Priming vs. Anchoring: How They Make People Buy
Puffpuff.
10 a.m., Tuesday morning. A familiar, savory smell wafted through my windows, passing my nose. Something awoke in me, and I didn’t realize it until it was too late. Fast forward to 10 p.m., and I had eaten more puff puff in 7 hours than I had in the last 3 years.
As soon as I stepped out of the house and hit the streets, I couldn’t stop noticing puffpuff.
The power of priming.
Priming
Priming is a phenomenon whereby exposure to one stimulus influences a response to a subsequent stimulus without conscious guidance or intention.
When researchers approached customers who wanted to buy new phones in the Apple store. Half of the customers were asked what their memory needs were, and the other half were asked what their processor needs were. This was a straightforward question, but it had a massive impact on the customers.
The group that was asked about memory bought phones with higher memory, and the group that was asked about processor speed bought phones with higher processor speeds. The customers prioritised these features just by asking a simple question, which affected their purchases when it came to a buying decision.
Anchoring
An anchor is a thing that serves as a reference point for our comparisons.
Anchoring happens when we are exposed to prior information and use that information as a basis for a decision. Once an anchor is set, other judgments are made by adjusting away from that anchor, and there is a bias toward interpreting other information around the anchor.
A popular example is the 1974 Tversky and Kahneman experiment, in which one group was told to estimate the answer to 8 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1, while another group was told to estimate the answer to 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5 x 6 x 7 x 8.
An interesting discovery by Tversky and Kahneman was that the group that estimated the former equation had a median estimate of 2,250, while the group that estimated the latter equation had a median estimate of only 512.
Priming vs. Anchoring
On the surface, both phenomena seem the same. I’ll argue that anchoring is an offspring of priming, which is exposure to a prior stimulus influencing a behaviour later on. But they differ. In priming, one stimulus influences the processing of another, later stimulus, while in anchoring, the form of the beginning of the information influences the processing of the whole information.
While anchoring uses System 2 thinking, priming uses System 1 thinking. Because they use different parts of the brain, they can be used in different ways.
System 1 and System 2 thinking were popularised by Daniel Kahneman in his 2011 book, Thinking Fast and Slow. Mr. Kahneman divides the brain’s processes into two distinct systems.
- System 1 is the brain’s fast, automatic, and intuitive approach. System 1 activity includes the innate mental activities that require no effort, like fear of spiders, calculating 2 + 2, and driving on a smooth, empty road. Other mental activities become fast and automatic through prolonged practice.
- System 2 is the brain’s slower, analytical mode. When you need to calculate 17 x 53, park in a tight spot, or find a needle in a haystack, you use System 2. Usually, system 2 activity is activated when we do something that does not come naturally and requires some sort of conscious mental exertion. Further reading on Systems 1 & 2.
You can witness both systems at war during a Stroop test.
You’ll find it is harder to name the colour of a word when the word itself spells another colour. At the start, you make a conscious effort to call out the colour spelt out (utilising System 2), but in a moment of lapse, you find yourself calling out the colour of the word (System 1 hostile takeover).
Make People Buy
Marketing is all about influencing user behaviour. This is why understanding user psychology and behavior is essential for convincing people to buy your product.
You can deploy anchoring when users have to make rational decisions, like buying a winter jacket from your e-commerce store. Displaying a more expensive jacket first makes subsequent jackets cheaper in comparison. This technique will likely increase the average order value of each shopper.
Priming works when the aim is to impact the subconscious of users. An example is in branding. You want to evoke a feeling in the minds of consumers at the mention of your name or the sight of your colours. This phenomenon is priceless, as we know that whoever stays at the top of the consumer’s mind wins their pockets.
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