MARKETING RESEARCH UNDERSTANDING HUMAN PSYCHOLOGY

Agenda
Introduction Basic Principles
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Reciprocity Scarcity Authority Consistency Liking Consensus

A successful marketer should possess :

INDUSTRY SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE + KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

There are six basic principle that influence human psychology :

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Reciprocity Scarcity Authority Consistency Liking Consensus

Reciprocity
Norm of Reciprocity Obligates people to return in kind what they have received from others. Reciprocity of Gifts - Increased compliance when few dollars included along with a questionnaire. - Not effective when offered at the completion of Survey.

Questionnaire Study
Compliance

23%

$5
$50 52%

Reciprocity
Reciprocity to return perceived debts : - Pharma companies spend millions of dollars to support medical researcher and also provide gifts to individual physicians. These activities subtly influence researchers findings and physicians recommendations.

Reciprocity
Reciprocate Concessions : Presenting the subsequent request as a concession to the earlier request engages the participants to reciprocate with a concession of their own.

Research Studies
60% 50%

40%
30% 20% 10% 0% Compliance Compliance

Zoo Request

Survey Request

Scarcity
It works on the principle that when our freedom to have something is limited, we experience an increased desire for it. Application : Marketers many times use strategies like Limited Supply and Limited Time to attract customers.

Cookie Consumption Study

RATING
6

5
4

3
2

RATING

1
0

10

12

The Ordinance Test

Likeness
4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 Miami(B)

Likeness

Tampa

Miami(A)

Tampa

Authority
Authority is looked for information and guidance. Authority can be described as the legitimacy to use power; conversely, power is the ability (either by force, persuasion, etc.) to impose one's will on another.

Authority should have following values:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Responsibility Credibility Convincing power Trustworthiness Established

Authority
1.Responsibilty : Great importance 2. Credibility : Is the key to successful, influential authority. A credible source should be expert. E.g.. Babies are our business, our only business , Serving the public since 1895 and so on.

Authority
3. Convincing power : The communicators must be able to convince audiences that they are trustworthy sources of information. Actors play authorities in TV commercials all the time

Authority
4. Trustworthiness : This refers to communicators honesty and lack of bias.
Known personally for a long period of time. Ads that depict frank and honest discussion. Both sides argument (pros and cons)

Authority
E.g. Expensive, but worth it. The taste you hate three times a day. We are number two, but we try harder. This helps in gaining and building trust in consumers and there by achieve goal of becoming trustworthy authority.

Authority
5. Established The authorities which are well known and established. Research suggests that if the person feels like an authority to you, messages from them would be really effective.

Consistency
Innate human tendency to seek out stimuli that are consistent with one's beliefs and attitudes. Public commitments Petition supporting the handicapped.

Consistency
Influence develop tapping commitments already in place. Drawing connections between products and pre-existing commitments powerful and effective technique used by marketing professionals.

Consistency
Laddering technique. - Product shoes : Shoes have elegant high heels High heels make you look taller, slimmer and more exotic Being taller makes you more powerful, younger, and more alive.

Liking
People prefer to say yes to those they like and prone to like those who display certain congenial characteristics like..
1. Physical Attractiveness 2. Cooperation 3. Similarity

Physical Attractiveness
Fund raising for American Heart Association, Good-looking fundraisers vs. other requesters (42% vs. 23%) In 1970s, Canadian researchers found that voters in Canadian federal elections gave physically attractive candidates several times as many votes as unattractive candidates.

Physical Attractiveness
Hiring situations A study showed that in the employment interviews, physical attractiveness influenced hiring decision more than did job qualification. Economists examining US and Canadian samples found that attractive individuals got paid 12% to 14% more than unattractive coworkers.

Cooperation
Enhances positive feelings and behavior toward those who appear to collaborate. Automobile sales people are coached to cast their sales managers are villains -> customers believe that sales person is doing battle for them -> Hence liking towards sales person -> Increase in Sales Good Cop Bad Cop play for getting the confession during police investigations

Similarity
If you are genuine and kind person, whom would you donate money to in following cases?
1. Somebody who asks you to donate money without any details. 2. Somebody who says I am a student too at XYZ college and I dont have money to pay the fees.

Similarity
Research has shown that by saying a simple line which would bring a sense of similarity (in previous example I am a student too), the contribution to charity was doubled. Sales training program Trainees are urged to mirror and match customers body posture, mood, verbal style etc. which generate more subtle form of similarity. It has shown to lead to positive results.

Consensus
These days I hear somebody or the other asking to many people Hey, *** Company is coming to campus, are you applying? If all our friends are raving about a new bestselling book, new movie, some course or certification, we probably like those things too.

Consensus
So what are we trying to do here? Through a cursory examination of what others (like us) are doing, we usually make quick and satisfactory decisions. We use actions of others to locate and validate correct choices. This is nothing Consensus Next principle of influence.

Consensus
During Ganesh Festival while collecting contributions from people, didnt you tell them, Kya uncle, Ram uncle ne to itna diya, Sham uncle ne utna so on and so forth. It does help increase contributions. Also, longer the list greater the effect. So, this is the tip for marketers..!!

Consensus
However, sometimes there may be circumstances that cause social validation to backfire. Information campaigns may worry excessively upon
1. Alcohol use being intolerably high 2. Suicides rates are alarming 3. Many polluters spoiling environments etc.

Consensus
Although these claims may be true and well intentioned, it may have unintended results. Eg. A suicide intervention program administered teenagers informed them of the high number of suicides till date, however the participants exposed to this message became significantly more like to seek suicide as a potential solution to their problem.