Watch the Behavioral Science Video

Total running time: 35:06


In the first part of this two part article, youll learn where, how, and why to aim your videos to achieve great marketing results using behavioral science. In the second part, youll see how this new knowledge can be practically used, with 34 tips and tricks on behavioral strategies.


Behavioral Science & Marketing Strategy: Part 1

Understanding the basics

When working out where to aim your videos it’s important to understand that, with regards to behavioral science, people do not behave in ways that are generally regarded as rational.

This can be a frustrating element of behavioral marketing science and is something we often need to pause and digest into our consciousness before we can accept it. However, once this basic premise has been accepted, the good news is that people are, as behavioral Economist Dan Ariely put it: 'predictably irrational'.

This means that actions can, in fact, be predicted because of known constraints found within non—rational behavior. It is this basis of predictable irrationality that can help you determine where to aim a video campaign.

So, how can we use predictable irrationality?

Essentially, people make decisions based on feelings instead of logic. In this article, we are going to suggest you attempt to aim at those feelings—based decisions that are arrived at through a gut instinct.

Why use decisions based on feelings?

Behavioral science has determined that in some cases, expecting people to be rational is in itself, irrational behavior, and this is all due to something called; Heuristics.

Heuristics could be considered mental shortcuts that are not always considered rational responses to certain situations but are often functional. Put simply; if we processed all the data we are exposed to every day, we would find it impossible to get through the day, and so some emotional shortcuts become necessary in order to make the many myriad of decisions we all make.

These mental shortcuts, or Heuristic behaviors, are hardwired into our brains through evolution and have assisted us in surviving the rigors of existence. A simple example of this would be seeing a shadow moving, perhaps just out of the corner of our eye, which heuristic behavior can interpret as an early indication of danger. A warning sign built into our behavior patterns through generations of evolution.

Another example would be an encounter with a bear in the wild. Here we are unlikely to think about the details of this situation, or indeed analyze if the bear may or may not be hungry, instinctively, through heuristics, we would recognize this as a dangerous situation and take the appropriate action.

However, although these snap decisions based on heuristics serve a valid purpose in our lives, they can lead to a certain level of irrationality. However, as noted earlier, this irrationality can often be seen as predictable and can then be used to create well—targeted marketing strategies. This conclusion is based not only on the science of heuristic behavior but also on studies that show consumers will often reach a decision based on only a surface level of understanding.

  • Takeaway: If you wish to influence your viewers' behavior, it is better to aim for feelings rather than rationality.


This surface—level understanding is also heavily influenced by;

  • Recent information
  • Frequently heard information
  • Information that is vividly available
  • Extreme examples of facts
  • and facts or information that have an overall negative tone


These availability biases, combined with heuristics and confirmation bias, create the ‘illusory truth effect’, or the tendency to believe false information after repeated exposure to such information.

In the second part of this article, you will discover various strategies for using this new understanding of heuristics in your own marketing strategies.


Behavioral Science & Marketing Strategy: Part 2

Now that you understand the basics of heuristics and how it works, this next section deals with examples of how you can use this knowledge to better target your videos. Each tip is accompanied by a Takeaway, which is the key marketing strategy to consider when implementing this tip.


Tips and Tricks on Using Behavioral Science to Enhance Your Marketing Strategy


1. The Compromise effect

When dealing with multiple options, it has been observed that a choice will be made toward the best compromise from the selections available. For example, coffee shop A offers three cup sizes: small, medium, and large, and shop B offers the same. However, if a customer were to examine each cup closely, they would see that the medium cup for shop A is actually the same size as the small cup in shop B.

Despite this, most people at either shop will still pick the medium cup, basing their decision not on the physical size presented to them, but on the prior knowledge that, for their last order, small was too small and large was too large.

  • Takeaway: When offered a choice in your interactive videos, audiences are likely to compromise their decision and select the middle value of whatever is available to them.


2. The Default Effect

In this example the customer is given a set of choices, and is of course, free to select any of them, however, if one of the choices is highlighted as the Default, then it is likely the customer will select this first. This is because the default choice is often seen as the easy, or safest choice, and when given the option to select a path that offers greater conformity, most people will select a suggested default.

  • Takeaway: Suggesting a default in your own selections, will help steer viewers down a more binary styled pathway.


3. Enhanced Active Choices

Choice architecture works by attempting to enhance the active choice, which is the choice we would prefer the user to make. Simply enhancing some choices to encourage the user to think about the selection yields a greater result. However, with only a non—enhanced choice of one option, most people default to doing nothing.

For example; highlighting losses attached to not taking the enhanced choice, usually reaps better rewards.

