Despite millions of years of abstract and critical thinking, people still rely on emotions to make decisions. Regardless of the analysis of the information and the highlighted pros and cons of the product, your purchase decision is determined to a greater extent by the action of one of the earliest areas of the brain. That is why it is very important for marketers to understand the emotions of customers.

Douglas Van Praet has this to say remarkably:

“Surprisingly, rational decisions are based not on thoughts, but on feelings. Emotions are the substrate, the base layer of all neural processes. They are at the basis of even our logical thinking!”

The role of emotions in decision making is hard to ignore. How can marketers benefit from this?

Biology of buying behavior

Antonio Damasio, professor of neuroscience at the University of Southern California, argues that emotions are important in all decision making. He conducted research on people with emotional disorders, but with intact areas of the brain responsible for thinking.

These people could process information fully and think critically, but they could not make decisions because they did not have their own attitude to various options for action. Even when it seemed to be simple questions (like choosing food), they explained the reasons for making one or another choice, but they themselves could not make a decision.

There have been many studies that have shown that when people deal with products or brands, their limbic system (feelings, memory, judgment) is activated, and the centers of analysis and information processing remain idle.

The takeaway for marketers is to focus on feelings, not cold facts. You should address the person, not the buyer.

A Glasgow University study found that all of our emotions come from four main feelings: happiness, sadness, fear/surprise, and anger/disgust. They were the ones who allowed us to survive in difficult circumstances. These feelings are hardwired into our brains and cannot be ignored when posting content.

Positive content vs. negative content

People love to share nice content

It is known that "bloody" news is very attractive. However, this rule does not apply to social networks. Jonah Berger, a social psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania, states: “Mass media can use blood to attract the viewer. But in in social networks cruelty is not so popular, because you share what characterizes you. You don't want to leave a bad impression of yourself."

Berger conducted an experiment and found that people are more willing to share positive content. This means that marketing should emphasize positive news as well as the benefits of buying a product.

For example, if you work in the financial services industry, you might be talking about a surge in the stock market.

Sadness = more clicks

Studies have shown that links containing words with negative connotations are clicked on more often. Outbrain found that headlines with negative superlatives (“never”, “worst”) grab attention 30% more than headlines without them.

What about positive superlatives like "always" and "best"? Headlines with them performed worse than without them. Headlines with negative words had a 63% higher click-through rate than positive ones.

Thus, people read negative news more often, and positive ones are shared more often. How can this information be used?

How to create compelling content

1. Pay attention to headlines

BuzzSumo analyzed millions of viral articles in 2016 and found that including the word “love” in headlines has a huge impact on the engagement of an article and how people share it. Therefore, add this word as often as possible. For example, if you're writing a post about Facebook ads, title it like this: "13 advertisements on Facebook that your customers will love."

Use negative superlatives to boost your content's views. Change headers like " Effective Ways improve..." to "7 Biggest Mistakes You Can Make..."

2. Add some humor

People love to share not only interesting content, but also funny content. Add some jokes and your content will grow in popularity.

Take a look at this New Yorker post:

The earth is under threat due to the emergence of a new type of people who do not accept the facts.

MOST POPULAR

masked avengers
2 lives of michael jackson
Who pays for Adele in reality?
Teaching adults how to eat

This post was shared twice as often as any other from The New Yorker in 2015.

3. Use the wow factor

Arouse curiosity in people, make them say wow. Unexpected, cryptic information creates a sense of awe and a desire to explore your content.

This doesn't mean you have to create sensational clickbait headlines. But get creative. Find attractive ways to design topics or share interesting news.

What about conversion?

You can also use people's primary emotions to increase conversions and sales. Marketers often brag about their wonderful products that help “make something better in life” or “get rid of some problem.” However, such claims are ineffective because they activate the wrong parts of the consumer's brain.

Facts and hard data will help demonstrate the value of the product. However, the left side of the brain, which processes this information, is essentially irrelevant in emotional processing, which we know plays a key role in decision making. The left half of the brain is all about words and numbers (the amazing statistics you use to highlight a product), and the right half is about feelings.

The right half is responsible not only for emotions, but also for the processing of visual images. Thanks to it, the image can become a criterion in choosing a product, which is very important for marketers who are trying to evoke an emotional response through visual content.

Why are images so closely associated with emotions? All of us, regardless of IQ, are slaves to our needs. When we are hungry, we eat. Tired, we fall asleep. And if we see a small animal or a child, we want to cuddle it or even ... eat it.

Visual images release hormones and evoke emotions that we cannot control. Why do we want to eat these little, cute creatures?

According to a study by Rebecca Dyer in Yale University, at the sight of cute animals we want to take care of them. But since we can't do that (because we only have images in front of us), we start to go crazy. Frustration from not being able to take care of an animal turns into aggression, making us want to squeeze, cuddle it.

This is an example of how our emotions manifest in Everyday life and how marketers can use them.

To test the role of emotions in decision making and their impact on conversions, UCLA and George Washington University conducted a collaborative experiment that tracked the brain activity of consumers viewing ads.

Some ads named specific products and provided numbers, such as "This computer has 16 gigabytes of RAM." Others were more vague, featuring funny or sexy scenes that didn't seem to have anything to do with the product.

The results were as follows: Fact-and-figure ads elicited higher activity in decision-making areas of the brain. But not everything is so simple. It turned out that the same areas of the brain that are involved in decision making are also involved in behavioral inhibition. In other words, facts and figures stimulate areas of the brain that actually inhibit the impulse to make a purchase.

The emotion-targeted ad group had little activity in the decision center compared to the first group. This means that vague ads that have little to no relation to the product can lead to less restraint in the buying process.

So it is better to completely ignore the centers of decision-making and focus on the centers of emotions. You can show your potential customers something interesting and evoke an emotional response from them, which will increase the likelihood of a purchase.

How to use images to increase conversions

However, the right visual identity can do wonders for increasing your conversion rate. If you improve the mood of a potential buyer, he will do what you need. Keep this in mind when choosing images for your site or article.

Positive images evoke positive emotions, while negative images evoke negative emotions. A happy face, a smile, or the look of a satisfied customer - all these images can set the right mood for a person to perform an important conversion action.

Also, your visitors and customers are not stupid. They are well aware that your every action should make them open their wallets. Use it! Give them a good mood, pride, happiness - and if they like your message, they will like your brand too.

Check out this great image on the main page of Elements Massage:

It works well because it not only demonstrates what the company offers, but also evokes a sense of peace and tranquility. It's hard to look at this picture without imagining how good it would be to feel so relaxed.

conclusions

We, the people of the 21st century, are still slaves of emotions. By understanding how much people rely on them to make decisions, marketers can tap into customer sentiment to drive leads and sales.

It's time to realize the value of cognitive research in marketing and use it to target people's hearts, not their minds. Set a goal to excite those areas of the brain that are responsible for finding connections and a sense of belonging, and build a strategy that enhances this feeling.

High conversions for you!

According to materials:

female hormones

Estrogen is the most master hormone in the female body, which is produced by the ovaries. Estrogen is responsible for the growing up of girls - it helps the body prepare for the future. sexual life and motherhood, ensures the regularity of the menstrual cycle. Adult women look feminine, young, beautiful precisely because of estrogen. Women with impaired or unstable hormonal background often look older and worse than their peers, whose estrogen is normal.

