to quantify them. As for your premise that most of marketing is based on the controlled system, I somewhat disagree. Working on the “reasons to believe” is a relatively recent phenomenon based on benefits selling. I think that marketers have long realized that decisions are based on emotion; the mind simply rationalizes the buying behavior. Early TV advertising, especially through jingles, was based on Skinner theories of stimulus and response. It is my believe that the in its essence, successful brand communications campaign lives like a virus in the mind of the consumer; so that when s/he is confronted by various brands in the supermarket, the brand itself triggers the desired behavior at the point of purchase. Reply Keith says: August 31, 2009 at 10:52 pm Steve, I’m a fan of laddering as well. It can even work nicely in small scale quant with just word/phrase associations. It’s labor intensive for sure, but some of the least self-aware consumers can reveal structures that direct questioning could never touch. The last example of neuro imaging I saw was @ a Boston AMA event about a year ago. Wondering if the interpretation tools and methods have improved since then. Reply