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Behavioural Bias

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People don’t think in straight lines. We’re all over the place. But usefully, our behaviour is (apparently) predictably irrational. Behavioural biases can be identified and understood.

So, read on to find out more about key behavioural biases and their implications for marketing and qual research…

Bias 1: Consistency

People value consistent behaviour and therefore make decisions that confirm their own view of themselves. The interesting thing here is that people reference their own behaviour to gain their sense of self. We do, therefore we are…

Implications for marketing:

Focus on encouraging behaviours that help people form a view of themselves. Once they have formed this view they are likely to be consistent and continue their behaviour – in other words you can lock them into brand loyalty. ‘Have a break, have a KitKat’, is a brand perfectly set up to ‘own’ a behaviour and so it has the right to ‘be there’ (and become a signifier) for people that take breaks. I think KitKat could do a lot more to exploit the consistency bias…It seems to me that retailers possibly have the strongest opportunity to make the most of our need to be consistent because they can directly influence consumer behaviour – creating ‘saving’ behaviours, or deal hunting, or ethical decision making within their stores and then inviting us back to be ‘that kind of consumer’ every time we shop there.

Implications for Qual:

Reporting simply about people’s behaviour, without interpretation, is ‘bad qual’ in my view. Put simply – it’s unreliable. However, there is merit in asking people about their behaviour to gain an understanding of how they perceive themselves. We can learn a lot from exploring how people interpret their behaviour and that of others – if we are what we do, what is it that we think we are, based on what we do…?

The key killer qual question:
How do you tend to behave when… and what do you think it says about you? How do others behave and what does it say about them….?

Bias Two: Reciprocity

We have a primal urge to reciprocate. When someone does something for us, we feel we owe them, and we don’t feel good until we have repaid our perceived debt. Reciprocation bias doesn’t necessarily mean ‘right back at ya’, it can often cause us to agree to do something for someone that is much ‘bigger’ than the thing they did for us.

Implications for marketing:

Do something for your customers! Give away free stuff, make them feel beholden to you, treat you customers like family! Carry their shopping to the car, give them a ‘fast pass’ to the front of the queue, let them off their bill (Pret a manger have done that for me a couple of times and it does make me feel like I owe them…). PS I think it needs to feel personal – so if there’s a free toy with every box, then there’s nothing to ‘reciprocate’.

Implications for qual:

We should be digging around for clues on what triggers the reciprocation bias to understand how it can create customer loyalty, opportunities for sales, deliver positive service experiences.

The key killer qual question:
what can this company do for you that would feel like a gift or a kindness or a treat?

Bias Three: Social Proof – Herd bias

When we are uncertain about what to think or how to behave we look to how others around us are reacting. We tend to follow ‘people like us’ more readily.

Implications for Marketing

It’s a danger, as much as an opportunity. Social Proof, the Herd bias explains (for me) why brands can become seemingly unloved (Tesco is an example that springs to mind) after being (seemingly) much admired. Many people probably feel ambiguous about big businesses like Tesco (we love Clubcard points, we hate the death of the high street), so actually we don’t really know what to make of Tesco – enter social proof – what do other people think?
It’s an opportunity – we have a herd mentality. Brands can harness our sheepy tendancies by creating clear stories and values that help us line up behind them.

Implications for Qual

We need to be really careful to understand when people feel uncertain or unclear about an idea. If people in a group discussion are unsure of their response, they are likely to use ‘social proof’ behaviours and line up behind the dominant respondent or the person they most identify with.

The key killer qual question:
How confident or certain do you feel about this idea? Essential for good analysis and to aim-off the group effect.

Bias Four: Anchoring Bias

We can’t value things in isolation, we feel the need to compare and contrast things when making decisions

Implications for marketing

The implications are really significant for pricing points and product ranging in-store. Products should always be shown ‘compared with’ others so that consumers can feel happy about ‘weighing up’ their options. If you want to sell something, anything, you need to sell it alongside something else similar and you need to set up the consumer’s decision making/ behaviour to compare yours favourably too. (See consistency bias)

Implications for Qual Research

We need to give anchor points to respondents in groups so they feel confident making judgements. It’s important to play to this ‘compare and contrast’ behaviour bias, and then to understand what the key comparisons are that are going on.

The key killer qual question:
What are you comparing this with or weighing up when you are thinking about this…?

Bias Five: Loss aversion

We feel loss more than we feel gain. We fear loss more, so we have a tendency to the status quo in decision making

Implications for Marketing:

Make new choices for consumers as risk free as possible. People literally need to feel they have ‘nothing to lose’ by making a choice. It’s also worth recognising the importance of a current customer over a potential customer. It’s easier to retain a current customer and in many respects they’ll want to stay with you. So… reward them (create reciprocation, reinforce their behaviour when they choose you, help them see you in a better light compared with…)

Implications for Qual

NPD research is notoriously weak because it fails to spot great ideas (people rejected the idea of cash machines in research, for example), and NPD often green lights poor ideas too because research gets people to respond to the ‘idea’ rather than the reality or risk. It’s important to focus on the ‘risk’ people could feel when they adopt a new idea, and to understand what a brand needs to do to cut out risk for customers.

The key killer qual question:
What are the risks in adopting this idea, what might you lose out on…?

Thanks for reading if you use this please don’t forget to credit me
Kath

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Kath Rhodes, Qual Street Owner

I love love learning and so I invest time and resources with Ambreen and Claire into exploring social psychology, neuro science, creativity and new techniques in research. Read all about it and help yourself to the ideas that will deliver your business the insight it needs

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@Qualstreet on 17 March 2023