  • Takeaway: Active choice works when highlighting a loss incurred if the user does not select the outcome we would prefer them to select.


4. Planning for an Implementation Gap

There are of course always gaps between how we perceive our plans to play out and how they are actualized. For example, wanting to exercise more is often a decision compromised by external factors, or because our conscious and unconscious desires are not always perfectly aligned.

  • Takeaway: Effective marketing needs to speak to both the conscious and unconscious minds of your customers.


5. The Planner VS. the Doer

As mentioned in tip #2, the default state is often to do nothing. This means that plans can often fail to become actions. The Planner fails to be the Doer. This can be overcome by offering a way for the customer to pre—commit, something that is in itself a default action as pre—committing does not always feel the same as actually committing.

For example: Enrolling now for a savings program that starts later will often yield better results than offering a bonus to start saving immediately.

  • Takeaway: To enable your customer to pre—commit, it is vital to identify a locking mechanism that does not feel too draconian, yet offers benefits for the future.


6. Accountability

Another tactic to overcome the risk of the Planner failing to become the Doer, is to facilitate a way for the customer to publicly state their goals. This is often particularly effective when those goals are proclaimed via social media, as when they are, targets are more likely to be followed through and met if their peers are observing their progress.

  • Takeaway: People in general want to live up to their public personas. Therefore, applying accountability through social media will facilitate this trend.


7. Self Control

Choices made in the here and now are of course also tied to the future. However, when making choices it is often observed that choices that require a longer term to reap the reward are often selected, as opposed to the same choices being made over a shorter term.

For example; when asked, a sample pool would often select receiving 5 dollars today, as opposed to waiting a month to receive 10 dollars. However, when that same offer was stretched over a year, 5 dollars in 12 months or 10 dollars in 13 months, most people selected the latter offer.

  • Takeaway: Waiting a longer period for a promised result or reward, allows people to more easily conceive the benefit of that reward.


8. Incentives

Incentives can be broadly defined as Positive or Negative. Both of these have their own advantages, but should be used carefully with your marketing strategy.

For example; a positive incentive would offer discounts and bonuses, while a negative incentive would involve some kind of unwanted loss, such as a penalty for withdrawing savings without due notice.

  • Takeaway: A positive incentive can be the stronger tactic, but it can lead to an undervaluing of your product. Meanwhile, a negative incentive can lead to an underlying feeling of dislike from your customer.


9. Loss Aversion

In short, “Loss Aversion” teaches us that the pain of losing is psychologically twice as powerful as the pleasure of gaining.

For example, an energy company might offer one neighborhood the chance to save 10 dollars a month, while the second neighborhood might be warned about the possibility of losing 10 dollars a month. In most cases, the response from those who are warned about a loss is higher than that from those who are made aware of a gain.

  • Takeaway: The pain of losing out often outweighs the positive feeling of a win.


10. Sunk Cost Effect

Once a certain amount of effort, time, or money has been invested in a product, project, or even a relationship, it becomes harder to walk away from it, even if doing so would be the smarter option.

An example is attending an open—air concert, even if the weather forecast is horrific, simply because there is no refund policy. When something is prepaid, the costs essentially become baked—in, even when the circumstances for consuming the product are clearly bad.

  • Takeaway: People will often stick with a decision, regardless of its success, if they have invested significant time, money, personal identity, and/or energy into it.


11. Decoupling

The opposite of the sunk cost effect is decoupling, and occurs when a perceived level of value is reached, allowing the customer to walk away without negative feelings.

For example; a four—day ski ticket costs 160 dollars. If on the last day, the weather is bad, the owner of the ticket will often not worry about a missing day, and assume value for money has been obtained by using the ticket for three days. However, if the same skier buys four separate tickets, at a value of 40 dollars each, even though the final amount is still 160 dollars, they are more likely to ski in bad weather, on the last day, otherwise the value of the last ticket is perceived as lost.

  • Takeaway: Consider if it benefits you to couple or decouple visible costs.


12. Mental Accounting

The concept of mental accounting is similar to the sunk cost effect but takes into account the loss factor. This is because money can be mentally labeled and how it is labeled will affect how people react to a loss.

For example, if someone loses 50 dollars on the way to buy a theater ticket, they are more likely to still consider buying a ticket, while someone who loses a theater ticket worth 50 dollars on the way to the theater, is unlikely to re—buy another ticket. Both situations are essentially the same and create an equal fiscal loss, but the reaction can be very different.

  • Takeaway: Once money is labeled, people think differently about money which is not labeled.


13. Earned Money Vs. Found Money

Money earned through work or other practices is often valued more than money that is gained in a fashion considered more frivolous, such as birthday money or a company bonus.

