Future-Proof Your Brand with Brand Familiarity

Selection overload is partially why customers select acquainted choices, and for this reason leveraging familiarity could be a superpower to make your model stand out in a sea of comparable selections.

2. It modulates the way in which we understand experiences

Familiarity bias is just not solely a useful resource optimization course of but additionally an actual software that has been proven to modulate attention, memory, brand preferences, donation behavior, and even perceived taste in the case of meals.

Let’s take an instance that hits near house for me: As an Italian, my childhood afternoon snack was Nutella on bread, so each time I see some other chocolate unfold, I don’t even contemplate it, as all of them appear to style bizarre to me; nevertheless, my Spanish good friend Isabel grew up with Nocilla and swears by it, saying that Nutella tastes dangerous as compared.

However why does that occur? It’s as a result of familiarity may even modulate the way in which we perceptually expertise one thing, producing an affect-biased desire conduct, as proven by the Wageningen College & Analysis within the Netherlands. The research group tested brand recognition and taste preference in soy sauce and concluded that if the model of the sauce was identified and acquainted, it was reportedly preferred extra. This style desire utilized even when contributors thought they acknowledged the acquainted model however had been incorrect. Recognition, both right or incorrect, of their very own acquainted model considerably elevated liking scores.

Whereas theories of decision-making and feelings are extra complicated and nonetheless below investigation, the ability of familiarity on model notion and desire has been demonstrated by a number of different research all through the previous few a long time (Monroe, 1976; Park & Lessig, 1981; Maria Sääksjärvi, Saeed Samiee, 2007; Ma, Wang & Da, 2021 to call just some). For instance, an iconic one by McClure and colleagues investigated the behavioral desire displayed for acquainted manufacturers by exposing contributors to a blind style take a look at of Pepsi vs. Coca-Cola. When contributors didn’t know the model of the drink they had been tasting, the desire for one or the opposite was cut up equally within the group; nevertheless, when the drinks had been labeled, ‘model information for one of many drinks had a dramatic affect on expressed behavioral preferences and on the measured mind responses.’ Briefly, each model information and cultural influences bias desire primarily based on have an effect on.

3. It makes us really feel protected

As we now have seen, the familiarity bias permits us to skim down choices and free cognitive sources to allocate to different vital duties, however what makes it so highly effective in behavioral and monetary choices is one thing extra profound – the notion of security it may well convey.

Whereas it’s undoubtedly a resource-effective mechanism, familiarity additionally modulates how we really feel about manufacturers, especially the perceived trust we can put in them. And it’s exactly the perception of safety that can lead a casual visitor to a trusted customer.

The familiarity heuristic has been widely known in behavioral economics, with investors choosing local or domestic companies as they associate it with less risk. The identical appears to occur for on-line companies, too. If you happen to dig into the Google Search Console (GSC) queries of some international corporations, you will discover that branded, location-based key phrases are bringing in a variety of searches – and generally minimal click-through charges (CTRs), which is the place they may lose potential prospects who’re evaluating their affords.