Uncover “covert marketing” to shop smarter
The same impulse behind my degree in religious studies is responsible for my interest in neuroscience and behaviorism in branding and marketing. I want to know what people believe, and what motivates them. I also believe that a deeper understanding of these things makes us better decision makers. (And I’m all for better decision making, since I’ve made some questionable choices in my lifetime.)
Our local paper, the Daily Hampshire Gazette, ran a piece around the holidays on the importance of shoppers knowing themselves. It focused on the work of University of Massachusetts associate professor of marketing George R. Milne and his wife, marketing consultant Shalini Bahl. They talked about the neurology behind shopping. For them, it boils down to whether or not we listen to voices in our head, and they’re not talking about the proverbial devil and angel on your shoulders. The voices represent different personas that fall into general categories: critical, social, professional, spiritual, creative and desirous. The voices are with us through most decision-making, suggesting reasons we should—or shouldn’t—buy something. For example, the social or desirous voices might tell you to buy that pair of Uggs as they will likely increase your social standing, but the spiritual voice questions whether such a purchase of an ugly, fad product is just giving in to soulless consumerism. It is our job to recognize and control these internal persuaders, because if we don’t, advertisers and marketers will.
Milne and Bahl call this way of trying to manipulate consumers “covert marketing,” which they define as “the intentional omission and distortion of facts by marketers pertaining to the collection and or dissemination of information by marketers.” They definitely see themselves as consumer advocates, and know that the problem is figuring out what to do about covert marketing. Like its cousin subliminal advertising, it is hard to know when a company has deceived you. For example, neuromarketing and behavioral insights like those I’ve discussed in this blog, though public, may not be known by most of the public. And if you don’t know you’re being lured to buy something, you’re much more likely to buy it.
Still, there are some basic tidbits of neuroscience knowledge that may help shoppers get their decision-making personas under control and buy only what they truly want or need.
• Pay with cash. We buy less when we pay cash than when we pay by credit card. A little region of the brain called the insula, which registers negative feelings, is less likely to react when we pay cash.
• Don’t shop when you are blue. People are more likely to overshop, and overpay, when they feel down. We hope to bolster our sense of self-esteem, via the region of the brain called the nuclear accumbens, by acquiring stuff. And it works, but only temporarily.
• Write a list before going to the grocery store. Sixty to seventy percent of purchases at supermarkets are impulse buys; this is especially for men.
• Don’t dally. The more time you spend in a store, the more you buy. Stores use a variety of techniques to get us to linger, such as slow music and nice smells.
• Always discuss a big purchase before buying. Another person’s input might be all that is needed for a reality check of whether that “must-have” item is really a good idea. Another person might activate a different voice in your head.
In the end we have to realize that we are hardwired to shop, so the more you make it a conscious activity, the less likely you are to surrender to impulses that may not be acting in your long-term best interest. For most, shopping can cause a dopamine release, stimulating the brain in the same way as food, sex, and drugs. Why does the brain respond so powerfully to something so seemingly shallow? As Paco Underhill, author of Why We Buy, reminds us, “There is nothing trivial about shopping. How much hunting and gathering does the modern man or woman do? That gene, that DNA has been transformed into our shopping instinct.”
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Shopper, Know Thyself
Uncover “covert marketing” to shop smarter
Our local paper, the Daily Hampshire Gazette, ran a piece around the holidays on the importance of shoppers knowing themselves. It focused on the work of University of Massachusetts associate professor of marketing George R. Milne and his wife, marketing consultant Shalini Bahl. They talked about the neurology behind shopping. For them, it boils down to whether or not we listen to voices in our head, and they’re not talking about the proverbial devil and angel on your shoulders. The voices represent different personas that fall into general categories: critical, social, professional, spiritual, creative and desirous. The voices are with us through most decision-making, suggesting reasons we should—or shouldn’t—buy something. For example, the social or desirous voices might tell you to buy that pair of Uggs as they will likely increase your social standing, but the spiritual voice questions whether such a purchase of an ugly, fad product is just giving in to soulless consumerism. It is our job to recognize and control these internal persuaders, because if we don’t, advertisers and marketers will.
Milne and Bahl call this way of trying to manipulate consumers “covert marketing,” which they define as “the intentional omission and distortion of facts by marketers pertaining to the collection and or dissemination of information by marketers.” They definitely see themselves as consumer advocates, and know that the problem is figuring out what to do about covert marketing. Like its cousin subliminal advertising, it is hard to know when a company has deceived you. For example, neuromarketing and behavioral insights like those I’ve discussed in this blog, though public, may not be known by most of the public. And if you don’t know you’re being lured to buy something, you’re much more likely to buy it.
Still, there are some basic tidbits of neuroscience knowledge that may help shoppers get their decision-making personas under control and buy only what they truly want or need.
• Pay with cash. We buy less when we pay cash than when we pay by credit card. A little region of the brain called the insula, which registers negative feelings, is less likely to react when we pay cash.
• Don’t shop when you are blue. People are more likely to overshop, and overpay, when they feel down. We hope to bolster our sense of self-esteem, via the region of the brain called the nuclear accumbens, by acquiring stuff. And it works, but only temporarily.
• Write a list before going to the grocery store. Sixty to seventy percent of purchases at supermarkets are impulse buys; this is especially for men.
• Don’t dally. The more time you spend in a store, the more you buy. Stores use a variety of techniques to get us to linger, such as slow music and nice smells.
• Always discuss a big purchase before buying. Another person’s input might be all that is needed for a reality check of whether that “must-have” item is really a good idea. Another person might activate a different voice in your head.
In the end we have to realize that we are hardwired to shop, so the more you make it a conscious activity, the less likely you are to surrender to impulses that may not be acting in your long-term best interest. For most, shopping can cause a dopamine release, stimulating the brain in the same way as food, sex, and drugs. Why does the brain respond so powerfully to something so seemingly shallow? As Paco Underhill, author of Why We Buy, reminds us, “There is nothing trivial about shopping. How much hunting and gathering does the modern man or woman do? That gene, that DNA has been transformed into our shopping instinct.”