From see to do: How behavioural science bridges the brand growth gap

Hall & Partners recently hosted a sold-out event which is part of a series called Big Thinking for Brand Growth. This event focused on a topic that seems to be top-of-mind for all marketers nowadays: behavioural science and its impact on consumer decision-making.

Our keynote speaker, the behavioural scientist and author Richard Shotton, shone a light on how more than a century of understanding about human behaviour is still relevant today.

Brands can tap into the science to nudge consumers closer to choosing them by following some of the grounding principles of behavioural science – fundamentally a study of human nature that looks at actual rather than claimed behaviour.

Many of the core principles, biases and behavioural nudges inform our foundational thinking at Hall & Partners. Our strategic growth framework See, Think, Feel, Do incorporates social and behavioural science. James Gambles, Head of Marketing at Hall & Partners, explains.

Behavioural science can provide shortcuts to growth

Thinking is to humans as swimming is to cats. They can do it, but they prefer not to. As humans have evolved, we have learnt to ration deep, considered thought and look for shortcuts to the growing number of decisions we make every day.

Yet these shortcuts are subject to biases which can be tapped into for the benefit of brand growth.

See: Is your brand distinctive enough to be chosen

We know that mental availability is key to brand growth, yet the importance of being distinctive is actually grounded in behavioural science that is nearly a century old. Studies testing recall were carried out in the 1930s by German psychologist Hedwig von Restorff. Provided with a long list of words, participants were asked to recall as many from the list as they could. The findings were clear. When there are outliers from the theme (most of the list were animals) then this is what people were most likely to remember. Known as the ‘Isolation Effect’ or the ‘Von Restorff Effect’, this and subsequent studies confirm that we are hard wired to notice what is distinctive.

However, brands frequently communicate their difference in the realm of abstractions: the quality or their trustworthiness; value for money; or the colour of their logo for example. Customers understand this language or visual cues, but they struggle to remember it. To truly stand out, brands need to build distinctiveness that only they can own. Identifying category conventions and clinging to them is the route to invisibility. And striving for category differentiation if not the same as achieving brand distinctiveness.

Richard shared some brilliant examples. Even though it was twenty years ago this one about the first MP3 players stood out for me. At the time market leader Phillips focused its campaigns on the number of megabytes its player had. It’s difficult to visualise what 256 MB means.

Ipod took a different route. It used an example that consumers could picture: 1,000 songs in your pocket.

This language was distinctive from the competition and, as a result, more memorable. Ipod, with its trademark white headphones, became the leading MP3 player in 2004 with more than 2 million Ipods sold three years after it first launched.

Behavioural science principle for being seen in a more distinctive way: Identify category conventions and then try to avoid them.

Top partner tip: “Brands need to embrace distinctiveness across everything they do, such as using distinctive brand assets across all touchpoints. It's not just about distinctive campaigns, but also about creating distinctive experiences and sometimes even breaking category conventions to help your brand really standout and be chosen ahead of others.” Farid Jeeawody, Partner, Hall & Partners

Feel: How can your brand harness emotion and social proof to make an impact?

There are many ways that brands can create positive, emotional connections with customers. Ad campaigns with the objective of tapping into nostalgia, happiness or humour are always popular.

Another way brands can do this is to tap into the behavioural principle of social proof. Essentially, this is the understanding that as herd animals, most people are very attuned to what the people around them do. There are many studies that prove this. Shotton cited a study run by Robert Cialdini from Arizona State University in association with a hotel chain in 2008. The objective was to find out the best way to encourage guests to re-use their towels.

Cialdini changed the guest messages for three different groups of rooms.

In the first group he asked guests to reuse their towels to help save the environment. 35% of guests complied. This is the control group.

For the second group he added social proof. Guests were asked to reuse their towels because ‘most guests do so’. 44% of guests complied. Not a big uplift, but encouraging to see some change.

The third group of guests were told ‘half of the guests staying in this room re-used their towels.’ The change was significant; 91% of guests complied.

What this study, and many more since, prove is that it is far more effective to show what others are doing rather than giving them a list of rational reasons to comply. Further, the more popular the concept in question is shown to be the more likely there is to be a deeper change in behaviour.