The hormone estrogen also affects positive attitude to life, and for the female desire to start and protect their offspring. Estrogen improves memory. Therefore, in women during menopause, when the level of estrogen in the body decreases, memory problems sometimes appear. Estrogen is also responsible for the accumulation of fat in the female body. Women are not at all happy about this, but in the agricultural industry, estrogen is injected into animal feed, which allows them to increase their weight.

Light hair color is a sign of high estrogen in the blood, and, therefore, a high ability to conceive. Perhaps that is why men are instinctively drawn to blondes, feeling their fertility. After the birth of a child, the level of estrogen in the female body decreases, so blondes have darker hair. Do you have two children? Then don't be surprised why your blonde wife's hair suddenly turned dark.

Prolactin is a hormone produced by the pituitary gland, which is located in the brain. Prolactin ensures the growth and development of the mammary glands, as well as the production of milk during breastfeeding. The level of this hormone increases with increased physical exertion, overwork, psychological trauma, so it is sometimes also called stress.

Elevated levels of the hormone prolactin can cause pain in the chest during PMS and critical days, and even diseases of the mammary glands (mastopathy).

Progesterone is a hormone responsible for the onset, development and course of pregnancy. The hormone is produced by the corpus luteum, placenta and adrenal glands. Progesterone prepares the mammary glands to produce milk. Also, thanks to this hormone, a woman not only physically, but also psychologically prepares for the birth of a baby.

Studies have shown that when a woman sees small children, her progesterone levels rise. Some scientists believe that this is caused by maternal instinct. Progesterone in the blood rises when she sees a small, plump body with big eyes. This instinct is so strong that the reaction comes even if the woman sees a soft toy. Most men are completely indifferent to soft teddy bears.

male hormones

Testosterone is the main male hormone, it is also called the hormone of aggression. It is he who arouses in a man the desire to get food (hunt and kill prey) and protect his home and family. Testosterone is produced by the adrenal glands and testicles. Because in modern world you can get food without killing, men need to lower their testosterone levels. That's why they go to the gym.

During the maturation period, the level of testosterone in the body rises, the guy turns into a man, ready for fertilization and getting food. Testosterone affects the ability to navigate in space, is responsible for hair growth and deep voice. Scientists have found that the lower the voice of a man, the higher his sexual activity. If a man smokes and drinks alcohol, the level of testosterone in the blood decreases.

A decrease in testosterone levels is observed in 50-60 years. The man becomes less aggressive. Now he is more willing to work with children or grandchildren.

General Hormones

Androgens (including testosterone) - these hormones are produced in small quantities in the female body. With hormonal failures, the level of androgens in the blood of a woman can increase, which causes increased body hair growth, a decrease in the timbre of the voice. However, do not panic in vain - a certain degree of hair growth is the norm for a healthy woman.

During menopause in women, estrogen levels decrease and testosterone levels increase. Therefore, at the age of 40-50, a woman can become more aggressive, independent and decisive. However, again during this period, women may begin increased hair growth. In addition, due to the predominance of male hormones, the predisposition to stress increases, and the likelihood of a stroke increases.

critical situations

Before the onset of critical days (approximately from the 21st to the 28th day of the cycle), the level of female hormones decreases sharply in women, which leads to the onset of PMS symptoms. The woman feels tired, depressed, aggressive, irritable. Many women have insomnia, they often cry, sometimes they become depressed. In addition, during this period, women experience pain in the lower abdomen and in the mammary glands, acne or acne, swelling, increased pressure, accompanied by headaches, nausea and vomiting. This is due to an increase in estrogen levels or a decrease in progesterone levels. During the menopause with female body something similar happens.

Hormones and sex

As a result of sex, endorphins are produced - hormones of happiness, which have an analgesic effect. Therefore, if your tooth hurts, it's time to indulge in love joys. With regular sex, the body produces the hormones adrenaline and cortisone, which have a positive effect on brain function and prevent headaches.

Scientists have concluded that sex has a beneficial effect on brain activity, stimulates attention and creative thinking. And those who have sex regularly (at least 2 times a week) live longer than those who have sex once a month or less.

It turns out that family relationships are also regulated by our hormones. The proportion of testosterone levels in husband and wife is very important. Harmonious marital relationships await men with low testosterone levels, if at the same time their wives have a slightly higher testosterone level in the body. A high level of testosterone makes a woman more assertive, so she has a flexible psyche and will support her husband. If both spouses have testosterone levels below average, then in this case they also have good compatibility. They will be less aggressive when discussing family issues.

Summarizing all the data, scientists came to the conclusion - before you get married - check your compatibility in terms of hormone levels! Otherwise, how will you solve problems?


Olga Orlova: The famous American biologist Richard Dawkins called the human body a gene survival machine. And it's true: how much depends on which genes are preserved in us. But can genes influence human behavior? We decided to ask Doctor of Biological Sciences Svetlana Borinskaya about this. Hello Svetlana. Thank you for coming to our program.

Svetlana Borinskaya: Good afternoon. Glad to talk with you.

Svetlana Borinskaya. Born in the city of Kolomna in 1957. In 1980 she graduated Department of Biology Lomonosov Moscow State University. Since 1991 he has been working at the Vavilov Institute of General Genetics Russian Academy Sciences. In 1999 she defended her PhD thesis. In 2014 she received the degree of Doctor of Biological Sciences, defending her dissertation on the topic "Population-genetic adaptation of a person to natural and anthropogenic environmental factors." The area of ​​​​scientific interests is the genetic and socio-cultural evolution of a person, genetics of behavior and general environmental interactions. Author of more than 50 scientific publications and more than 100 popular science articles.


O.O. : Svetlana, over the past few decades, we have become accustomed to the fact that from time to time geneticists tell us that this or that disease has a genetic predisposition and people can inherit some diseases. And more or less likely, scientists have already somehow learned to determine this. But when it comes to the behavior of people, then non-specialists somehow get confused in their heads: can some behavioral bad traits be inherited at all?

S.B. : To study the genetics of behavior is much more difficult than the genetics of simple hereditary diseases that are determined by a single gene. With such diseases: a gene is spoiled - there will be a disease, the gene works normally - this disease will not exist. And with behavior there are many genes. It is very rare that the work of any one gene greatly affects behavior.

Of course, a mutation was discovered in the Dutch family - the monoamine oxidase gene. And it didn't work for some of the men in that family because of the mutation. In women, everything worked fine for everyone due to the peculiarities of the inheritance of this gene. And these men were inadequate in their behavior.

O.O. : What does it mean?

S.B. A: They were aggressive. One beat his sister. Another tried to set the house on fire. Such unmotivated aggression was. This gene has even become known as the "aggressiveness gene". But in fact, such a mutation was only in this family. It has not been found anywhere in the world among people. When this gene was turned off in mice, the mice became unmotivated aggressive. But among most people, this gene works. Some are slower, others are faster.

O.O. : Fine. But what does this mean? What is called criminal behavior. What does this have to do with genetics?

S.B. : Geneticists have long been looking for genes that influence such behavior by studying criminals, brutal killers, and try to find out if there are genetic differences.

O.O. : And it turns out?

