What really motivates a consumer? A furniture polish company was having trouble from a new, aggressive competitor. The competitor’s product used an anti-static material to clean the dust off of furniture. In their ads, the competitor claimed that the traditional polish company left an ugly residue on furniture. Oily. Streaky. Greasy. Sales for the polish were sliding.
The polish company worked with a market research firm, Forbes Consulting, to help uncover some clues about why people use furniture polish. The researcher was trying to get the unconscious, or subconscious reasons why people polish furniture. They wanted to go deep to truly understand the consumer’s real motivation.
Through cognitive research and proprietary techniques, the investigators realized that there was an emotional motive to polishing furniture that was often unstated. It lived at a sub-conscious level – but appeared very real through their methodology.
The insight was that the reason people take care of their furniture and polish it is because they have an association with the natural wood. It is as if they are nurturing the wood, trying to protect a living object. So they polish furniture to keep the natural wood healthy, almost as if it were alive.
The researcher, who had to use both left and right brain skills, made the brilliant comparison of furniture polish to skin care products.
He said that the reason people use furniture polish is very similar to how people use skin care products. It is to keep the surface clean, fortified and healthy. Instead of worry about being positioned by their competitor as oily, streaky or greasy, their communications need to express how they were helping nurture their furniture back to life.
After six months, the results of the new campaign helped to shine up the furniture polish company’s image.
What Really Motivates a Consumer?
This story, told by David Forbes on Mitch Joel’s Mirum Podcast, illustrates the importance of having a deep understanding of the emotional drivers for a brand. Consumers aren’t just buying your wine because they are thirsty or want a buzz; there is a deep-seated underpinning that is often never expressed. They say they love Pinot, but there is some emotional need being satisfied. Do you understand why? Understanding your customer’s unstated emotional need, helps to make a brand shine. These drivers may be true for many brands in a category, but with these insights they can help you tell a meaningful story that will resonate with your customers.
The Science of Why
Why really motivates consumers to purchase?
David Forbes new book, The Science of Why, Decoding Human Emotion, and Transforming Marketing Strategy helps to uncover some of the mysteries of marketing. Forbes received a Ph.D. in clinical and cognitive psychology and was a member of the Harvard Medical School Department of Psychology. He runs the Forbes Consulting whose mission is to find ways for a business to gain advantages by harvesting deep emotional insights. David is also the creator of the MindSight® emotional assessment technologies, a suite of applied neuropsychological methods for understanding consumer emotion and motivation, without the distortions of conscious editing and self-presentation
In The Science of Why: Decoding Human Motivation & Transforming Marketing Strategy, author David Forbes tells readers to think of the book
“as a map to guide us as we set out on the journey to discover who our consumers are and to learn why they do what they do.”
Dr. Forbes believes that emotions are at the root of consumers’ nine core motivations, which drive all consumer behavior. Further, Forbes believes if businesses can view the world from the perspective of consumers’ emotional motivations, then marketers will be able to promote their products. Check out the interview on Mitch’s podcast or pick up a copy of The Science of Why.
How deeply do you understand what the emotional drivers are in your category?
Need a little helping polishing up your image? I will pledge to do my best. Give me a call.
