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Pay no Attention to the Irrational Man Behind the Curtain

By Bill Cusick
December 18, 2007

Why we’re so irrational

Let’s face it. We all make some “irrational” purchase decisions during the holiday season. Does your spouse really need that battery-powered window scraper from 7-Eleven on December 24th (or maybe on Day 6 of Hannukah)? Ok, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt: sometimes you know you’re being irrational, but you’re just out of time.

What you might not realize is that you’re being irrational all year round, not just when you’re buying last-minute holiday gifts. I know this because we are all irrational all the time. How we gather and process information — and make decisions and act — is determined primarily by the subconscious or “irrational” part of our brain. The “rational” or “logical” part of your brain that you can consciously access only accounts for 5% of ongoing cognitive activity, leaving 95% of your brain power behind a dark curtain that you can’t pull back.

Further, recent studies show that many phenomena dramatically influence how our subconscious brain instructs us to act. For instance, “priming” is the manipulation of environment through suggested words, music, colors, smells and more — that, when used correctly, can increase the odds that you will act a certain way. Think of the simple effect on your mood if someone genuinely smiles at you when they say hello. What about the impact of being jostled in a crowded store aisle while trying to find a product on the bottom shelf. Whether you “know” it or not, outside stimuli greatly influences your actions for better or worse.

And that’s just scratching the surface. Research shows we’re terrible at telling companies why we like or don’t like a product or service (because we can’t access the subconscious where the decisions are made). And we’re even worse at predicting if we will act a certain way (like buy a product) in the future.

So what does all this mean for a store trying to move some product off the shelves before the end of the year? There’s not room here to explore all the implications. Suffice it to say, the truth lies in behavior. Only by truly understanding all aspects of the customer experience can you begin to understand how you can start “stacking the odds” and create a customer experience that will lead to ideal customer behavior. That means living and breathing your customer experience – everything including the paper you send statements on, signage, web processes, how employees answer the phone and even the color of your walls. Only by taking an honest look at all aspects of the customer experience, and then observing how your customers act — not just asking them soft questions about what they feel – can you get closer to creating a genuine, game-changing and profitable experience.

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