S.B. : And from time to time there are articles that say "we found this or that difference." But the fact is that all these differences affect behavior, firstly, not strictly deterministically, that because of this a person will become a criminal. And secondly, what these genes do is they influence behavior by making it more likely by 5%. These 5% in our personal lives are nothing. This is 5% of the average temperature in the hospital. But this influence of many genes is weak. And these effects are cumulative. At the same time, behavior, in contrast to metabolic disorders, which, if you like it or not, it still exists. And behavior can be corrected by education.

O.O. : And we are trying to correct by education, roughly speaking, genetic marriage, right?

S.B. : Quite right. But here even the question is not that this is a marriage. About 5-10 years ago there were such ideas that there are bad genes that affect the fact that a person will behave badly, but there are some good genes. Now the view has changed. Now they say that there are variants of genes that are more plastic, amenable to the influence of the environment, while others are more stable. The carriers of these stable variants are not greatly affected by the environment. What does it mean?

That gene associated with aggression. Humans have a variant of this gene that works fast. That is, a certain enzyme is synthesized there. And in the brain, he quickly does his job. And there is someone who is slower. But at the same time, if children were brought up in bad conditions, this gene variant makes the behavior bad. And if in good ones, on the contrary, it makes him more good. If all children, after they were born, were raised in boxes of the same size, they would all have the same height, although they are genetically different. Like in China, when they made small legs.

O.O. : Leg size was adjusted.

S.B. : Genetic inclinations were not realized here, because the environment would have clamped them down and not let them in. And in a good environment, they would all be realized. Growth would be different. The same goes for behavior. It is shown that the influence of genes on behavior is greater in prosperous families. In unfavorable, in poor, difficult socio-economic conditions, the environment is so tight that genes cannot unfold and manifest themselves.

O.O. : Those very plastic genes that are most affected. And does it follow from your words that good genes are stable genes, and dangerous genes are plastic ones? That is, if the gene works stably, is it good?

S.B. A: It depends on the environment in which the child grows up. The carrier of such stable gene variants is somewhat protected under adverse conditions. That is, if the situation is difficult, then because of it, he will not greatly reduce his performance. But in favorable ones, he will not get enough. And the carriers of variants that are influenced by the environment, that is, they respond to the influence of the environment ... In bad conditions, there will be a bad result, in good conditions it will exceed the stable variant.

O.O. : Fine. If we speak at the level of the fate of one person, here it is somehow understandable. You explained the situation, how it is possible to influence some genetic mutations in terms of behavior. But how to explain some common things that arise in the behavior of the people? Not so long ago, Oleg Balanovsky sat in our studio, talking about the research of geneticists and the genetic portrait of the Russian people. And, of course, I asked him what he was like. It turned out that, firstly, it is double, and secondly, we are quite closer to the Europeans than we can imagine.

Then the question is: why, for example, do they drink so much in Russia? If we are genetically quite close to the Europeans, that is, we have no such genetic tendency to alcoholism, which manifests itself at the level of one fate, you explained that the probability is high. And if we talk about the whole nation, then how to be?

S.B. : As regards the exchange of alcohol in the body, Russians do not differ at all from Europeans. At one time it was said that they had some kind of special Asian gene. There is no such gene. Genes do not determine nationality. Nationality is a cultural phenomenon. So does alcohol consumption. There are no genes that would make Russians drink. Not identified. No matter how much they study, I think they will not find special genes for this. In pre-revolutionary Russia, the level of alcohol consumption was 4 liters per person per year. And they already sounded the alarm that this is a lot. In post-Soviet times, it was 15 liters per person per year in terms of pure alcohol, including women, the elderly, children, everyone. But it's not from the genes. This is because alcohol is available. And in all European countries they, too, were going through peaks in alcohol consumption. The government had to take restrictive measures.

Genes influence the propensity to drink alcohol. These are the genes that regulate the functioning of the brain. Indeed, there are options that make the likelihood of abuse a little higher. Again, depends on conditions. And there are genes that affect the conversion of ethyl alcohol, alcohol, into a toxic substance - acetaldehyde.

O.O. : That is, how alcohol is broken down in us and how it is excreted.

S.B. : Yes. This is the neutralization, oxidation of ethanol that has entered the body. This is done by a certain enzyme, works intensively in the liver and turns ethanol into a toxic substance acetaldehyde, which is then neutralized and excreted. It's just our biochemistry.

There are people in whom the accumulation of this toxin is accelerated. They accumulate it ten times faster than the rest. Among Russians, there are 10% of such people, every tenth. They drink an average of 20% less alcohol. At the same time, we looked separately at groups of men with higher education and those without higher education. In men with higher education, consumption is reduced by almost 2 times. Highly educated men who quickly develop toxin, who feel unpleasant after drinking - they greatly reduce their alcohol consumption. And without higher education, this decrease is quite small.

O.O. : Despite the fact that this person is very hard to drink, he still drinks almost as much as someone whose alcohol is excreted easily.

S.B. : Yes, whose head does not hurt so much after that. The manifestation of genes depends on the environment in which a person lives. People with higher education have higher life expectancy. For example, in Russia during the boom in the sale of alcohol in the early 1990s after the collapse of Soviet Union life expectancy has fallen in men with secondary and below secondary education. Basically all citizens. I'm talking about men because they drink more alcohol than women. On them, the effects are more noticeable. For people with higher education, life expectancy has not decreased. There is a very interesting study that looked at life expectancy and health status in people who grew up in different socioeconomic conditions and in people with different education. So, it turned out that the difference in well-being in childhood, good conditions compared to bad ones, give an increase in one and a half years of life, and higher education, even if a person was born in poor conditions, in a poor family, dysfunctional, but received a higher education, an increase 5 years.

O.O. : That is, if we want to live longer, we need to study better. Is this the correct conclusion?

S.B. : You need to have knowledge in order to navigate in the modern world. And this includes knowledge about one's own health. That is, a person understands better how to maintain his health and the health of his children.

O.O. : You talked about the so-called not bad, but plastic genes. We have learned that we should not call them bad. They are plastic. But if we talk about the so-called good genes, about good heredity, tell me, can happiness be inherited genetically?

S.B. : Not that a person has such a gene directly, and he will be happy in any conditions. But it is shown that there are gene variants that affect whether a person considers himself happy or not.

O.O. A: No matter how he really lives?

S.B. : Depends. I checked. We investigated the answers to questions about how happy a person is, and the variants of genes are different. There is a gene that, under favorable conditions, apparently, its variants do not differ. We do not see any differences in the level of happiness among carriers of different variants of this gene. And in bad conditions, one option immediately decreases, the share of answers "happy or not" among carriers changes. And the other remains, just stable - unstable.

O.O. : Despite the fact that their life is harder and more unpleasant, do they still carry a certain level of happiness in their blood?

S.B. : Yes, they still feel happy more often than carriers of the other option. Happiness is influenced by genes, the environment and the ability to cope with it, the so-called coping strategies, there is such a fashionable term now. It is the ability to deal with situations.

O.O. : But it's interesting. I remember that somewhere about 8-9 years ago, it seems to me, there was an international project. Measured the level of happiness in Africa. These were sociological surveys, these were not genetic studies. So, according to sociological polls, people felt happy completely regardless of the conditions in which they lived, and in the poorest countries people felt quite normal, and even cheerful and good.

