• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, February 11, 2015

Not all research is digital or statistically precise; much is anecdotal and of empirical value. This Research Brief belongs in the latter category and delivers some practical benchmarks. It originates in the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute of Marketing Science’s report “Shopping Takes Only Seconds…,” and is effectively summarized by Randall Beard, President, Nielsen North America.

Mr. Beard begins by noting how many marketing executives have an unrealistic and overly brand-centric view of how important their brands are in people’s everyday lives. The idea that consumers “engage” with brands is no doubt true for a small set of consumers and a limited set of high involvement categories and brands, but for the vast majority of brands, consumers are not engaged to or with brands. They’re just buying them.

The study confirms this, says the report. Based on studies of consumer product purchase behavior, the average consumer spends 13 seconds purchasing a brand in-store. And online, the average consumer spends 19 seconds to purchase, and the majority spent less than 10 seconds.

For most categories, consumers have a small repertoire of brands that are acceptable, and they spend little time thinking about purchase decisions. Their lives are already full and most people simply don’t have the time or energy to engage with brands in any meaningful way, says the report. These consumers most often default to making purchase decisions based on simple habit (previous purchase or “instinct.”)

Habit is pretty clear (I’ve bought this brand before), but instinct simply means that the brand easily comes to mind. The study calls this “mental availability:” the ability for consumers to easily access the brand mentally, and is created thru memory structures. For example, says the report, mental memory structures for GEICO might include:

   The green gecko lizard

   The line “15 minutes could save you 15% or more”

   The cavemen, etc.

These things immediately bring the GEICO brand to mind. Maximizing the number and strength of brand-linked memory structures is key to increasing mental availability of a brand.

In his book “Thinking, Fast and Slow,” Daniel Kahneman describes two different, but equally effective modes of human decision making: thinking fast and thinking slow.

“Thinking fast” is when we make decisions without really being aware of how we are making the decision and, without using significant mental effort, we don’t “think” about the decision. “Thinking slow” is when we are highly attentive to, and thinking hard about, the decision we are making. Like solving an algebraic equation, says the report.

Most consumer purchase decisions are more akin to “thinking fast.” Our brains default to a purchase decision that is largely automatic and highly subconscious, and our decision is based on the quantity and depth of memory structures created by a brand, including its advertising, among other things. Said differently, we are evolved to make simple, fast decisions when we buy, concludes the study.

To ensure that your advertising works in thinking fast moment, the report suggests a few tactical considerations:

• Ensure you have a compelling value proposition that is different and better than competitors. Building memory structures about a compelling value proposition will always be foundational
• Focus on building both strategic and executional brand memory structures. Define your strategy and execution and stick with them. Consistency is key
• Maximize reach. If target consumers aren’t exposed to your advertising, you can’t build memory structures. Research shows that incremental reach is more valuable than incremental frequency
• Ensure media continuity. Advertising memorability decays with time. Staying on air (or online) continuously helps solidify and deepen the memory structures associated with your brand. Someone is buying your category every day!

It’s a sad fact for most marketers, notes the report, that consumers can do without your brand. In fact, for most consumers, buying is a largely habit-based, mostly subconscious process that consumers want to be over with as fast as possible; they have more important things to do than think about your brand.

Which is all the more reason to focus on building brand specific mental availability. When it comes down to the 20 seconds or less that count, you want your brand to be more available for purchase than the next guy.

For additional information from Nielsen, please visit here.