For example; stressing — “Why not treat yourself?” — could indicatively imply that found money can be used without careful consideration, or at least, with a minimal amount of consideration.

  • Takeaway: Identifying which pot of money your customer should use to obtain your products is important.


14. Comparison

Applying a direct comparison to a product that has nothing to do with your own, and is in a different pricing structure, can be used to help the customer justify or minimize the ‘felt cost’ of an item.

For example; drawing an equivalent to the cost of buying a cup of coffee every morning to the cost of your own product can help rationalize the expense and help justify purchasing something that is more expensive. Such as, “For just the price of a coffee per day.” This is because most people have already rationalized daily coffee as affordable.

  • Takeaway: When using comparison, it is important to identify a consumable that is bought on a regular basis, and one that is comparatively cheap.


15. Numbers Vs. Symbols

When creating videos it is important to work with symbols rather than directly with statistics or numbers. This creates a medium that is easier to digest and in doing so brings over the message more efficiently.

For example; Amazon review scores are awarded on a five star system. Looking at a product, people will often reject a product averaging 3 stars over one that averages 4 stars, without bothering to read the reviews in detail. The key is actually the symbols (the visual stars) and not the numeric score associated with it.

  • Takeaway: Visual indicators guide the viewer on how to feel about information condensed inside those indicators.


16. Choice Overload

While options are considered a good thing, an overload of options can often cause the customer to become stressed over making the correct choice. This overloading of choice is caused by a busy society, limiting time and cognitive ability to absorb and process an overabundance of choices.

For example; a Chinese restaurant with hundreds of items on the menu will often see the majority of the orders placed are from a few top options.

  • Takeaway: When overwhelmed with choices, the customer will often default to the most popular choice or choices.


17. Payment Method

The transparency of the payment method will affect how a customer feels about the transaction. Cash payments are very transparent; the customer can literally see the money moving from their pocket to the vendor. A check is less transparent, while a credit card is even less transparent.

Auto pay is the least transparent of all payment methods and requires little to no thought to continue paying. This payment method must be stopped by the customer, and as explained earlier, the leaning toward the default action, Doing Nothing, often means subscriptions will run longer than the customers desire to use the services on offer.

  • Takeaway: The less transparent the payment method, the less likely the customer is to remember how much was spent on specific services.


18. Social Proof

Customers will often identify their aspiration towards being like someone with high social status, either someone who is famous, good—looking, or popular for other reasons. This viewpoint often leads people to attribute more value to the view of the products celebrities they look up to are recommending.

  • Takeaway: Using a celebrity (or other person with high perceived social status) is often a shortcut to giving your products added value, particularly as each celebrity can be used to aim at a specific age group.


19. Belonging

Belonging utilizes our desire to fit in, especially with whatever group or people we perceive as our “tribe.” This is based on our desire to be part of the pack, and it often leads us to conform to the same behavior as our peers.

This can be as simple as inferring “people like you” perform a specific behavior or buy a particular product.

  • Takeaway: Calls to Actions can be easier for your customers to focus on if it can be implied that their peers are also engaging in this type of behavior.


20. Localized Belonging

Similar to the last point, a feeling of wanting to belong on a local level can be even stronger. This can be used to tailor campaigns in specific areas.

For example, it is better to say people in your area (personalized for their location) rather than people in the country.

  • Takeaway: Campaigns that are localized will see more effective results.


21. Nudge Statements

This is used to set the emotional tone of your audience in order to place their mindset towards the answer you require. Nudge statements allow people to start thinking “yes” before they are even asked the question by creating empathy, and often by making the issue about them

For example, phrasing the question as ‘if you needed an organ transplant”’ will nudge the audience towards a better understanding of why they should also want to become organ donors.

  • Takeaway: Setting an emotional ‘yes’ mindset will often see a higher response rate, especially if the topic appears to affect them pesonally.


22. Cost = Value

Cost is directly related to perceived value. So if you want your service to be valued, you should avoid anything that implies it is free.

For example; an offer of a Free Health Checkup will often see less take—up than an offer to redeem a voucher, to avoid paying a fee, for that same health checkup.

  • Takeaway: Applying a cost to anything will increase its perceived value, even if that ‘cost’ is a redeemable voucher.


23. Decoy Effect

When given the choice between two similar items that offer advantages and disadvantages in different, sometimes opposing areas, consumers will often be unable to choose, mostly because they would really like all the advantages and none of the disadvantages. By adding a 3rd choice, the “decoy,” you can make their decision easier.