So, I wanted to ask: if you compare this with the results of genetic studies, those genes that affect the feeling of happiness, can you somehow identify a connection with nationalities? That is, say, people who are inclined, in whom happiness genes are more common, do they live, for example, in this geographical point or in another?

S.B. A: Such research attempts have been made. And even conclusions were drawn that representatives of one nation are happier than others, because they have such genes, or vice versa - this is absolutely incorrect to say. Because, firstly, the same variants of genes, now let's get into the complexity, in different conditions they can manifest themselves in different ways. How they show up in China may be different from how they show up in Denmark. If they manifest themselves differently even among representatives of the same nationality, but with different levels of education, then all the more so they can manifest themselves differently in different countries, up to the point that the peculiarities of nutrition can influence.

Secondly, this is no longer a genetic issue, people do not actually react to the very level of their life, that 100 years ago or 1000 years ago they lived in a completely different way, they were also happy; people react to the gap in their standard of living that they see in their neighbors.

O.O. : There is such a well-known phenomenon when a person, being a multimillionaire, becomes just a millionaire, he perceives it as just a fall, disaster, downshifting and so on. How can genes help him here in such a situation? He does better if he has good set happiness genes?

S.B. : I think he should be referring to philosophers, not genes. But genes also play a role. The genes that control the transmission of nerve impulses are affected. We have such a “paradise zone” in our brains, and signals are received there when a person does something evolutionarily good - eats, moves, dosed physical activity.

O.O. : Evolutionarily good is what is good for the survival of his species.

S.B. : Eating, exercising, having sex (also necessary for the survival of the species). And in humans and in higher primates, for example, social approval. Praised - this zone works. And in some people, for genetic reasons, the fact that there receptors have such features, signals through this zone pass worse. That is, some stronger incentives are required. And these people find it more difficult to feel happy. It's for genetic reasons.

But this is not something that is 100%, such a gene - you will not be happy. Again, the persecution of the population is reduced by 5%. Genes and behavior is such a complex area where so much influences the outcome.

O.O. : Actually, how interesting. We perceive when something has a genetic basis that it is irresistible, that it is such a fate of fate in the ancient sense. But it turns out that according to the results of the studies that you are talking about, everything is exactly the opposite. Just genes are the first challenge for a person, genetic heredity or predisposition. Still, socio-economic factors and his own involvement matter much more. Am I understanding you correctly?

S.B. : Yes. Quite right. There is no gene that determines that a person will become a criminal or a millionaire. There are genes that influence behavior patterns and make certain behaviors more likely. I would say that diseases and such unfavorable social behavior, which may be associated with genes - these are signs for which we have not yet learned how to select the necessary conditions.

There is a disease of phenylketonuria, in children already in the maternity hospital they carry out diagnostics in order to identify it. It is not very common, one in several thousand. If identified, then they give a special diet, and the child grows up almost healthy. If this diet is not given, dementia and other complications occur.

O.O. : How can we make sure that we all tweak these genes in the right way? A child was born, we determine his genetic portrait, we look at what set he has. And the parents look at the transcript of the tests, and the doctor says: look, your child has such and such a probability of such and such a disease, such and such a probability of such and such behavior. And the parents understand that we will teach him music completely, although they wanted him to be a hockey player, we give him protein or vice versa, and so on. How long do we have to live before this picture?

S.B. : I think there will never be such a picture. Because there are too many levels of gene expression. If we know everything about genes, then the recipe that the geneticist will give to these parents will be like this. A person has 20,000 genes. According to the first gene, a prediction that if a child grows up in a poor family, poorly educated, there will be such a result. If in rich family, but without education, there will be such a result. If in a prosperous one with education, without education, if there is one or the other next to him, and this is the weather.

O.O. : That is, it will be such a set of combinations that parents will not be able to complete anyway, because ...

S.B. : They won't be able to choose it...

O.O. : That is, what needs to be tweaked correctly, how much needs to be changed in behavior and conditions.

S.B. : It makes sense, and they are doing it now, to identify mutations that lead to serious diseases.

O.O. : That is, we see every year: genetics more and more help us avoid some dangers. What used to be called "destined by fate." Now they show that not so much is fate, not so much is destined. And something can be done.

And if we talk about the possibilities of fantastic or real. Not so long ago Mikhail Kovalchuk, General Director of the research center "Kurchatov Institute", made a speech in the Federation Council. He told the senators that now in Western Europe and the United States there is a technological genetic opportunity to breed a special service person. A service person, whose consciousness is limited, he has only certain properties of behavior, and so on.

S.B. : Such genetic studies are unknown to me. I suppose that not only me they are unknown.

O.O. : Have you seen any publications on this topic?

S.B. : No, there were no such publications. But ways to limit human consciousness are widely known. And TV channels use just such methods. If people are fed strange information all the time, it will become difficult for them to navigate in this world.

O.O. : Are you saying that what people hear from TV screens affects their consciousness much more than what scientists can do or cannot do after all? What is it - to withdraw a service person? He gives an example from the movie " Dead Season"and says that then it was a fantasy, but now it is already a reality. But you don't know such studies that they are working on it somewhere? Maybe they are classified?

S.B. : Geneticists do not do such research. And to classify something that does not exist is quite difficult. But the media own these technologies.

O.O. : We talked with you about 5 or 6 years ago. And then you talked about a very interesting study related to the adventurism gene. About what you have different peoples the so-called adventurism gene, the propensity for some kind of adventurous adventure, travel, that it manifests itself in different peoples, occurs with more or less frequency. But would you personally like to be the owner of some special gene? What, for example, do you regret: "Oh, if I had such a gene!".

S.B. : I conduct interdisciplinary research in different directions. They are very interesting. But I don't have enough time to do it all. I wish I had such a gene that I could do everything. Not yet open.

O.O. : Tell me, can you give some historical example of a person who had the worst genetic inheritance and who would successfully overcome it? Can we give some kind of role model to the story that we were leading?

S.B. : I would say Milton Erickson. This is an American psychiatrist and psychotherapist. He developed the so-called Ericksonian hypnosis, a completely ingenious method. From birth, he did not distinguish colors, he saw only purple well. And the rest of his colors were not very clear. Hearing was also a problem. Moreover, as a teenager, he suffered polio, and because of this there were problems with movement.

But this did not prevent him from becoming a world famous person. I think it's just genius.

O.O. : Thanks a lot. We had Doctor of Biology Svetlana Borinskaya in our program.

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Demand theory explains how a customer makes purchases. That is, what makes a person make a choice in favor of a particular product. Demand is driven by consumer behavior.

Consumer behavior and its role in business

The basis of consumer behavior is the level of their income: a person determines those things or services that he would like to receive, based on his own funds. Of course, the behavior of the client is built, first of all, on his needs, but at the same time, a person always focuses on the level of available funds.

In economics, there is a concept - the point of maximum marginal utility. This means the following: the consumer derives a certain benefit from each ruble spent. At the same time, a person is free to transfer his own resources from a sphere with a low marginal utility to a sphere with an increased utility coefficient. This process will continue exactly until the consumer reaches the maximum - the point of highest utility.

