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When a book telling people to throw away almost everything they own becomes a best seller and the start of a spiritual movement, it’s a good indication we’re consuming too much. But it’s hard to reconcile this idea when so many families, even in some of the world’s most durable economies, feel like they are barely getting by. Households have never had so many material goods, yet we hear constant reports of economic anxiety and feelings of hopelessness. The problem is livings standards. Our expectations of what we should own have increased—but incomes, for many of us, haven’t kept up. The disconnect leaves households vulnerable and struggling. There is no doubt living standards are rising. People around the world, of all income levels, are living longer, finding more leisure time, and enjoying more luxuries than at any time in history. Remember, only 30 years ago, air-conditioning was a luxury. Now it’s practically seen as a necessity....
So why is this? Why do some societies not encourage casual smiling? I got my answer, or at least part of one, when I stumbled across a new paper by Kuba Krys, a psychologist at the Polish Academy of Sciences. In some countries, smiling might not be a sign of warmth or even respect. It’s evidence that you’re a fool—a tricky fool. Krys focused on a cultural phenomenon called “uncertainty avoidance.” Cultures that are low on this scale tend to have social systems—courts, health-care systems, safety nets, and so forth—that are unstable. Therefore, people there view the future as unpredictable and uncontrollable. Smiling is a sign of certainty and confidence, so when people in those countries smile, they might seem odd. Why would you smile when fate is an invisible wolf waiting to shred you? You might, in those “low-UA” countries, even be considered stupid for smiling. Krys also hypothesized that smiling in corrupt countries would be, um, frowned upon. When everyone’s trying to pull one over on each other, you don’t know if someone’s smiling with good intentions, or because they’re trying to trick you....
For this holiday season, 80% of consumers plan to spend as much as or more than they did last year, according to a recent report fromSAS.
The report was based on data from a survey of 3,458 consumers in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
The US leads expected spending growth, with 29% of US respondents saying they plan to spend more this year. Most Canadian shoppers, on the other hand, say they are tightening their budgets this year.
Millennial respondents (age 18-29) are the most likely to say they will increase their spending this year, whereas older consumers are the most likely to say they'll stick with last years budget....
The brainiacs at Harvard and Stanford are at it again. Just this past month in the Journal of Marketing Research, several Ivy School consumer neuroscience researchers led by Dr. Uma Karmarkar, whom I had the opportunity to interview for this piece, explained to me how putting the price first (called price primacy)—before a user sees the actual product—affects buying behaviors.
Specifically, according to the researcher’s comments in a Working Knowledge magazine exposé, “that price primacy (viewing the price first) makes consumers more likely to focus on whether a product is worth its price, and consequently can help induce the purchase of specific kinds of bargain-priced items.”
Mind. Blown. Let’s look at three pricing strategy examples and some specific takeaways from Karmarkar’s findings to see how we can repurpose her research and turn it into actionable solutions....
The three Miami experiments show that as long as people think information is personalised to them they are interested – even if there is no actual personalisation. The “Dear First Name” error is not a problem if the remainder of the email contains information that is of interest to the recipient. Because of this, they think the material is personalised.
Of course, this assumes you know the real interests of your target customers. This is where web technologies let marketers down. Web page advertising, for instance, uses past browser history to target adverts to people. However, it becomes incredibly annoying when you always see advertisements for items you have already purchased. No longer is the advertising about something in which you are interested. As a result, it is like calling David by the name Kevin.
Similarly, many e-commerce sites use visitor purchase history to present a page of options that is “personalised”. However, this frequently fails. If you have been shopping for gifts for a friend at an online retailer you are not that interested in the items yourself. Hence, the so-called “personalised” page is nothing of the sort. It would be better suited to your friend.
For marketers, there is another problem. People do not like their activities being tracked. In one study conducted by Adobe more than two-thirds of people say it is “creepy” when websites track their activities. Increasingly, too, web browsers offer private browsing and Internet security suites are preventing the data from being collected in the first place. The result, inevitably, is going to be that just as marketers start to be able to gather more information to provide greater levels of web personalisation, users are going to stop that from happening....
Note: We’re expanding the topics we’re covering on AdEspresso. From now on you can expect us talking not only about Facebook ads but also discuss other topics you are hugely interested in.
The first of them is conversion rate optimization.
And to kick it off we decided to look at some traits of human behavior to see how they affect our buying choices and how to use this knowledge in improving conversions.
Like decision making, for instance.
Because, you know, turns out we’re not that great at making decisions after all....
The better we understand our customers, the better we become at conversion optimization. Although the digital age has given rise to new forms of marketing, it has not fundamentally changed human psychology.
