There was an interesting podcast that was passed to me a while ago about the psychology of choice. The episode was called “Choice” and it’s from WNYC Radiolab. It’s a hour-long, but I found the last 15 minutes the most compelling.
There was a study where researchers offered students one of two free posters. They asked 1/2 the students to explain why they chose the poster they did. The other 1/2 got to choose without explaining their reasoning. The majority of those that didn’t have to explain themselves chose a poster of a kitty hanging from a tree with the tag “hang in there”. The majority of those that had to explain themselves chose an impressionist painting poster.
Several weeks later, they asked all of the students if they were still happy with their choice. Those who didn’t have to explain the reason they chose the poster were overwhelmingly still pleased with their choice. Those who were required to explain, later hated their choice.
So, what does this mean? Maybe, the lack of threat of needing to explain yourself causes you to make choices more true to who you are – or doesn’t guilt you into feeling required to choose something sophisticated. And/or maybe you’re more satisfied in the long term when you make gut/instinct/emotional choices rather than choices based on reasoning. And/or maybe as soon as it seems like “work”, you no longer feel emotionally connected to the choices you made and later regret them.
However you interpret the results, it seems to point to helping those to whom you are marketing make immediate choices based on instinct and emotion. It also points to choices being more fulfilling when the reasons for choosing them remain personal. Should marketers be helping consumers reflect more internally instead of assuming they’d like to share their reflections with someone else? Should we “expose” our consumers less?
There was another interesting study about hot vs. cold. 1/2 the participants were given a hot cup of coffee, the other half, a cup of iced coffee. When asked how they felt about the man who gave it to them, overwhelmingly, those who were holding the hot coffee had “warm” feelings about the giver. Those who were holding the iced coffee, liked the giver less.
Makes me wonder how we can better use warm colors, warm language or even actual warm temperature in marketing. Has anyone seen any studies or real world uses of actual temperature in marketing?
Sandy Marsh