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In his behavior, a person relies on:

  1. Expediency. Marketers believe that consumer behavior depends on their desires and priorities. It's no secret that everyone has different tastes: someone prefers one product, and someone else. This is influenced by different income levels, different needs, different desires and even dreams. It is logical that the manufacturer is not able to divide his products into useful and not very useful, because each person has his own vision. Hence the assortment arises when the buyer is offered a choice between goods of the same category. Let's say one company produces tea or writing instruments under different brands.
  2. Independence consumer behavior is manifested in the fact that he decides for himself what to buy and what to leave on the counter. It is believed that this fact does not affect the work of companies in a special way. Although, if we turn to this issue from the other side, a business can benefit from such a one-man approach.
  3. Choice. Consumer behavior depends on the availability of choice. With a wide assortment, a person is free to choose what exactly to buy. He looks, evaluates, compares. When the opposite situation is observed - a shortage, a citizen can no longer choose and buys, as a rule, without much thought.

The customer is, of course, the key figure in the business. Marketers work to answer one question: who is the consumer for a given company?

In fact, a person does not need specific goods or services, he needs to satisfy his needs, solve problems. The buyer believes that manufacturers should help him in this. Communication between the company and the client should be open. The manufacturer must make contact, be ready for cooperation. The process itself is important for the buyer, how convenient it is, as well as the presence of some kind of preferences: discounts, free shipping, bonuses, etc.

The manufacturer, in turn, defines consumer behavior for himself as a process that begins with the search for the desired product and ends with the disposal of things that have served their purpose. Companies have developed many approaches to the analysis of consumer behavior. The list includes various types of sociological research, psychological techniques, determining motivation, and so on.

A detailed study of the behavior of potential buyers allows manufacturers to better understand their consumers and, accordingly, increase sales due to this.

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    Key drivers of consumer behavior

    Scientists have proven the influence of various factors on consumer behavior, and many of them are directly related to the buyer's environment:

    1. Cultural strength.

    The impact of culture on a person is undeniable, since we all live in society and cannot but obey certain rules and laws, including when making purchases.

    Culture influences the perception of oneself and others, consumer behavior, a choice of clothes, shoes, hairstyles. The culture even forces us to eat a certain set of foods and dishes for lunch, breakfast or dinner. Communication style, language, moral standards, spiritual values ​​- all this is influenced by culture.

    The concept of culture includes smaller components - subcultures. With their help, people refer themselves to smaller groups. Segments of culture divide people by nationality, faith, occupation, place of residence, and so on.

    2. Class inequality.

    Society is divided into classes, which include people who are similar in terms of income, education, with the same life values ​​and interests.

    There are six classes in the world:

    • The top of society - people belonging to the upper class (elite). These are members of nominal and noble families. For the rest, they are an example to follow, many tend to focus on them.
    • Wealthy businessmen or creatively gifted people (singers, actors, artists, composers and others) are representatives of the lower upper class. These people were not born with a well-known surname, but achieved a high position in society thanks to their own efforts and efforts.
    • The upper middle class includes people who have already achieved some success (medium-sized entrepreneurs, small managers).
    • Lower middle class consists of small businessmen, employees, the so-called labor aristocracy.
    • Lower-ranking employees, skilled workers, are the upper lower class.
    • At the bottom of the hierarchy are the unemployed and unskilled workers (lower class).

    It should be noted:

    • citizens from the same class have a common style of behavior;
    • class determines the position of a person in society;
    • class is not a caste, so people can “move” by raising or lowering their own status;
    • one social class differs from another on several grounds at once: income, occupation, education, values.

    People belonging to the same social class prefer the same brands of clothes, shoes, cars, eat at certain restaurants, go to specialty stores where goods of the “necessary” brand are on the shelves. Even seats on planes or trains are divided into classes. And it is not surprising that manufacturers began to focus not on buyers in general, but on some one class. And people from this class become their target audience (potential consumers). Based on the requests of "their class", suppliers of goods develop advertising campaigns, marketers adapt to the requirements of potential consumers, equipping the retailer's store.

    3. Reference groups and the position of a person in society.

    In sociology, reference groups are groups of people who are able to influence others. This influence can be direct or indirect. A person is directly influenced by the groups to which he himself belongs. They, in turn, are primary (an individual interacts with them often and constantly; these are friends, relatives, neighbors, colleagues) and secondary (different public associations, interest clubs).

    Indirectly, a person is influenced by groups of which he himself is not a member, but at the same time wants to become one. For example, a novice chef dreams of working in an expensive restaurant under the supervision of a brilliant chef. Of course, a person sees himself as a member of this team and is already ready to fulfill all orders, but in reality he has not yet been accepted into the staff of the restaurant. An undesirable collective is a group of people whose position the individual does not accept and where he does not aspire to get into at all.

    4. Family values.

    Usually, the concept of a family means two or more people who live together and are relatives by blood or are united by marriage - a husband and wife. The vast majority of goods and services are focused on household run by the family. The list includes interior items, upholstered furniture, household utensils, products and much more.

    In countries with developed economies, people are gradually beginning to change their usual way of life from family to non-family. There are more and more people who prefer to live alone, so marketers are beginning to closely study new type households. The household, in principle, plays an important role in determining the characteristics of consumer behavior, because family life (in any form) is a key component of human life.

    5. Environment.

    Consumer behavior very often depends on external circumstances. Scientists divided them into five groups:

    • Setting and location.
    • Society (directly people surrounding in this moment consumer).
    • Time frame.
    • The meaning of the actions that the consumer performs.
    • Purpose (task) of the consumer.
    • What happened up to this point (previous experience).

    Expert opinion

    Trends that shape consumer behavior

    Anastasia Varaksina,

    Brand Director, Mains Strategic Marketing and Branding Agency, Novosibirsk

  1. People today have become more curious about things that allow them to do something with their own hands. There is a great interest in literature of this kind. In addition, many different devices have appeared on the non-food market with which you can do something at home for personal use. For example, bread machines allow you to bake bread and other goodies from flour in your kitchen no worse than in a store, and with a mini-sink you can wash your car right next to the garage. All this is called in English DIY - do it yourself. Modern consumers are becoming actively interested in everything that can help them stop being dependent on big companies. People are starting to provide for themselves on their own. This line of consumer behavior is due to a high degree of distrust of industrial goods, a desire to save money or an attempt to find a hobby.
  2. Advertising is still the engine of commerce, but it has become much less trusted. Advertising slogans and promises on television, in newspapers, on the Internet today are believed by a little less than half of people - these are the statistics. Citizens began to listen more often to the opinions of others (friends or acquaintances), advice on blogs, reviews on specialized sites. Now marketers are forced to move away from the usual model of working with customers and look for other ways to influence them.
  3. The desire to save. A person is looking for a place where the offer would be more profitable. And more and more often such places turn out to be specialized flea market sites where ordinary people sell things to each other. Statistics show that for Lately the volume of transactions between private individuals has grown tremendously. Manufacturers of goods try to attract buyers with profitable offers, develop new products or improve old products. At the same time, programmers are constantly creating new sites where people can not only communicate, but also make everyday transactions.
  4. Goods and services provided to consumers free of charge. In the modern world, there are conditions under which companies do not offer consumers discounts or bonuses, but immediately give the opportunity to use the product free of charge. An indicator in this sense is the example of Skype, which does not charge its customers for use. However, Skype earns millions on the minimum of its services, which remained paid.
  5. Help the Earth. Buyers are increasingly thinking about what harm our planet brings the production of certain goods. The so-called ecocentrism. Many people try to make their own contribution to the preservation of our world as it is now, therefore, when choosing products, they prefer those that are most environmentally friendly.
  6. Esoterics. People began to actively reach for knowledge that was previously inaccessible to them. Feng shui teachings, yogic practices, extrasensory perception and so on are popular. Of course, this in a certain way affects the behavior of consumers.
  7. Welcome to everything new. Modern man so used to the fact that something new is constantly being introduced into life: new technologies, new inventions, and so on. Therefore, as a consumer, an individual easily masters services and methods that allow you to buy the thing you like without any extra effort.
  8. The world is changing very rapidly, and people's preferences are changing in it. Customers are constantly waiting for something new, something different from everything else. Young companies are rapidly gaining momentum precisely due to our love for new products. Those organizations that have been on the market for a long time suffer losses because they are not able to offer consumers something new.

