Sentient Insight: the business blog for consumer psychology and consumer marketing

The November First Command Financial Behaviors IndexTM reveals increased feelings of financial security during the holiday season this year as evident from holiday spending. The Index, commissioned by First Command and conducted by Sentient, examines financial behaviors, attitudes and intentions among U.S. consumers ongoing since February 2008.

Despite low mortgage rates, the October First Command Financial Behaviors IndexTM reveals that many Americans are not taking advantage of this opportunity to refinance their mortgage because of the continued economic instability. The Index, commissioned by First Command and conducted by Sentient, examines financial behaviors, attitudes and intentions among U.S. consumers ongoing since February 2008.

Understanding hot-state decision making can provide a significant short-term boon in purchase behavior. But ethically, and from a long-term business health perspective, we don’t want to sacrifice long-term consumer satisfaction for short-term reward. The first note of solace on the ethical front is this: people do not respond emotionally to things they don’t value. Thus, if a consumer is responding emotionally to your product, it is because the value for that product is inherent in the consumer. The debate on consumer values, and the attempt to influence what consumers actually value, is better left to be battled on the socio-cultural level.

Sentient Decision Science has predicted the 2011 trends that will continue to transform the research industry and help shape the customer agenda for Global 2000 brands: Behavioral science will supplant traditional market research: Traditional market research is very good at describing what people have done, but has lacked insight into the true drivers of behavior. Plucking principles from psychology, sociology, anthropology, neuroscience and behavioral economics has proven to provide an immediate boost to the bottom line by revealing specific methods for influencing customer behavior.

The results of the 2010 Most Memorable New Product Launch study were recently released, with Apple’s iPad claiming the top spot, followed closely by Microsoft’s Windows 7. Sentient collaborated with Schneider Associates and SymphonyIRI to conduct this study. In a new twist to this annual study, Sentient’s advanced methodologies were used to augment traditional survey data and shed light on subconscious emotional associations with new products.

When consumers encounter promotions while shopping, they are compelled to act on their visceral impulses. At Sentient Decision Science, we call this compulsion hot-state decision making. Hot-states lead to a reduction in immediate self-control (Loewenstein, 2000), and many marketing campaigns emphasize immediate action with hot phrases like “One day only!” and “Call now!”

Sentient recently partnered with Schneider Associates and SymphonyIRI Group to conduct the ninth annual Most Memorable New Product Launch Survey. The results of this study were published on Forbes CMO network (http://bit.ly/mmnpl), and can also be accessed at http://www.mmnpl.com/ A few brands stuck out in the mass of new products launched between October 2009 and September 2010. Apple, with its launch of the iPad (No. 1), topped the list as the most memorable product of 2010 with 42 percent of Americans identifying it as one of their most recalled products.