For example, one set of headphones offers great sound quality but only good comfort, while a second offers good sound quality but great comfort. This causes a conflict for the consumer on which criteria they should prioritize. Adding a third item that offers both comfort and sound quality as ‘good’, can focus the consumer's mind toward what they really think is important for their needs.

  • Takeaway: Adding a decoy choice, which you know is unlikely to be selected by the consumer, will often streamline the decision making process of what they should purchase.


24. Anchoring

Numbers have a high influence factor on consumer decisions, and can be directed by anchoring a number inside a question.

For example, if two groups are asked for the estimated population of Perth, Australia, the answer can be influenced by adding an anchor number. If one group is given an anchor of greater or less than 50 thousand, while the second group is given an anchor of greater or less than 10 million, the actual estimates given by the second group are always significantly higher due to the influence of the anchor number.

  • Takeaway: Anchor numbers can be used to create a false equivalence on the actual value of products.


25. Goal Visibility

A visible goal often incentivizes people to work harder than when the goal is not in sight.

For example, savings companies who offer parents envelopes to deposit money for the future education of their children, will see an increased amount of money sent when the envelopes feature a photograph of a child on the front.

  • Takeaway: Reminding people of their goals can increase motivation.


26. Goal Reminders

Videos created on the Idomoo platform are the perfect way to create personalized goal reminders for your clients. It has been estimated that goal reminders that mention targets specific to the client viewing your video, will show a 16% increase in take—up, compared with those that are simply generic.

  • Takeaway: Personalizing videos to utilize the viewer’s unique goal is an extremely effective way to remind your clients of their individual goals and your part in accomplishing those goals.


27. Progress

Progress will always feel better than stagnation and is highly motivational when correctly presented to your clients.

For example, motorists often take side roads away from stationary traffic, even though this alternative route is known to take longer, but the decision is made on the impulse that moving forward is better than remaining stationary.

  • Takeaway: While goals are very important, the journey towards those goals should always appear constant and never stagnant.


28. Perceived Progress

The concept of perceived progress follows the previous tip. In this case, however, it is more important that progress is easily perceived in order to enhance motivation.

For example; two groups of people are given 400 lines of text to proofread, with the first group finding the work of 20 lines on 20 pages, while the second group has 10 lines on 40 pages. Despite this being the same amount of lines, the second group completed the task quicker because they could perceive their rate of progress more clearly.

  • Takeaway: The perception of progress is critical and should not be underestimated. Structure work to optimize the perception of consistent progress.


29. Hedonic Editing

Outcomes should be segregated in order to seperate the psychological impact of loss from gain. This can be seen when a single loss is often preferred over multiple losses, even if they amount to the same value.

For example, most people would say they prefer to lose 100 dollars once, rather than lose 20 dollars on five separate occasions. The same is often said of gains, where people are more impressed when receiving 20 dollars over five payments, rather than 100 dollars in one payment.

  • Takeaway: Situations encompassing a large loss and a small gain are best kept as separate entities.


30. Mindset

Mindset refers to the way in which the brain processes information, both as a perceived positive and negative when approaching a large number of tasks.

For example; asking a worker how they accomplished their last 5 completed jobs, will create a better mindset than asking the worker's perceptive value of the last 5 completed jobs. This is because when approaching a large number of jobs, people generally perform better if they are in a mindset that understands how to practically complete each task.

  • Takeaway: Setting the correct mindset will enhance the ability to complete a task.


31. Timing

More important than knowledge is timing. The target of your message needs to be receptive to the information you want them to understand, and a large part of that receptive nature is tied to when they are first approached.

Attempting to impart to a new college graduate any mortgage advice is bad timing, as they have other priorities, but supplying them with information on saving money while renting is likely to be better received by this demographic.

  • Takeaway: Timing the message to be relevant to the situation of the individual is paramount.


32. Feedback

Personalized feedback is a great use of customer data. However, feedback should always be motivational and avoid creating a negative feeling, instead allow the client to feel better about what they are doing.

For example; People who are given positive feedback on the amount of recycling they accomplished, are likely to increase their efforts and recycle more.

  • Takeaway; Utilize motivational feedback in your appraisal systems.


33. Information: Quality vs Quantity

When information is given, even with the best intentions, it is not always heard or correctly understood. The lack of information retention and understanding is often a result of overwhelming your target audience with too many facts.

  • Takeaway: To maintain a high level of information retention, focus on quality of information over quantity. In other words, “If you want them to hear more, say less.”


34. Bias Blind Spot

The bias blind spot is the tendency to recognize the impact of other people's bias while failing to acknowledge the impact of one's own biased judgment.

  • Takeaway: Remember we are all biased (yes, you too).