Types of consumer behavior when making a purchase

Type 1. Difficult

Here it is worth talking about high degree consumer involvement. Most often, a person’s difficulty in choosing arises when the purchase price is significant, when there are several similar products from different manufacturers on the market at once, and when the acquisition is associated with risk. Moreover, the object in such a situation is desirable, since it will serve as a means of self-expression.

In this case, a person begins to look for information about the product (characteristics, service life), studies in detail everything about its manufacturer. A striking example of this situation is the purchase of an expensive camera. Of course, few people will just give almost 100 thousand rubles for a thing without really studying it.

The High Engagement Buying Process Begins with Search detailed information about the product, and only then, when a person forms his idea, a clear realization comes: to buy the product or not. Marketers selling such products cannot ignore such consumer behavior. To do this, experts try to give the client as much information about the product, presenting it, of course, only on the positive side. In addition, it is necessary to show the key differences from competitors, to offer the client exclusive terms of cooperation.

Type 2. Indecisive

Indecisive behavior is usually shown by the consumer in circumstances where differences between brands are not significant. This type has high level involvement, the desired product is expensive, and its acquisition is somewhat risky. For example, the choice of the author's painting in the living room. It is known that really worthy works of art cost a lot, and there are many artists today, their creations are interesting in their own way, but you want to find exactly what you need, and what will suit the style of the room. Therefore, a person, before buying, looks closely and compares for a long time.

As a result, it may turn out that the client will stop his choice at all on the picture that he paid attention to at the very beginning of the search. However, having come home, the consumer may be disappointed in the purchase. This is another feature of the indecisive or insecure type of behavior. Therefore, the author of the picture must convince his client so that he stops doubting the correctness of the choice.

Type 3. Ordinary

Here we can talk about the low degree of involvement. Similar consumer behavior is observed when making ordinary, everyday purchases. For example, an ordinary trip for groceries. Few people seriously think and analyze the assortment of the store, most often, everything is purchased “as usual” or the first thing that catches your eye. People have the same attitude towards cheap purchases.

When a thing that a person intends to buy is inexpensive, he does not evaluate its characteristics for too long, does not look for additional information on the Internet, does not compare manufacturers and brands.

As a rule, while watching TV ads or reading printed publications, the consumer receives some information about the product, thereby forming not so much his preferences as the idea of ​​the brand. And, seeing the familiar name on the package, he buys the product. Since there is no special involvement, then, accordingly, there can be no possible disappointment in the acquisition. This is a special type of consumer behavior when there is no preliminary estimates goods, no subsequent.

Advertising for everyday and relatively inexpensive goods should be bright, memorable, but at the same time without long and complex phrases. Entrepreneurs quite often resort to the option of lowering the cost, which must be reflected in the marketing campaign. Professionals believe that television commercials are more effective than posters or ads in newspapers and magazines.

Type 4. "Not all yogurts are the same"

The so-called search or exploration type of consumer behavior occurs when there are too obvious differences between brands, but at the same time low involvement in the buying process remains. In this case, the consumer, as it were, “tests” the goods, buying for comparison, first from one manufacturer, then from another. Sometimes a person is driven by the desire to try something new.

Marketers advise leading brands, knowing about this type of behavior of their potential consumers, to try to "keep on" them with the help of incentives (discounts, bonuses, etc.). In addition, it is necessary to monitor what place the product occupies on the store counter and whether it is present in sufficient quantities.

Lesser known or start-up companies, on the contrary, seek to gain trust by offering more low prices. At the same time, as if reminding that the quality does not suffer at the same time (this can be done with the help of promotions).

What guides the consumer when choosing a product:

  • own opinion and preferences;
  • personal interest;
  • evaluates the benefits that the purchase of goods will bring;
  • the law of diminishing marginal utility;
  • personal income and value of goods.

How consumer behavior is formed in the market: stages

Stage 1. Understanding

A person often limits himself in desires, based on the real state of affairs. In another way, we can say that when making a purchase decision, the consumer always relies on some factors. For example, the purchase of wardrobe items. A thing can go out of fashion, wear out or dislike - such reasons make people go in search of clothes again. In the case when a person has already bought something in a certain store, and he was satisfied with the quality of the thing and its price, he will most likely return there again.

Consumer preferences are influenced by several factors at once: the situation in the store, the friendliness of the sellers, the assortment, the price level, and so on. Owners outlet during operation, all these points must be taken into account.

Stage 2. Search

Stage 3. Judgment

For manufacturers of goods and service providers, it is important to understand the principle of how a consumer makes a purchase decision, how he receives information, how he then analyzes it. Do not forget that a product for a person is not so much a thing as a set of necessary functions. If this is a toy for a child, then it should be educational, captivating, safe, kid-friendly, and possibly from a well-known brand.

Different people - different needs and ideas about what a purchase should be. Entrepreneurs should never forget this.

Stage 4. Final verdict

When the final purchase decision is made, sometimes:

  • force majeure circumstances occur;
  • strangers begin to express their opinion.

Stage 5. Attitude towards acquisition

The special behavior of the consumer does not end with the purchase itself, because the further attitude towards the acquisition is no less important. The opinion about the purchased item is formed during operation: how the declared functions and quality of the goods correspond to reality. A manufacturer who wants to increase the number of his consumers must take care of this.

How consumer behavior is managed

Managing consumer behavior is relatively easy. The main thing is to know what your customers want and try to give it to them. Moreover, it is necessary to look for your own approach to each buyer, since this the only way interest him.

Not always people are inclined to show consumer activity. In this case, they should, as it were, “wake up” by offering something new, some non-standard idea. A marketer arouses initial interest, forcing a person to be active. For example, unusual packaging, not like the rest.

It is necessary to remember about the hidden desires of a person. They must be identified and tried to “wake up” so that the consumer himself wants to implement them. The result is a situation in which the manufacturer will be able to offer the customer a product that will please him. This is what consumer behavior management is all about.

It is almost impossible to impose a certain opinion or ideas on a person from the outside, therefore, first, marketers study a specific need. Let's say the need to be exceptional and stand out from the rest. The seller, as it were, hints that it is this product that will make you special. The purchase will cause only positive emotions and a state of satisfaction. The main thing here is not to overdo it and not to push too hard.

