Consumers are complex creatures. Luckily for marketers, there’s a field of study designed to help consumer-facing brands better interact with their audiences. It’s known as consumer psychology, and it comes with a fair share of benefits.
Consumer psychology is the study of how consumers’ perceptions, beliefs, feelings and thoughts impact their purchasing behavior. In other words, having knowledge about consumer psychology and related tactics can come in handy. And it can have some pretty non-traditional benefits.
We’ve written a list of three unique benefits brands can gain from using consumer psychology in their marketing campaigns.
1. Cuts through the noise
There’s a lot of noise in the market right now. From the ongoing pandemic to technological innovation, consumer decisions can easily become influenced by more than brand communications. And having so many outside influences to contend with can keep consumers from moving urgently toward making a decision with a brand. Marketing psychology can help consumers have an easier experience that is less muddled with non-essential information.
Consumer psychology is an extension of traditional brain science with a dedicated focus on brand interactions. Dr. Matt Johnson, Professor of Consumer Psychology and Marketing at Hult International Business School and author of “Branding that Means Business,” believes cutting through the noise in the market starts with understanding the fundamentals of human nature.
So, what do we know about humans? Consumers want things to be simple during their consumer journey. Too much information or “noise” can result in choice overload and cause consumers to disregard a brand completely. To minimize some of that noise, brands must focus on what matters to consumers: getting the most important information as quickly and as easily as possible.
Explain to consumers how your brand will fit their needs, why it’s a better choice than your competitors, what others love about your brand and the personalized benefits that come from interacting with you.
2. Speaks to a consumer’s ideal self
As a marketer, you’re aware that consumers are often looking at your products or services as a means to an end. There’s some sort of pain point, concern or goal they hope your brand can help them with. And if all prevail, at the end of their journey that aspiration will be realized.
Simply put, consumers have an ideal version of themselves they’d like to see come true. This is a result of social identities: social groups based on demographics or affiliations. Consumers often use their social identities as a basis for decision-making. What would someone with this social identity do if they had a certain pain point, concern or goal?
Sometimes, consumers aspire to have a social identity that they don’t yet align with. They could identify strongly with the ideal version of themselves that drives a nice car but are unable to meet that goal at the current moment.
Consumer psychology can help bring consumers closer to their ideal social identity. Think of who your brand is geared toward. How can you leverage that to help your consumers meet their goals? If your audience is filled with conscious moms who care about what their children consume, how can you empower them to see your brand as the best option?
If you know who your target audience is and who they want to be, understanding consumer psychology can help you create impactful marketing campaigns that speak to those desires.
3. Helps consumers break out of non-beneficial habits
Consumer usage habits are the behavior patterns consumers exhibit while interacting with a product. They typically fall into two categories: mindful and automatic. Like their namesakes, mindful and automatic consumer usage habits are what you might expect. Automatic usage is when people are using something without thinking about it, whereas if they’re doing something mindfully, they'll take a more thought-out approach and do some form of research before making a purchase.
When we spoke with Peter Judodihardjo, Behavioral Science Practitioner at Ogilvy, a London-based marketing agency, he told us that most consumer behavior habits are automatic. Consumers prefer familiarity and will use familiar products and services even if they’re not in love with them.
It’s up to brands to break consumer usage habits and introduce consumers to new patterns that they’ll love more. However, this isn’t an easy task. In order for consumers to break a routine, they’ll have to encounter a radical change. The functionality, design or product itself will have to change. Habits can also break if the consumers undergo a change themselves.
Consumer psychology can do a lot of good for consumers, and it has some pretty unconventional benefits. The three perks above are just a few of the advantages that can appear during the consumer journey.
