Let’s start with a definition:
Neuromarketing strategies apply neuropsychology to market research, studying consumers’ brain activity.
The potential benefits to marketers include more effective strategies, fewer product failures, and “ultimately the manipulation of the real needs and wants of people to suit the needs and wants of marketing interests.” – wikipedia
our reptilian brain and our emotions drive most of our choices. I found a great quote recently, by the famous neuroscientist, Antonio Damasio that seems fitting here. “We are not thinking machines, rather we are feeling machines that think.” Companies take advantage of this reality, even where we are not very aware of it ourselves.
There are many neuromarketing strategies out there, I am only going to cover a few today that I think we encounter most often. Amazon Prime day on July 16th to 17th, likely employed all three of the below:
1) Price Anchoring
A business will use a higher price to start with, and our brain will interpret subsequent reduced prices as a deal. One of the reasons anchoring works–our brains want to make a decision while using the least amount of energy.
Try to remember, a price reduction isn’t relevant without considering the following: Do you need the item? Is the value you will gain worth the current price?
2) Eye Tracking
Eye Tracking software is designed to study where our pupil’s attention goes first. This technology can be used to develop the layout of a website or Ad, as well as manipulate where your eyes track in a store, influencing what you choose to purchase.
Also, when someone is featured in an Ad, where their eyes are focused has an impact on you. For example, an averted gaze evokes the viewer’s emotions and can immerse the viewer in the storyline.
You don’t really have control over what your eyes and brain innately do, but you can choose how much marketing and advertising you consume. Unsubscribe to newsletters for stores, go on social media less, read more books, binge less TV. What you consume has an impact on your choices and your mental health. Begin to notice.
3) Loss Aversion
First developed by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, loss aversion means that people dislike losses more than they enjoy gains. Companies use FOMO, and urgency tactics like “only two spots left!” (often in the color red) to take advantage of our innate fear of loss.
Set purchasing intentions to help prevent getting caught up in the urges loss aversion creates. Make a list. Know how much you are willing to pay for each item ahead of time. Give yourself permission to pause, research, and take your time.
You may be asking yourself if all this is ethical. Neuromarketing is a fairly new field, still in its infancy, and the debate is on-going. The good news is we don’t have to wait for regulations to be put in place, we can get creative about ways to protect ourselves now. Do you have a tip that has worked for you? Reply and share it with me!
Wishing you healing and success on your financial wellness journey.
