Page 89 - Decoding Decisions ~ Making sense of the messy middle

89 CHAPTER 5 IMPLICATIONS OF THE MESSY MIDDLE

Brands themselves provide this reassurance – in our shopping simulations,
even when fictional or non-preferred brands were supercharged to address
all six biases, the preferred brand still invariably retained some loyalty. This is
just one example of how a better understanding of the cognitive biases that
underpin decision-making can help to create a compelling proposition that
appeals to shoppers at an instinctive level.

A better understanding of the

cognitive biases that underpin

decision-making can help to create a

compelling proposition that appeals to

shoppers at an instinctive level.

Employing behavioural science intelligently

Although pre-existing brand affinity and price are undoubted drivers of
purchase decisions, we have seen that purchase outcomes can also
be strongly influenced by the messages, propositions, and tactics that
competing brands bring into play. Behavioural science principles can be
applied at several points within the messy middle:

Use available data to qualify and categorise shoppers who
are evaluating – data-driven algorithms should eventually

make this identification possible at scale.

Ensure that your ad messaging is tailored to the needs of
evaluative shoppers, containing behavioural biases relevant
to your category.