Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy

Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy

by Phil Barden
Released March 2013
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781118345603

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Book description

In this groundbreaking book Phil Barden reveals what decision science explains about people's purchase behaviour, and specifically demonstrates its value to marketing.

He shares the latest research on the motivations behind consumers' choices and what happens in the human brain as buyers make their decisions. He deciphers the 'secret codes' of products, services and brands to explain why people buy them. And finally he shows how to apply this knowledge in day to day marketing to great effect by dramatically improving key factors such as relevance, differentiation and credibility.

  • Shows how the latest insights from the fields of Behavioural Economics, psychology and neuro-economics explain why we buy what we buy

  • Offers a pragmatic framework and guidelines for day-to-day marketing practice on how to employ this knowledge for more effective brand management - from strategy to implementation and NPD.

  • The first book to apply Daniel Kahneman's Nobel Prize-winning work to marketing and advertising

  • Packed with case studies, this is a must-read for marketers, advertising professionals, web designers, R&D managers, industrial designers, graphic designers in fact anyone whose role or interest focuses on the 'why' behind consumer behaviour.

  • Foreword by Rory Sutherland, Executive Creative Director and Vice-Chairman, OgilvyOne London and Vice-Chairman,Ogilvy Group UK

  • Full colour throughout

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title page
  3. Copyright page
  4. Dedication
  5. Foreword
  6. Preface
  7. 1 Decision Science: Understanding the Why of Consumer Behaviour
    1. Let there be light!
    2. Decision science and economics merge
    3. A science-based framework for marketing
    4. The (almost) unlimited capacity of the autopilot
    5. What fires together wires together
    6. Framing – the autopilot frames our experience
    7. Why we underestimate the influence of the implicit level
    8. Decoding the autopilot
  8. 2 The Moment of Truth: Decoding Purchase Decisions
    1. The neuro-logic of a purchase decision
    2. How to increase value
    3. Price can increase perceived value
    4. Language can increase perceived value
    5. Suggestion
    6. Reducing perceived cost
    7. Money is not the only cost
    8. Value–cost relation is relative
    9. Occasion-based marketing
  9. 3 Decoding the Interface: How the Autopilot Perceives Touchpoints
    1. The power of perception
    2. The eye is not a camera
    3. Recognition – what is it?
    4. Recognition is also based on contextual cues
    5. Concepts – what does it stand for?
    6. New and consistent – squaring the circle?
    7. Value-based attention: What we want is what we see
    8. The ‘pop-out’ effect – attention is also triggered by contrast
    9. Perceptual fluency adds value
    10. Faces are of high value
    11. Price sensor – the sixth sense
  10. 4 Optimizing the Path to Purchase: The Decision Interface Makes the Difference
    1. Decision interfaces influence purchase decisions: a visit to the canteen
    2. Interfaces change behaviour without changing minds
    3. Incremental innovations with huge impact
    4. Principles of persuasive decision interfaces
    5. Tangibility – no signal no action
    6. Immediacy – I want it NOW!
    7. Certainty – the bird in the hand
    8. How it all works together
    9. Heuristics work internationally
  11. 5 Goals: The Driving Forces of Purchase Decisions
    1. Goal value – the driver of motivated behaviour
    2. Goals drive attention
    3. Implicit goal pursuit: goals can be activated and monitored on autopilot
    4. Relevance – purchase as a means to an end
    5. Brands serve consumer goals
    6. We buy expected goal achievement
    7. The two levels of goal value
    8. Decoding implicit goals
    9. Maximizing relevance and differentiation: goal-based brand propositions
  12. 6 From Positioning to Touchpoints: Bringing Value to Life
    1. Closing the implementation gap
    2. Why ‘emotion’ does not help
    3. Goals guide implementation because they are linked to signals
    4. People buy categories first
    5. Guidance beyond formalism
    6. 360 degree – how to avoid goal dilution
    7. Borrowed memory – the source of objectivity
    8. Borrowed memories are culture specific
    9. Baked in – signals determine credibility
    10. The bottom-up approach to credible propositions
    11. Embodied cognition – our body thinks as well
  13. Closing Remarks
  14. Acknowledgements
  15. Recommended Reading
  16. Index

Product information

  • Title: Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy
  • Author(s): Phil Barden
  • Release date: March 2013
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781118345603