ORLANDO, Fla. — Consumer decisions don’t always make sense.
Humans are systematically irrational, driven by the unconscious, said a behavioral scientist in a recent produce industry education session on consumer demand.
Aaron Reid, founder and CEO of Sentient Decision Science, led the “Psychology of Consumer” session Oct. 27, at International Fresh Produce Association’s Global Produce and Floral Show.
Understanding the motivations behind consumers’ produce choices — besides price and quality — can be applied to many business decisions. Behaviors are weighted by emotion, so don’t use health benefits as the only marketing message for produce and retail brands, he said.
“The No. 1 driver for carrots is not health, but the mouthfeel. It’s about that crunch,” Reid said. Consumers seek crunchy Cheetos and carrots for the same reason: the stress relief that crunchy food provides.
“Health-related messaging relies on rational appeals, things people consciously think they should do or even want to do. But whether people are reaching for packaged food or produce, they are still looking to achieve an experience from that choice,” Reid said. “That experience tends to be emotional and thus driven by subconscious, automatic processes that can override reason.”
Instead of using just nutritional evidence, evoke excitement and stress release.
“The more emotion you feel in a moment, the more memorable that moment is. Think about that from a marketing standpoint,” Reid said.
This is the foundation of the new way understanding consumer psychology, the motivations behind choice and how you can apply it to your own businesses.
Traditional consumer surveys don’t work because people don’t often do what they say they do in those surveys. What consumers say in surveys accounts for only 14% of their behavioral response to ads, he said. “We cannot base our decisions on data that is that inaccurate,” Reid said.
When you add in facial emotion, that’s 47.2%. If you add non-conscious brain response, it’s 65%.
Sentient technology measures systematic changes in the 43 muscles in the face that are used for deliberate expression of emotion and its social intention.
“This technology allows us to measure moment by moment, the movement of those muscles in your face and understand the emotions that you're expressing when you're exposed to marketing, new product innovation and packaging,” he said.
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Another technology uses consumer response times on smartphones or on desktops and laptops. It measures response times down to the millisecond after exposure to some important stimulus. That millisecond timing of response is indicative of the approach and avoidance of motion that a consumer feels towards your product or your brand, he said.
“We need to get to where consumers are to have empathy and be able to market effectively,” Reid said. “We need to understand how people are actually feeling, and the state of the world is a major factor influencing human consumer choices today. Inflation is at an all-time high, and consumer confidence is at an all-time low.”
The emotion can be happy.
When you pair a produce choice with positive associations, that pairing or classical conditioning creates a behavioral response to choose those healthy items.
“It's typically emotional associations with the brand that are a driver,” Reid said. “And if you're not a well-known brand, the automatic associations with your packaging is especially important if you don't have a brand with associations already formed.”
Positive associations can include comfort, nostalgia or even humor and excitement — all of which relieve stress and anxiety, compounded by today’s inflationary challenges.
“It's not just about price,” he said. “It’s how does our offering offer them emotional benefits in the state that they're in today?”
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