32. Cognitive Biases That Most Impact Consumer Choice
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Welcome to Aha Moments - The 1-minute newsletter with data and behavioral science insights for busy marketers like you.
Understanding cognitive biases is the cornerstone of behavioral science. Daniel Kahneman’s classic book Heuristics and Biases was my introduction to this topic. Since then, many other behavioral scientists have discovered other biases. There are far too many of them, and Visual Capitalist has done a great job of summarizing them in a couple of infographics here and here.
A few of these are highly relevant for marketers. This week’s newsletter was inspired by an interview with Roger Jackson, CEO of SenseCheck, about How Behavioral Science Can Help Brands Build Better Marketing Strategies.
The biases he highlights as most important for marketing are -
Confirmation bias: People are likely to make future decisions based on past ones, often opting to buy the same product again.
Myside bias: Individuals tend to buy products that those around them buy to fit in.
Expert bias: Consumers prefer purchasing items they feel they understand well.
Status quo bias: Many people buy the same products as before because they are familiar with them, regardless of new promises.
Loss aversion bias: People are more afraid of losing than gaining. To overcome this, the proposed gain must appear significantly larger than the perceived risk, or marketers should highlight the risks of not buying.
Here is a handy guide to help you apply these ideas to your campaigns.