Dr. Simon Moore, Chartered Business & Consumer Psychologist and Partner, Innovationbubble - 6th August, 2016

What is behavioural psychology about and why is it important?

Today in psychological science we know that to accurately understand behaviour we have to capture several key psychological elements:

What people say, what they are thinking and what they are feeling - we all like to think that we are rational beings but the fact is that we make 200,000 more decisions at a non-conscious and emotional level than we do at a rational, pragmatic one. We also know from neuroscience that in environments were we experience stress – we tend to defer to our non-conscious decision making systems even more! In our working lives that means that around 80% of business decisions are made at a non-conscious level.

How is it useful in a business-to-business environment?

Behavioural psychology will give you two more dimensions (cognition and emotion) of information than traditional market research and will delve into this fundamentally important non-conscious aspect of behaviour. So deploying it in a business-to-business setting is useful for all sorts of reasons. We can use it to find out what the ‘hidden’ needs and values of your customers really are so that we deploy more targeted communications with them and they feel more engaged and understood. We can use behavioural psychology to build more effective sales and marketing content

How does behavioural psychology differ between single purchase decisions and group buying environments?

Behavioural psychology can be useful in finding out individual motivations for purchase and how that fits within the buyers working environment. It is equally adept at helping businesses identify and work with multiple buying decision makers. As it uses methods ranging from semantics, personality archetype profiling and non-verbal behaviour – we can effectively use this information to better understand what are the drivers and barriers to buying.

Are there particular case studies you can reference where applying an understanding of buyer behaviour generated better outcomes for a client?

Financial Services Brand (Investment)* (B2B): the client’s assumption was that market growth had not met targets, as potential clients did not trust the business with their money...

The challenge - we worked with a financial services investment brand to understand why, despite their new marketing campaign, there was minimal market growth across 4 core markets (US, UK, Australia and Middle East).

Our work - the team facilitated psychological insight groups and emotional journey mapping in all four markets, covering trust and financial decision making. We investigated the hidden needs and values around trust in relation to interacting with an investment brand. The insights from the qualitative phase were validated through quantitative testing using Emotix ©, our bespoke non-conscious measurement tool.

Results - we were able to define the problems that existed in the trust-relationship between the business and its customers. One of the insights for example highlighted that some potential clients felt threatened by the messages of the ‘intelligence’ of the people working at the investment brand. Far from feeling secure that these people would make intelligent financial decisions they actually felt threatened that these people would make them look ignorant and ineffective within their own companies. They preferred to work with brands that ‘maintained their projected work ego’s’ not threaten them.

These insights were used to create new strategies, aimed at improving the relationship. These interventions led to a significant increase in the client’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) and a 16% increase in new market sales in the following 12 months.

Client feedback - "Using these behavioural insight methods was a revelation. We knew something wasn't right but even after two years of traditional market research we couldn't put our finger on what was happening. Within 4 months the psychology team from Innovationbubble had not only revealed hidden gems of information but also worked with us to intervene and create new sales and marketing collateral that was based on the real needs of our target audience – not merely on our assumptions. Tremendous results and a fascinating and valuable approach" Global Head of Marketing.

Across the financial services industry investment groups and corporations try to use original thinking and creative ways to communicate ideas. Are there particular do’s and don’ts of such an approach?

My advice from all the case studies and work we have done in the Financial Services sector is, never spend your money on anything you ‘assume’. Time and time again I see brands throw money away on the ‘assumed’ and then having to do exactly the same the next year as the wheels had fallen off. If you want to get more value and security that you are going to spend your communications, market research or training money effectively – use psychology to test your assumptions and ensure you won’t hit any dead ends moving forwards. Its better to spend a little of your budget on finding out what you REALLY need to do to ensure that the rest of the budget gains maximum effect.

How can those seeking to influence senior management appropriately communicate with lower ranking staff but ensure the clarity of message works right up the management chain?

You need to be able to work out the culture of the target business and then how all the influencers of decision making tick and interact within that setting. What is the need of the business against the needs and values of those trying to survive in it? So things such as identifying how the key stakeholders get along personally, do they have any social or hobby connections etc.? How do each of them view their position and relationship with the others? Once you do this even the choice of single words can improve your chances of sign off. For example, it is always best to get key decision makers in the same physical space for key moments.

Thank you Simon for your insight. You can get in touch with Simon and the team at Innovationbubble.