Regardless of how digital marketing innovations change, we can still depend on the findings of psychology to support powerful conversion optimization techniques.
I want to explain how an understanding of your customer’s psychological curiosity can change how you approach your marketing initiatives. Prepare for some pleasant surprises and rude awakenings.
Customers are researchers. Satisfy their need for information....
At a 1982 planning retreat, someone on the Mac team, “thought they should do some market research to see what customers wanted. ’No,’ [Jobs] replied, ‘because customers don’t know what they want until we’ve shown them.’”
Henry Ford famously stated “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
I agree with the sentiment behind both these quotes. Asking consumers what they want is poor research and just plain lazy. Where I disagree is when people trot out quotes like this as justification for dismissing market research as a valuable tool in the innovation process. In reality, these quotes highlight two common pitfalls of poor market research in the world of innovation and growth strategy....
Effective content has never been more important for successful brand marketing. The proliferation of social media channels and mobile technology, coupled with the hyperconnected-consumer’s demand for instant, personal, and relevant content, have changed the way marketers engage with consumers.
While a handful of brands have cracked the code and consistently deliver high-performing content, a majority of brands still fall short on their content efforts, failing to meet consumer expectations and business objectives. The difference between those brands that succeed and those that fall short is their content model. Successful brands implement an insights-driven, consumer-centric approach, allowing them to think and act more like a publisher and less like a traditional advertiser....
The e-commerce shopping mall is littered with abandoned shopping carts.The e-commerce shopping mall is littered with abandoned shopping carts. Consider this: an average of 73.9 percent of carts don’t make it to the check out, according to the most recent data from SaleCycle. While it’s no surprise that the preponderance of discarded baskets are found in the travel industry (think: where some people are just comparison shopping for cheap flights or dreaming of luxuries they can’t actualize), coming in second is apparel.
“Only about 10 percent of apparel and footwear purchases happen online,” Romney Evans tells FORBES. The co-founder of TrueFit, a data analytics company, believes sizing plays a big part in consumers’ lack of confidence. Drapers Etail Report found that sizing problems accounted for more than 70% of fashion purchased online was subsequently returned...
In 2007, 10,000 people around the globe were asked about portable digital devices. It was part of a study conducted by the global media company Universal McCannMcCann.
...There’s a growing feeling that something is not working with market research, where billions are spent every year but results are mixed at best. Some of the problems relate to the basic challenge of using research to predict what consumers will want (especially with respect to products that are radically different). But marketers face one additional key problem: Study participants typically indicate preferences without first checking other information sources—yet this is very different from the way people shop for many products today.
In the Universal McCann study, for example, people were asked how much they agree with the statement, “I like the idea of having one portable device to fulfill all my needs.” Indeed, there was a significant difference between the percentage of people who completely agreed with this statement in Mexico (79%) and in the United States (31%). So, in theory, people in the United States were much less excited about a phone that’s also a camera and a music player.
But it was a different story when people got closer to making a decision. They heard about the iPhone in the media, where it was declared a revolutionary device, and read blogs and reviews from real users. As iPhones started rolling into the marketplace, the idea of “having one portable device to fulfill all my needs” was replaced by actual reports from users....
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US internet users are equally divided in their intentions to be plugged in or unplugged to the web while on vacation. Yet, according to research, most ultimately do connect to the internet regardless of gender or age.In March 2016, Intel, along with MSI International, surveyed 1,504 internet users ages 21 to 54 in the US about their internet habits while on holiday. Respondents were evenly split when asked if they had gone on vacation with the intention of being offline at some point in the past year. A disparity did exist when looking at gender: More than half (57%) of men said they did plan to be disconnected, compared to 44% of women. And more interestingly, when looking at age, the older the internet user, the less likely they were to have anticipated on unplugging while away from home. More than three-fifths of those ages 51 to 54 said they had not considered any unplugged vacationing, compared to 44% of millennials ages 21 to 30....
The act of deleting photos, apps and other content from phones causes many people to feel low, research has revealed. Dubbed "Post Deletion Stress Disorder" (PDSD), experts have warned that more than half of consumers suffer emotional effects after deleting content to make way for pictures, videos and selfies.
The research conducted by Western Digital (WD) suggested that more than half (56%) of UK consumers are forced to delete content from a technology device and have then regretted doing so. The link between deleting content and feeling down because of it could stem from the fact that the average consumer is now spending roughly £3,241 on content such as pictures, music, apps and movies, only to have to delete it.
"Running out of storage space isn't the greatest challenge threatening mankind at the moment, but it's certainly an annoyance for a great many consumers," said Jim Welsh, executive vice president and general manager of Content Solutions at WD. "Our findings clearly show that currently consumers are sacrificing precious memories and valuable content to make more space on their devices."...
