Marketing is not only art, but also science, and it often gets inspired by other disciplines. Read how physics, psychology, sociology and neuroscience can influence your approach to marketing and everyday practice. What quantum physics have to say about marketing analytics? Does uncertainty principle belie the idea of focus groups? Why generosity pays off?
1. Only relationships are real
Scott Brinker in Marketing Metrics & Quantum Physics claims that Einstein helps understand marketing analytics.
Structural realism: “Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted”, Einstein says. He means structural realism: the idea that not things are real, but relationships between them.
We’re taught at school that reality consists of tiny particles, resembling billard balls. Actually for quantum physics these balls (particles) we used to focus on aren’t real, because only what happens between them matters. It’s all about the context.
Structural realism in marketing, or the power of context: We like to measure what is easy to imagine and to count, while any single metrics without context, without data about its relationship to other quantities.
Single metrics is useless. Gather complex data and look for relationships, not simple numbers you can add to your spreadsheet.
2. The power of repetition
Roger Dooley in Repeat, Repeat, Repeat… and Sell More shows that our brains love repetitions and you can use that to boost sales.
Repetition speeds up learning: repetitio est mater studiorum is not a myth! Our brains learn through repetition: the more often we come across a term, the better we remember it. That’s why pop song are based on chorus and repetition – so they stick.
Repetition in marketing: choose your company’s name carefully and with care for its sound. Is it short and easy to say? What is its melody?
Also repeat your name often to make user remember it. Expose it in headers, footers, and materials. Think about rhythm. When you prepare slogans, read them out loud to see how they sound.
3. Uncertainty principle, or don’t trust declarations
Dan Cobley, marketing director at Google, at his TED lecture What Physics Taught Me About Marketing says that uncertainty principle explains why our customers’ declarations differ from their practice.
Uncertainty principle: stands that certain pairs of physical properties (e.g. position and momentum of particle) can’t be learn simultaneously, because act of measuring one of them influences the other. The presence of observer or act of observing itself changes these properties, so they can’t be known.
Uncertainty principle in marketing: according to Cobley, you can’t trust declarations and traditional research, and even abandon the idea of discovering one optimal solution.
You should rather get used to the idea of infinite testing – no solution is final, because circumstances change all the time, what means that analytics and A/B testing are most important marker’s tool.
That’s how Cobley interprets Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle.
(Did you just think of “I’m the one who knocks”?)
4. Reciprocity principle
Raluca Dubiu in The Reciprocity Principle: Give Before You Take in Web Design advises to give before you sell.
Reciprocity principle: in social science means that when we get something as a gift, we feel grateful and obliged to return the favor.
Reciprocity principle in marketing: give! Samples, free materials, access, bonus. And use words that refer to giving: “free”, “for you”, “gift”. Always think of what more can you offer – and try to give it.
Karma – and money – goes back. Customers love being treated as your friends, not as objects of marketing actions, that’s why skillful giving can become such a powerful tool.
5. Because others do so
We are social creatures and marketing reflects that, says Andy Crestodina in The Psychology of Social Proof & How to Build Trust in Your Business.
Social proof: call it conformity or bandwagon effect, but psychologists and sociologists have no doubt: we do things, because other do so.
Social proof in marketing – reviews: encourage users to review your products and share their opinions. Include as many of them on the website as possible.
Nothing works better than recommendation, especially from somebody known. Remember also not to be afraid of stylistic imperfections of reviews. They’re actually beneficial, as making the text look natural and authentic.
Openness to users’ opinions can result in receiving some poor ones, but that’s not a catastrophe. Simply respond to them and show that you want to listen. Offer help.
Read our post on handling negative customer feedback.
6. Shopping is spontaneous
Isaiah Hankel (4 Ways To Influence People’s Actions – The Behavioral Psychology Of Impulse Buying) believes that customers buys much more than they intend to.
Emotions rule our decisions: although we prefer to perceive ourselves as rational a self-aware creatures, we are driven by emotions, often unbeknownst to us.
Emotions in marketing: Firstly, have your customers’ journey planned – both in brick and mortar, and in e-store. What impressions do they get? How can you convince them to buy more by better organization of the store?
Important part is played by visual stimuli. Check your photos and images.
And last tip: shopping should finish with an offer. Find here our guide on how to do upsell and cross-sell with Marketing Automation.
We can’t tackle either external world or ourselves, contemporary science says. But still we can use the knowledge about what we don’t know. Address emotional, impulsive side of your customers and his vulnerability to images, repetitions and sales. Know that his declaration with differ from practice.
Such complex reality can be understood only thanks to analytics that stresses context and relationships.
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