A tin ear for consumer decisions

Tom Ewing - A Tin Ear for Consumer Decisions

One of the great British slogans is DIY brand Ronseal’s “Does exactly what it says on the tin”. In a world of low trust and high BS, this has passed into the vernacular, receiving its final anointment as a cliché when Prime Minister David Cameron cited it at the start of this year. But even his endorsement can’t shift its meaning: a product with truthful packaging is a product you can rely on.

“Does what it says on the tin” has a plain, no-nonsense air. These tins, you might imagine, say what they need and then get on with the job. The only problem is that tins – and any packaging – often suffer from something of a big mouth. A combination of innovation, regulation, and misguided assumptions around what people care about has led to packaging with a glut of information. Minor points of difference, claims of origin and authenticity, trumpeted benefits and compulsory warnings fight for attention. Ronseal’s packs remain admirably to-the-point, but for too many brands, the laconic tin has become a neurotic chatterbox.

At the heart of the problem is psychology. In his book, Thinking, Fast And Slow – rapidly becoming a Bible for forward-thinking marketers – Daniel Kahneman describes the focusing illusion. Unlike some of the more counterintuitive biases we deal with, this is very simple: nothing is ever as important as it seems when you’re thinking about it.

Both marketers and consumers are subject to the focusing illusion. Marketers, obviously, think about their brand and its features all the time, which makes them focusing illusion poster boys. But consumers are also subject to it: if they can be induced to think about a feature – like price, or ingredients, or the fact their phone can now talk back to them – they will overrate it too.

The thing is, that’s not how people work. In store, they’re usually not thinking – they’re acting out of habit, or being guided by emotion. They’re using what Kahneman calls System 1 thinking – making fast decisions, and not engaging their slower System 2 processing, which would carefully sort through the various pieces of information on a pack. Instead, under System 1 that information gets ignored.

In fact, almost the only circumstances people engage System 2 to judge a pack, paying full attention to packaging claims, is a research test. Here they typically have as much time as they want to assess pack information and make a decision. In general, research is to the focusing illusion as a swamp is to malaria, and pack research is a particularly powerful breeding ground for overclaimed importance.

When a client came to BrainJuicer asking why their research told them their pack was the best but it continually lost out at shelf, we thought about this focusing conundrum. The client’s pack was information rich – the winning competitor’s was more visual, and dominated by a very emotional image.

We decided to try and test the packs in an environment more conducive to System 1 thinking, putting artificial time limits on people’s choices to prevent them from carefully assessing the packs. What we found were results which far more closely approximated real sales data – the more emotional, less information-rich competitor brand did better.

Our conclusion? The focusing illusion in research can be beaten, and we can test packs in the right psychological frame. But really the onus is on marketers to learn that most consumer goods packaging works in a low attention, system 1 context, and adjust the packs accordingly. Doing exactly what it says on the tin is great, but only if the tin shuts up sometimes.

Read more from BrainJuicer.

Newsletter

Enjoy this? Get more.

Our monthly newsletter, The Edit, curates the very best of our latest content including articles, podcasts, video.

CAPTCHA
2 + 1 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Become a member

Not a member yet?

Now it's time for you and your team to get involved. Get access to world-class events, exclusive publications, professional development, partner discounts and the chance to grow your network.