Current Topic: Conversion

Influencing behavior through advertisements, both consciously and unconsciously, but especially the latter, has given neuromarketing a bad reputation. Take James Vicary’s famous subliminal messaging experiment from the 1950s as an example. Vicary claimed that subliminal projections telling ten thousands of people to Drink Coca-Cola and to Eat Popcorn during a movie caused a 18 % sales increase for Coca Cola and 58 % sales increase for popcorn. 

‘Come on, let’s take a selfieeeee!’

What do hipsters, tourists and that Instagram addicted friend we all know, have in common? They all seem to take pictures of almost anything, making them seem very uninterested their surroundings and, even worse, in you. Seem. Because recent research shows the exact opposite might be the case. 

Did you read Barry Schwartz’ book The Paradox of Choice - Why More is Less? If not, this sentence is your executive summary:

There is such a thing as having too much choice

There are many scientific studies on the subject. Some find having more choice enhances consumers’ assortment evaluation and increases purchase likelihood. Others conclude more choice negatively effects satisfaction and, again, purchase likelihood. 

When do we help someone? Helping is something social, and we often need help from others. Maybe you want help from a colleague on a rapport that’s due this Friday or maybe you want your children to clean their own mess up. Or maybe you want visitors on your website to fill out a Usabilla, Qualaroo or Hotjar survey. The point is, we need help from others and we don’t like asking for help, because it basically says that we’re not competent enough to perform the task on our own. Neuromarketing to the rescue!

We don’t like to admit it, but as humans we do a pretty bad job at controlling our attention. Sure, we can actively choose to maintain or divert our focus after something has captured our attention. But we hardly understand why it grabbed our eyes in the first place.