How marketing tactics manipulate us into buying
A multitude of studies has shown that certain marketing strategies work against our favour when choosing a product we want by taking advantage of cognitive biases and psyche. In this article, we will look at how companies can use subtle tricks to manipulate customers to make the ultimate decision of purchasing a product.
1. Altering Labels
Labelling is a crucial aspect of marketing since it describes a product's unique selling characteristics, potentially increasing sales. This is due to the priming of various ideas over a particular product, which frames a consumer's decision-making.
A variety of studies have demonstrated this, with consequences such as raising a consumer's willingness to spend more money on a product. For example:
If you were to be given an option in a grocery store to choose either an apple labelled ‘organic’ or an apple without such a label, what would you pick?
In dilemmas such as this, participants would likely choose the ‘organic’ option rather than the one without, even if it was stated that both products have the same nutritious value. The result mentioned reasons that the label is capable of priming ideas subconsciously as we typically associate something 'organic' with good health.
Hence, it illustrates that simply altering the labels to create the belief of a healthier product helps generate a bias in us that subconsciously directs us towards the ‘organic’ product.
This reminded me of the conjunction fallacy, which complements the reasoning of an individual who would rather pick the ‘organic’ apple.
This fallacy is an error in our decision-making where we believe that it is more probable for two events to occur simultaneously than if one of those events were to happen alone. If we were to relate it to the aforementioned question, having the description of ‘organic’ paired with a nutritious fruit (an apple) creates the false belief that the fruit is probably healthier.
Additionally, product descriptions are also capable of influencing people's perceptions of the product's quality. This is due to the increased amount of information provided to the consumer in hindsight, which results in a richer mental image of the product. For instance, adding pleasant adjectives to a dish might increase the perception of the product's quality and general appeal (e.g., Scrumptious Shrimp Scampi). Of course, in a realistic scenario, other variables such as an individual's particular wants would come into play. Thus, with the usage of such labels, specific and rich labelling creates a subconscious bias due to the descriptive nature of the product, causing people to perceive the product as more ‘rich’ or better.
However, in certain instances, a more minimal product label description could be used to increase the customer’s 'willingness to pay'. Alternatively, as with luxury goods, it might be preferable for the product to speak for itself.
2. The Halo Effect
In advertisements, we are often exposed to a variety of celebrities and attractive models that have a clean reputation. This is done to capitalise on a bias known as the Halo effect. This phenomenon occurs when our judgement fixates on the ‘impression created in one area to influence opinion in another area’ usually irrelevant to the product.
For example, when you encounter an attractive individual, you may associate beauty with other pleasant characteristics such as intellect and hygiene. This is because of the fixation on “a beautiful person being good” and thus unlikely to do anything bad.
Thus, this intuitive judgement comes with the cost of misinterpretation, prejudice, and irrational decision-making. This effect can be exemplified by studies such as Alexander Todorov’s.
Alexander Todorov discovered that a prominent facial feature might produce the perception of a more competent and trustworthy political candidate. It was discovered that when a face exudes competence by having a strong chin with a slightly confident smile, this creates a perception of trustworthiness and strength. Statistically, there is no association between skill and face traits, exemplifying a case of the halo effect’s relevance to the real world.
Thus in the world of advertising, there isn't any doubt that the halo effect is used as a tool to manipulate a consumer's decision-making. Taking advantage of a consumer's preference (like using likeable celebrities) increases the brand's image, leading to possible increases in turnover rates.
As a result, through these subtle ways of affecting a consumer's ultimate decisions, we fall into the hands of the firms that have better marketing rather than the firms with a more reliable product.
