Exploiting conformity to win over customers to your brand

Grace Ngugi, founder, The Loop Consulting. Confronted by a host of choices, customers are increasingly becoming more discerning in choosing one product over another. This means sales executives have to work twice as hard to win over potential customers. One strategy they can employ to their advantage is conformity consumer behaviour, whereby people tend to follow the behaviours and expectations of others when making purchasing decisions. Studies show that conformity helps create a sense of belonging and acceptance, making customers more likely to trust and engage with a brand or product. The phenomenon has been found to influence purchasing decisions, where consumers may conform to popular products or services, leading to a collective behaviour that shapes market trends. Conformity and group thinking are best explained by an anecdotal story of the "five monkeys experiment." While the story is by no means a scientific experiment, it provides a useful metaphor for grasping human behaviour in a group context. According to the story, five monkeys were put in a cage with a ladder in the middle, leading to a bunch of bananas. Whenever a monkey would climb the ladder to fetch the bananas, the rest of the monkeys would be sprayed with cold water. As a reflex reaction, the monkeys would over time avoid the ladder to avoid being sprayed. After a while, one monkey was replaced with a new one that did not know the rule, and whenever it tried to climb the ladder, the other monkeys would prevent it even though no water was sprayed anymore. All the original monkeys were gradually replaced one by one, but with time, each new monkey learnt to avoid the ladder because of what was deduced as the group's behaviour despite none of them experiencing the cold water. The group would continue to avoid climbing the ladder without knowing why. This phenomenon goes to demonstrate social conformity, where individuals take up group behaviour without understanding the original rationale. Similarly, customers use social conformity as a metric to determine whether a product/service is fit. The current business environment is very volatile owing to the disruption by technology and evolving customer demographics. Building a brand that instils familiarity and trust is, therefore, paramount in customer acquisition and retention. Nir Eyal in his book Hooked describes how companies can use the hook model to design habit-forming products, a competitive strategy for both customer acquisition and retention. He asserts that when customers get hooked to a product enough times, they start using the said product without necessarily being prompted by external stimuli. Brand switching also becomes low, since customers prefer products/services they are already familiar with. A recent study by the Loop Consulting showed a drastic surge in traditional marketing approaches, with more customers relying heavily on online feedback, word-of-mouth referrals and testimonials to make their purchasing decisions. As such, customer feedback cannot be overstated in the design and modification of products. They are the end users of these products. While conformity in businesses has been criticised as a path of least resistance, in the Customer Experience realm, it has been linked to quality consistency, reliability and trust. These are vital elements in building customer relationships. Companies can leverage the understanding that individuals tend to adjust their behaviour to align with group norms or expectations in several ways. One, such strategy would be displaying customer reviews, testimonials, or ratings prominently within the business premises. This is simply because when people see others endorsing a product or service, they are more likely to follow suit. In other words, individuals are likely to conform to what others do as long as it is the correct behaviour. Group thinking is also informed by the Fear of Missing Out (Fomo). For instance, you could highlight phrases like "bestseller," "most popular," or "limited stock" on products. This works in that conformity is driven by the fear of missing out on what others are experiencing or value. The writer is the founder, The Loop Consulting, and an adjunct lecturer at a local private university

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