A possible means of influencing the buyer is motivation, which is a reflection of the needs of the individual. Moreover, what specifically to sell does not really matter: a phone, a computer or even a car. The main thing is to put in a person the idea that he needs these things. For it is pointless to “drag” a client to the store, forcing him to make a purchase. It is necessary to form a motive for the acquisition. In fact, the main task of marketing is to influence the idea. Further actions depend on the consumer.

Expert opinion

Rules to remember when analyzing consumer behavior

Daniel Muravsky,

Senior Lecturer, Department of Business and Business Administration, IBDA RANEPA

Many companies quite often, when they launch a new product or improve an old one, do not try to find out the true needs and desires of their customers. This approach has become a very common mistake. After the release of new items on the market, a logical question arises: why are sales not growing? Why is the new product not popular? The point of view of the management or designers of the company does not always coincide with the views of ordinary consumers. Many businessmen forget about it.

This is not to say that all companies are not interested in the opinion of potential customers. It happens quite the opposite: organizations spend money on sociological research, before the start of sales they check the product in focus groups, and so on. But the result is the same: the product is not sold. The reason is known: people tend to quickly change their preferences and their consumer behavior. And what just a month ago could captivate them, today no longer causes any interest. Market behavior of the consumer is very changeable. Also, do not lose sight of competitors, whose thought does not stand still. In the same period of time, they can release their own product with very interesting characteristics.

To avoid such failures, you should never forget about the client and you need to consider him not only as a source of income, but also as a person, first of all. It is constantly necessary to monitor changes in human preferences, new trends, to know what is popular today and what is not.

Marketers in this case draw parallels with hunting, only the victim is not an animal, but a consumer (in a figurative sense, of course). It is not easy to lure a moose, but it is possible if you know his habits and what he likes to eat most of all.

A successful client hunt is not arbitrary, it is built according to certain rules:

Rule 1 Try not to listen to consumers too much.

It is believed that the desire to find out from the client his desires will not bring the desired result. There are reasons for that.

  • First, the consumer often does not know what he wants. Some are not able to explain the motives of their own behavior.
  • Secondly, the reasons for buying something for many people remain a mystery.
  • Thirdly, an ordinary person does not know all the intricacies of the production of those things that he has at home.
  • Fourth, there are so many manufacturers of goods in the modern world that consumers are not even aware of the existence of the vast majority of companies. You, as a market player, of course, are aware of all your competitors and know perfectly well how their products differ from yours, what are their strengths and weaknesses.

Not listening does not mean not understanding and not following: losing sight of potential consumer in no way possible.

Rule 2 Don't put yourself in your client's shoes.

Inexperienced marketers, studying consumer behavior, try to put themselves in the place of the client. They argue from the position: “What would I do in this situation? Would you buy or not buy? Such identification of oneself with the client is fundamentally wrong, since all people are different, and personal experience, in essence, does not matter in the study of consumer behavior.

A good marketer always does not compare himself with the buyer, but opposes himself to him. The abstraction method works much more efficiently. In this case, it is possible to find out the deep motives of consumers, understanding what drives them during the purchase, by what criteria they choose goods.

Rule 3 Analyze consumer behavior.

For such an analysis, special approaches have been developed:

  1. Behavior model: what he loves, what he reads, what he visits, what he watches, where he gets information from, with whom he communicates.
  2. How the buying process takes place, which exactly influences the final decision to “buy”.
  3. A marketer must have an excellent understanding of the factors that influence a person's decision to purchase a product. Moreover, it is necessary to study both external and internal reasons for the consumer, prompting him to go to the checkout.

Buyer behavior research begins with building a model of marketing incentives and responses. Experts identify a number of factors that influence consumer behavior: psychological, personal, cultural and social.

Rule 4 Divide customers into segments and form your personas.

Let's analyze this situation: the company conducted a large-scale study that showed the main factors influencing the purchase. Now what? How to properly dispose of the received data? In my opinion, the United States has prepared, in my opinion, a very good technique for creating so-called personas - fictitious consumers. These persons, of course, do not exist by themselves, but only reflect the views of a certain group of people.

As a rule, there are three persons (they are divided according to the audiences they represent):

  • The first or main - reflects the point of view of the main audience, the main buyers.
  • The second one plays the role of a secondary audience, those who buy your products from time to time.
  • Negative - these are those people who do not buy your product or similar products at all.

To find people suitable for your company, you must follow the rules:

  • Talk to consumers through interviews. Here it is necessary to cover as many clients as possible. The survey will not work, as it will not be able to reflect the true motives of the purchase. Interviewing is the optimal solution. The conversation will reveal in-depth information.
  • The structure of demand for your product itself will tell you the required number of people.
  • With all persons it is necessary to develop separate communication scenarios. Topics that in theory should arouse interest in a particular person are best divided into stages, depending on what stage the purchase process is at: from searching for information about the product to operation and possible reacquisition.

Expert opinion

Hall test is an effective method for analyzing consumer behavior

Olga Molchanova,

Each manufacturer, in essence, in the study of consumer behavior is trying to find answers to just two questions: "How to analyze customer behavior more effectively?" and “What attracts the consumer in the product, what indicators of his work make him buy in the end?”.

Specialists for such cases have developed a hall test (from the English hall - hall). It allows you to examine the product and its individual elements by the consumers themselves, who test the product, checking its taste, smell, how well the packaging is done, and so on. In this way, the manufacturer can see the reaction of ordinary buyers to his products, see what are its advantages and disadvantages, relative to the proposals of competitors. Understand why not everyone chooses the goods of his company. This makes it easier to identify possible flaws and improve the product.

The hall test is carried out with one goal: to determine the reaction of people, to see what emotions the packaging, the label and the product itself evoke in them. In addition, the hall test shows the behavior of the buyer in the store.

Before the test, participants fill out a screening questionnaire. The research process itself is as follows: first, the respondents determine the external attractiveness of the product, then the participants are given the opportunity to try the product. At the output, the manufacturer receives several questionnaires filled out by the test persons. Respondents are selected not only from the number of regular customers, but also from those who quite rarely, and possibly never bought this product. This is done to ensure that the data obtained is more objective, and the study of consumer behavior is reliable.

There are two versions of the hall test: open and closed. The first provides that a person sees the name of the brand. The second is the opposite, when the respondent does not know which manufacturer's product he is testing. In a "blind" test, often several products from the same category are offered to choose from.

Each type of hall test has its own goals. With the help of open source, the manufacturer will be able to see and evaluate the opinion of buyers about the packaging and etiquette of their product. Closed gives an idea of ​​how the consumer perceives the product in terms of its quality characteristics (tasty, tasteless, etc.). Sometimes, the company orders both options at once in order to understand whether the brand name influences the choice of buyers. In addition, such an approach shows whether it is worth investing in the "promotion" of the brand, increasing its recognition, or it is necessary to focus on improving quality, if the respondents in the "blind" test gave more preference to competitors' products.