A recent study from Accenture and SAP hybris found that B2B buyers are looking for a seamless omni-channel buying experience, especially online. According to the study, digital experiences are becoming more important to B2B customers – leaving businesses that have sub-par online experiences behind.
In 2015, 75 percent of B2B buyers said they research at least 25 percent of their work-related purchases online, even if they made the actual purchase offline.
Most B2B buyers begin the research process by visiting consumer marketplaces, such as Amazon or eBay (33 percent), or search engines (26 percent). However, B2B businesses are struggling with integrating the online and offline experience: Only 60 percent of respondents have customer names available on all channels, while only 48 percent have customer shipping and billing addresses available on all buying channels...
As 90% of the information our brain receives is visual and we already know that color can influence our mood, perception and behavior, we definitely should pay more attention to what color we use.
Companies are already testing colors everywhere: advertisements, banners, landing pages, buttons, call-to-action. Sometimes one color A/B Testing can reveal big secrets: HubSpot tested the color of their button and they found out that the red one outperformed the green one by 21%.
So, as you can see, colors can have a big influence. This is what happens with the decision making process, too because it may influence your online shoppers.
Enjoy the infographic below to find out more about color psychology and how it can influence your consumer purchasing behavior....
SUMMARY: There is a growing consensus among marketers that "last-click" attribution is suboptimal. However, multi-touch attribution, or the modeling of all marketing channels' contributions to customer conversions, can be a daunting task.
In this week's chart, we look at more than two million customer interactions across eight B2B and B2C sectors to discover how many steps customers take before making a purchase to help you build an effective online attribution model....
Technology isn't simply something that helps Young People get something done, i.e. make a purchase quickly and efficiently. Technology and interactive media play a role in identity formation and lifestyle. Online shopping doesn't do this for people. It's merely a convenience.
Yet a growing body of research indicates stores that fail to play an influential role within digital channels where young people pre-shop, socialize, and participate in virtual communities first, won't get the sale in the end.
Young People want to do more than consume; they want to co-create, participating in the emerging sharing economy. With the rise of the makers and locavore movements, and even seemingly niche trends like the resurgence of home-based and craft brewing, it's time retail environments built on active consumption....
Sustained incremental growth in the consumer package goods (CPG) and retailing industries has never been more elusive. Consumer trends are leaning increasingly toward less processed, more health-conscious products. At the same time, traditional manufacturers and retailers are grappling with declining foot traffic and rapidly evolving e-commerce purchase options.
But some CPG and retail companies are working hard to stem the tide—putting the customer’s wants and needs first, so they can be smarter at anticipating the needs of today’s rapidly evolving tastes. Here are two recent examples of CPG companies and one retail enterprise that have successfully innovated by becoming customer-centric:...
Consumers are shifting spending online, with 71% of surveyed consumers in UK and 61% in US, doing more than half their 2014 holiday shopping online, according to research by Wipro Digital.
This is a significant increase from 2013, when 45% in UK and 36% in US reported doing the majority of their shopping online.
This trend is set to continue with half of the surveyed consumers in US and UK saying that they plan to do more shopping, online in the 2015 holiday season, as compared to just 6% in UK and 4% in US who plan to increase their in-store shopping...
It's the great American pastime.
No, I'm not talking about baseball. Or stuffing your face with apple pie. Or arguing about politics with your family over Thanksgiving dinner. No, I'm talking about the great American pastime of buying stuff.
Unlike those other pastimes, however, which have remained relatively unchanged over the years, the way we buy has evolved considerably. For example ...
In 1914, you might've been tempted to buy a (non-branded) pastry after noticing a delicious smell emanating from the local bakery.
In 2014, you might be tempted to buy a Pop-Tart after seeing a commercial for Pop-Tarts on TV, or after reading an article about Pop-Tarts on The Wall Street Journal website, or after hearing about (or attending) a Pop-Tarts-brandedsummer concert series....
A new study shows car buyers around the world, including in the U.S., are changing how they buy new cars and trucks.Multiple visits to a series of dealers are down to 1.5 visits from 6 or 7 visits…
A new study shows car buyers around the world, including in the U.S., are changing how they buy new cars and trucks.Multiple visits to a series of dealers are out, while the trend of consumers doing more advanced research ahead of buying a car is in.
"This is the most dramatic change we've seen in the auto industry and how people buy cars in the last 50 years," said Hans-Werner Kaas, McKinsey's senior partner.Kaas and his team conducted their study by looking at consumer auto buying patterns at dealerships around the world....
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Very thoughtful post and recommended reading. 9/10