Uncertainty can be a showstopper: Kristina Radova

The effectiveness of everyday communications can be improved by adopting a behavioural science approach. This is possible as Behavioural science embraces the cognitive biases and nuances of human behaviour. In this episode of Mrigashira, Charu Raizada speaks to Kristina Radova, Senior Behavioral Consultant at MINDWORX Behavioral Consulting, to understand why it is important for brands to identify potential behavioural barriers, for success.

Listen to the podcast here:https://open.spotify.com/episode/19ddR3OwwXwSQHjL5L2neX?si=20d39ede2ab04827

How can behaviour change techniques be used effectively by brands, especially in today's polarised world?

I think the first thing we need to realise when we’re trying to sell or achieve our business goals, is to understand that beyond each of that goal is human behaviour. We need to ask ourselves what's the key behaviour we are trying to influence or change. It is important to realise that our decision doesn't happen in a vacuum. Next thing companies always ask us is how can we motivate people to do what we want them to do to invest or buy our products? Or sign up for our newsletter? First thing we tell them is, before we try to motivate, we need to understand why the people aren't doing what we want them to do already. What are the barriers?

I have a favourite author Jonah Berger and he uses an example – you are trying to get a car running. Your handbrake is on, you are pushing on gas, and you are trying to start the car. But first what you need to do is to remove the handbrake, and only then it makes sense to add gas. So that's the first thing we tell companies. First you need to understand what are the uncertainties or barriers which prevent people from doing what you want them to do. Do they have enough information? Do they have opportunity to do something? Is your webpage comprehensible? And only after you fix those things and understand what are the things in your customers’ way, only then it makes sense to use principles of persuasion, say social proof. We are swayed by other people's choices, and commitment and consistency. We try to be consistent with what we have done in the past. Those are very useful tools. But first step is to really understand what is happening what is preventing people from doing something.

How can communicators make brand stories capture some of the elements of human behaviour for better engagement?

I think the restaurant industry is pretty good at this. They understood that when you describe something in a juicy, descriptive language, let's say a meal, you can actually increase sales of a particular item. So you just don't say, this is a steak with potatoes. But you say this is a family bread, it was raised on a ranch, and it had free range. And this is our homemade sauce and stuff like that. So, first thing is that we don't know how much something is valued? Is something at a fair price? Or is it something that is too expensive, we are very bad at gauging that and to be able to do that, the first thing we do is, we look at the value or the effort, which has been put into something. Think about Apple products – they are very good at talking about what kind of effort went into designing their new technology, very descriptive language. I encourage your listeners to open an Apple web page, and look at the copy they have on their page to justify the price and this is key. Because if you are asking someone to invest in something, you need to realise that people are bad at gauging what a fair price is. To help them justify the price, it's good to use some sort of story about how much effort went into what they are trying to sell or what they are trying to get you hooked on. The rule of thumb is that stories work best. We were narrators ever since we evolved and if you can put a story around your product or mentioned details of how much effort went into collaboration or working on it, then the price will be easier to justify for a customer even if you ask for a higher price.

How can brands, storytellers and communicators use that in their communication?

I would say that the first thing every company should do is to look at your communication, whatever it is that you are sending out to the world and do a friction audit and that goes back to what I was talking about previously, about barriers of change. So, in order to change people's minds, first we need to remove the handbrake. I have an interesting case study of a bank, where the company was trying to improve customer experience by giving them all these tools and gadgets. But they didn't understand that the main barrier was not that people did not trust banks, which was what the company thought. What they actually found out was that people didn't trust themselves in handling their money. Once they understood this, then they adjusted the communication. We prepared this handbook for them to walk people through on what they need to do to get the most value of their account, and they made themselves more approachable. Many people are confused by finances, it's totally okay. They used principle of unity, which is one of the six or seven principles of persuasion, which Robert Cialdini talks about in his book, ‘Influence at Work’. They made their stuff more understanding, like they are on the same boat. They made it more human, and that made it more approachable.

Another example I want to talk about is how uncertainty can really be a showstopper and what was going on at that time in Slovakia. It was after the fall of the Iron Curtain and we started to get Western goods, we got this type of cheese, which is called Leerdammer and it's a Dutch cheese. It was not packed and you had to go to a counter and ask the person to cut you a slice. People were not buying that cheese and Leerdammer couldn't understand it because you know, ratings were good. When you sampled, people love the cheese. Value was good, price was not a problem, they liked the taste of it, but they were not buying it. Then we found that people didn't know how to pronounce the name of the cheese. So as you see this little barrier, which is not about the price, it's not about the product, it's about something totally unrelated to it that caused people to change their decision. Once the company figured this out, they used their next campaign to communicate how to pronounce the name and the sales increased.

You talked about seven principles of persuasion, I am really keen to understand some of these?

One that is commonly used is called ‘Social Proof’. When we are uncertain, we tend to look into what other people are doing, and especially people who are similar to us, or are in a similar situation to us. We were working for a job portal web page and they were trying to increase the number of applicants who responded to their job ads. Usually people use social proof in the context of – 10,000 people bought this product, or 60; or people are currently looking at this room, and they're about to book it. That's usually how social proof is used and it's combined with another principle, which is called ‘Scarcity’. But we said to the company that let's try this on a job portal web page. Let's show people how many people already applied for the same position they are looking at. We tested this and found out that if the number of people who applied was featured on the base, conversions increased. This single intervention increased conversions by 138%.

We look into emotional drivers of behaviour, rather than just rational things. Usually companies are very good at looking at rational things, as you saw with the cheese case, our customers like the taste, the price is good, what is going on, but the emotion is the driver. I think we all know that this is what's happening even now with vaccination – when you see that other people in your social circle are vaccinated, you are more likely to get vaccinated. I really would encourage people to check out that book to know more.

Your advice for communicators for upskilling to understand this space a lot better?

What I would suggest is, no matter what your position is, people like examples and clear takeaways. I would encourage them to visit insidebe.com, which is a platform dedicated to applying behavioural economics and psychology directly to business and it features a lot of interviews with experts from across the globe.

*Edited for length and clarity

(Mirgashira is a podcast for Indian PR and Communication professionals anchored by RadhaRadhakrishnan and Charu Raizada. To listen to all episodes visit https://www.mrigashirapodcast.com/)

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