Any mention of rank, scale or numbers of customers are examples of social proof. Joining thousands of people to stop smoking during Stoptober or Durex’s rank as ‘the no1 condom’ are both examples of social proof.

In this Ford ad campaign, the Ford Escort was the world’s best selling car. This alone is social proof. By naming all of its competitors with the ‘If your car’s on this list, Ford Escort outsells it’ brought the concept of social proof alive in a more creative way.

Social proof works better in situations of uncertainty and of course the experiment still needs to be interpreted in the most powerful and creative way.

Behavioural science principle for evoking emotions: make your product, comms or any behaviour you want to encourage more popular; it will become more appealing and people are more likely to adopt it

Top partner tip: "Emotions shape behaviour. Brands that create strong emotional connections are more likely to drive long-term growth.” David Moir, Partner, Hall & Partners

Think: How can your brand use context to boost perceived value?

Communicating the value of your product is critical for consumers who are still making tough decisions about everything they buy.

Supermarkets compare prices with their competitors all the time. We make decisions every day about choosing a better value deal, but comparing to what is relative may not be enough to nudge people away from their usual behaviour. But what if you change your consumer customers' mental comparison set?

Shotton gave the example of Nespresso. If the coffee brand had followed the same category conventions when it launched, it would have stuffed its coffee into a kilo bag of coffee and sold it for £85. Of course, he said, very few people would push aside a £15 bag of Douwe Egberts to buy Nespresso at this price.

But Nespresso was an innovator and effectively created an entire new category with its coffee pods. But first it recognised the behavioural science principle of shifting the comparison set, which it did to buying a cup of coffee in Starbucks. In that context, 75p for a pod looks like a great deal. £85 for a kilo and 75 p for a pod is the same per gramme price. Yet one feels like a bargain and one feels like a rip off. That’s the power of relativity.

Trojan Condoms moved its comparison set away from the leading condom brands Durex to Huggies:

Behavioural science principle for creating relevant benefits compared to competitors: Change who the consumer compares you to and change their willingness to pay.

Top partner tip: "Context is king. Perceived value is shaped by context, so brands must thoughtfully curate their environments to reinforce their value proposition. A well-crafted context can elevate your brand’s perceived value and drive stronger commercial results." Katie Warwick, Partner, Hall & Partners

Do: How can your brand create triggers to drive action?

Changing how people think and feel doesn’t always lead to a change in behaviour as brands know.

A study by Sarah Milne at the University of Bath study in 2002 looked at ways to get people to exercise more for example. She split her sample into three groups.

The first group were given a diary. At the two-week check in, just 35% have exercised at least once a week. This is the baseline.

The second group were given a diary AND played a motivational video. This didn’t move the dial much at the two week check; just 38% had exercised at least once a week. They were pumped up and enthused but this didn’t lead to a significant change in exercise levels.

The third group she asked to add motivational video details to their diary on when, where and with whom they were going to exercise. This implementation intention resulted in a significant increase in people exercising every week - 91%.

By creating a time, place or mood that associates with the behaviour you want, she created a trigger which acts as a catalyst to turn intention into action.

Campaigns that show this principle in action include Nationwide Building Society’s “Pay Day Equals Save Day”. Nationwide are using the pay day trigger to remind their customers to save – as your money comes in, put some aside. To drive a further behavioural change, they need to make it easy to save on pay day with a standing order for example, and this then becomes a habit over time.

Behavioural science principle for bridging the action intention gap: Attach behavioural nudges and triggers to moments that matter in people’s lives, and make it easy for your brand to fits into existing consumer habits and routines

Top partner tip: "Linking your brand to a specific occasion, moment, place, or time of day is a powerful strategy to bridge the ‘say do gap’. By connecting the brand to relevant moments in consumers' lives, you can make your offer more relevant and timely, encouraging action at the moments consumers are most likely to engage." Katie Warwick, Partner, Hall & Partners

Behavioural science insights alone are not a framework. They are springboards for your creativity and should be rooted in every decision.

By adding a behavioural science element to the fundamental brand growth framework of See Feel Think Do, you can nudge consumers closer to action and supercharge your brand success.