Applied “Buyology” 101

About a month ago I received an e-mail from my new friend Martin Lindstrom asking me to review his latest book “Buyology.” Needless to say I was thrilled!

I’m still reading the book and will do a full review as part of my Book Review Series on Small Business Trends. In the meantime, I thought I would share some of the most interesting findings from Martin’s extensive research and explore how we might actually apply these to our business.

1. People buy more when they’re sold with a smile. Now we have proof (via fMRI scans of test subjects) that your mother was right and that you should spend more time smiling. Of course no one ever really said “Smile if you want to get what you want.” But that’s basically the lesson here. And don’t smile like my 8-year-old (this fake painted on thing). Smile like you mean it - like you really LIKE the person you’re looking at. If you can’t smile with conviction, you’re talking to the wrong person. See Martin Smile in the picture here? Yeah - like that.
2. We like products and characters that LOOK like babies. I heard this story on NPR about why we fall in love with certain characters such as E.T. and Wall-E and the reason, according to these brain scans, is that we have a soft spot for “baby faces.” The example in Buyology is the Mini Cooper. As it turns out - people aren’t so much moved by its performance capabilities as they are by the way it’s face reminds us of babies. It’s big doe-eyed headlamps and a grill that’s shaped into a smile unconsciously attracts their ideal buyer. And for those of you that are attracted to the sporty Ferrari-shaped cars — it’s all about the “peacock” affect. When subjects were shown pictures of these hot cars - the subjects were looking to attract females with automotive plumage. The lesson here is once again, know your strength, know your customer and what’s important to them and physically design your product or service to appeal to that audience.
3. Ritual creates habit and habit creates loyalty. This is one of my favorite lessons so far. Studies show that children who are raised with consistency and ritual tend to do better in all aspects of life. Most of us love ritual because it frees up our minds to concentrate on other things. Rituals are comforting and give us a sense of control. I’ve heard chatter about the fact that logos are becoming irrelevant and Buyology does a wonderful job of explaining how and why. Logos only serve as an initial attachment to a product - but it’s not the logo that anchors us to the brand - it’s the emotional elements that remind us of that brand that trigger the need to have it. This is incredible news to small business owners. It proves out why the “experience” is so important. Once your ideal customer attaches their experience to your brand - then any element of your brand will remind them of this experience and trigger the need to get more.

Some How-to’s on Developing Rituals

1. Uncover, develop and systemetize your brand. Don’t even attempt to do this unless you’ve got your strength or USP (Unique Selling Proposition) identified - and it feels good to you. For help on this Click over to DIY Marketers and register on the right-hand side for your free download of a worksheet that will help.
2. Is there a physical element that you can choose? Is there a color combination, or something physical about you that will remind customers of YOU and their experience of you?
3. Is it language? Think Starbucks or Waffle House, is there something about the language that you use that will remind customers of you?
4. What are ritualistic things you naturally do that others don’t do - that reminds customers of you? Do you greet them in a specific way? Do you have a unique process that you follow? THINK.

Let me know what you’ve done around these elements to get customers to choose you.

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