Consumer behavior: 56% of purchases at a self-service gasoline pump in upstate New York ended in .00, well above what would be expected by chance, and an additional 7% ended in .01, likely reflecting failed attempts to stop the pump at whole-dollar amounts, says a team led by Michael Lynn of Cornell. The findings, along with data on tipping and a pay-what-you-want online scheme, show a pronounced consumer preference for round-number payment amounts, the researchers say.
Consumer behavior: By flaunting expensive shoes and handbags, women effectively deter potential romantic rivals, according to a series of experiments by doctoral student Yajin Wang and Vladas Griskevicius of the University of Minnesota. For example, after each research participant was prompted to imagine another woman flirting with her partner, those who were instructed to envision being alone with their rivals spent 77% more of a small honorarium on a chance to win a gift card for a luxury-spending spree, suggesting that women whose relationships are threatened seek conspicuous goods only when the products can be seen by a potential rival. Other experiments show that the deterrent is effective, probably because women perceive a man as more devoted to his partner when she sports pricey products, the researchers say.
In order to achieve another level in our business, we need to become a different person, acquire new habits.
The brain has a process to acquire new habits.
The brain cannot instantly adapt to sudden changes in previously experienced circumstances, new life conditions, new work, new study routine or a place of residence, social circle, unfamiliar food or new people. Any new activity must be entered into gradually and calmly by slowly getting accustomed to it. Every day, by doing everything you can, you can achieve something that seemed impossible. The habit to study, or to work is formed gradually and continuously. Sudden insight and inspiration always involves previous knowledge and may not always be something you were fully aware of before.
Often, parents, teachers, bosses, loved ones (and sometimes ourselves), without understanding the complexity of forming a habit, require from us (and we expect from others) achieving instant results. It does not happen that way. It is best not to become overwhelmed, calm down, and kindly tell them or ourselves that nothing can be achieved all at once, “Hey kids, be patient and you will get you Christmas gifts just in time for Christmas”. And start moving forward slowly, and picking up the pace as we get used to new things.
The brain by itself creates stereotypes (habits, skills, reflexes). Stereotyped thinking helps immensely to live our lives as we do no need to repeatedly solve common tasks. Every day, when we perform same actions, we turn them into a habit, a skill or an ability, or sometimes a conditional reflex. Without much reliance on our brain, we become able to salivate at the sight of a lemon, close front door, turn off leaking tap, wash dishes, jump up from a sudden car horn, click X when we need to close a window on the computer screen.
Instincts and insufficient life experience force us to create stereotypes related to our childhood friends, enemies or lovers. This can be useful when dealing with “the ocean of mankind” to choose someone and to create our own team and then stop, which frees up the time and energy for other life goals. Stereotypes help us to deal with strangers, get along with our parents and to educate our own children.
From learning-mind.com
The longer a recession drags on, the greater the growth of interpersonal trust among the population, according to an analysis of survey data from 10 Latin American countries by Elizabeth A.M. Searing of Georgia State University. For each additional year of a recession (holding all else constant), the probability that people will agree that “most people can be trusted” increases by 9.03%. A long recession may bring communities together and encourage social investment, Searing suggests.
SOURCE: Love Thy Neighbor? Recessions and Interpersonal Trust in Latin America
Consumers who were offered free bread sticks as a promotion from a pizzeria said they’d be willing to pay $5.06, on average, for them once the promotion ended, only slightly less than the amount consumers were willing to pay when there had been no promotion, say Mauricio M. Palmeira of Monash University in Australia and Joydeep Srivastava of the University of Maryland. By contrast, people who were offered the bread sticks at a discounted price of 50 cents were willing to pay just $2.76 once the promotion was over. The findings suggest that a discount promotion may devalue a product in consumers’ minds, whereas a free promotion offer may not devalue a product at all.
SOURCE: Free Offer ≠ Cheap Product: A Selective Accessibility Account on the Valuation of Free Offers
After being subjected to the upsetting experience of receiving negative feedback on a task, research participants felt particularly badly, scoring an average of 4 on a 7-point positive-affect scale, if they were indirectly told that getting a low score on a task was a “not serious” event. By contrast, those who could decide for themselves on the seriousness of such an event felt less bad (4.63), even though they too tended to classify the experience as “not serious.” The research, by a team led by Kristin W. Grover of the University of Vermont, suggests that people who have suffered misfortunes feel worse when their experiences are minimized by others, but feel better when they internally minimize the experiences themselves. Saying “It was for the best” or “It could have been worse” makes sufferers feel misunderstood and isolated, the researchers say.
Do you know how to market to the 5 senses? How to create contract and increase sales? We are showing it step by step this week. Hosts Shahar and Nashlah.
Every week a new episode with the best in Brain Based Marketing.
This show is also available on Roku on the Buzz and Biz channel, on Itunes and on YouTube.
A study at an outdoor parking lot in Singapore shows that the sunnier the weather, the more severe are drivers’ parking violations, and an analysis of 40 years of Major League Baseball data reveals that stolen-base attempts are more likely during day games than night games, says a team led by Nicholas Reinholtz of Columbia University. Humans’ tendency to take greater risks while the sun is shining may have evolved as an adaptive behavior, the researchers say.
In an experiment, people who were asked how much they would demand to sell a coffee mug set a price that was 2.2 times greater, on average, than the price other participants said they would pay to buy such a mug, according to a team led by Promothesh Chatterjee of the University of Kansas. Because people ascribe enhanced value to an object that they associate with themselves, they nonconsciously view a sale as a threat. Thus they demand more to give it up than they (or others just like them) would be willing to pay to acquire it, the researchers say.
consumer behavior,
You know that if you offer something free on your site you will be able to create a list of prospects. Not only that, if you do a favor to someone, this person will feel the need to give back, which can be good for your business. Ethical bribes are very common on websites. Maybe you have one on yours. does it bring lots of prospects?
If not, you might want to take a look in this scenario:
A person is researching your product on your website. Their intuitive brain has approved the brand experience up to the point when they decide they are interested in downloading a free whitepaper kit off of your site. However, the landing page to download the kit is asking for their email address and name. Their rational brain is now taking the front seat and evaluating if the value of the whitepaper is worth the trade off of providing their email and name. How does a marketer assist them in this process?
Using statistics citing a reliable source
Clearly stating benefits (with bullet points)
Providing a description of exactly what will happen once they submit their email address
Showing a picture of the product or service (or the results of using it!)