The study of demand and consumer behavior can be carried out by several techniques:

  • via the Internet - the formation of virtual shelves. Most often to this method are used when it is necessary to include as many people as possible in the study. A clear plus is the significant scope of the study, covering the entire country. At the same time, the costs are minimal, because there are no additional costs for renting a room, paying for the services of interviewers, and so on;
  • directly at the point of sale. In-store research is best done using the eye tracking technique, which allows you to find out exactly what is in the buyer's field of view during the selection of goods. Few people manage to figure out the factors that determine consumer behavior on their own. In the overwhelming majority of cases, professional sociologists have to be hired to conduct such research;
  • study with the reconstruction of a retail outlet in a separate room. Perhaps this is one of the most costly types of study of consumer behavior. First, participants in the study are selected (in the language of professionals, they are called a focus group). Then work begins with them inside the makeshift store (an important nuance is that the room must be equipped with a video surveillance system). Sometimes such a study is carried out in a real store, renting a place on the trading floor for this. Then use the interview method. More often such large-scale actions are organized by large companies. Small firms resort to this option of studying potential buyers if there is a clearly formulated hypothesis. The results obtained can greatly simplify their further work.

Influencing consumer behavior through motivation

The motives that motivate a person to make a purchase can be very different. But there are always a number of reasons common to all that determine certain consumer behavior. A lot of books have been written about this, where many theories are given.

Known theories buyer motivation:

Maslow proceeds from the concept of the pyramid of needs of the individual. The author assumes that for a person all his needs are conditionally divided into important and less important.

The system of human needs:

1) Physiological - feeling of hunger, thirst, etc.

2) Self-preservation - a sense of security and confidence in a prosperous future.

3) Social - the desire to be part of society, the need for communication and love.

4) Status - the desire to achieve certain level life, develop, be respected.

5) Spirituality - various ways self-expression (hobby).

It is logical that, having a roof over his head, as well as the absence of a shortage of food, a person stops thinking about it, therefore, he has passed this stage. Now other needs and desires take the place of the primary ones. This change is due to the fact that at moments when a person’s thoughts are all about how to provide himself with food, he becomes not interested in art (in all its manifestations), self-development. Consumer behavior has the same tendencies.

Knowing this, entrepreneurs can influence people's buying behavior through clever marketing moves. It is logical that a manufacturing company should always, first of all, remember the desires of its client, forgetting a little about its own.

Herzberg has two motivational circumstances. The first is negative for a person, up to disgust, the second, on the contrary, is pleasant and good. These two types of motivation are responsible not only for the behavior of consumers, but also for their psycho-emotional state. Moreover, according to Herzberg, these two factors always go together, as a plus and a minus. The desire to reduce negative factors is unlikely to positively affect the satisfaction of the individual. As well as opposite actions to eliminate the conditions under which a person felt better.

The scientist believes that in any significant way it is possible to influence the behavior of consumers only through motivation. That is, you need to influence the motives, then the situation will change.

3. Acquired Needs from McClelland.

This theory is that the individual is driven by the desire to dominate and lead. This is a feeling that has a direct impact on the behavior of people in general, including the behavior in the store. The desire to gain power or influence something makes a person act in order to achieve the task.

Based on life experience, McClelland formulated the following types of needs (the author of the theory believes that they affect consumer behavior):

  • The desire to achieve something. In striving for something meaningful and desirable, a person makes the greatest effort. However, not all people in principle are capable of such actions, but only a small part of society. Such people independently set goals for themselves and make every effort to achieve them. Moreover, McClelland is sure that such behavior is typical both for one person and for the team. Companies in which everyone strives to achieve a common goal, for the most part, thrive. In decline are those firms whose employees do not have a special desire to achieve something all together.
  • The need to be in society. Moreover, a person who has this need strongly developed does not easily want to be part of society, he certainly needs to be in leading roles, to be in the center. Such people do not care at all what others think of them, the support of others is important to them. It is logical that this cannot but affect the characteristics of consumer behavior.
  • The desire to gain influence. People are not born with the goal of gaining as much power as possible. This need is better called acquired due to the specifics of human society. The desire to control everything that happens around, managing other people for this (influencing their decisions, behavior, views, etc.).

Based on this theory, it is possible to form consumer behavior.

What negatively affects the rational behavior of the consumer

In the theory of economics, the consumer is presented as an individual whose actions are thought out and rational. A person knows all the characteristics of the product: price, quality, functions, manufacturer, and so on. It is logical that in such conditions the decision to purchase is not at all spontaneous, it is balanced and thought out. But, alas, in reality, everything is not as cloudless as in theory.

In fact, coming to the store, rarely does anyone really have a good idea of ​​the product that they are going to purchase. Examples of rational economic behavior of the consumer demonstrate only a few. Sometimes even the number on the price tag is surprising. Not many people are engaged in comparing offers from competing companies, just like in a detailed study of the properties of the product. The majority makes purchases, guided by a momentary impulse, the desire to have a vending thing.

Here are common situations in which consumer behavior is not dictated by them. real needs, and external circumstances:

1. Herd feeling.

When you alone decide to do this, you think that you are mistaken. When you do the same, but together with everyone, there is no feeling of discomfort. It is precisely because of this that crushes are formed in shopping centers and huge queues at the checkouts: people run to buy not because they urgently felt the need for this or that thing, but because everyone ran. A person argues from a position: everyone cannot be wrong at once. This is clearly seen in the constantly changing fashion for certain product groups or brands.

2. I'm not like everyone else.

Here we observe the exact opposite of the first situation: a person consciously tries to oppose himself to society and not buy what others take. This position is not always effective, because it happens that a popular product is really good and has decent characteristics.

Most often, people from this category give preference to exotic goods that no one else has, but which may be useless or simply poorly made. Here, the desire to stand out, to show everyone that I am not a mass consumer, comes to the fore.

3. Showy demonstration of wealth.

In psychology, this is usually called the Veblen effect, when a person specifically acquires expensive things in order to demonstrate to others his high status and wealth. The thing itself is not as important to him as the effect of buying it: you immediately become, as it were, above the rest, as you possess it.

Information about experts

Anastasia Varaksina, brand director of the agency for strategic marketing and branding Mains, Novosibirsk. received international and Russian education in management, economics and marketing, graduated, among other things, International Institute management (InternationalManagementInstitute, Belgium). Over 15 years of experience in marketing. She has implemented over 140 projects to strengthen the company's market position, held more than 50 strategic sessions in federal and regional companies. Professional coach (Erickson College International, Canada), author of marketing methods and technologies that are successfully used in business.

Daniel Muravsky, Senior Lecturer, Department of Business and Business Administration, IBDA RANEPA. IBDA is the oldest and most respected business school in Russia, founded in 1988. Leader in ratings of business schools in Russia. Market-oriented business school (85% of the curriculum comes from the open market). Has prestigious international and national accreditations.

Olga Molchanova, category manager, Avon Eastern Europe, candidate economic sciences. Olga Molchanova graduated from the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University. M. V. Lomonosov. In marketing since 1998. She has experience in the field of e-commerce, headed the commercial department of dry cleaners "Diana". Since 2013 - Category Manager at Avon Eastern Europe. Avon is one of the largest direct selling cosmetics companies. Founded in 1886. It has more than 6 million representatives in 100 countries of the world. In Russia - since 2003. Since 2004, the Avon plant has been operating in Naro-Fominsk. The company's turnover is more than $10 billion. The official website is www.avon.ru.