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When in a purchasing situation, the mental faculties of a consumer are said to reside in one or both of two separate “systems”. System 1 is a subconscious (meaning automatic) stimulus response and impulse oriented system. This relies strictly on immediate and automatic decisions made without the interaction of critical thinking. System 2 is conscious, rational process and logic oriented thinking and this is the executive control system. System 2 is the controlling agent of system 1 and this is where decisions are made and control is exercised.
The executive control system is developed, maintained and functions much like a muscle in the human body. And like a muscle, this system draws its energy from glucose in the blood stream. The very act of making decision has shown in studies to draw heavily on this resource and as a result will deplete it over time. So what is the result? As you can imagine impaired decision making…
Imagine the typical shopper moving through isle after isle of products, constantly bombarded with advertising, comparisons, prices, etc… The employment of the system 2 thinking and impulse control is almost constant and will quickly deplete these energy resources and thus impair a person’s ability to employ impulse control and critical thinking during their shopping. So what does this mean specifically? Let’s take a look at the three outcomes of “decision depletion”.
1.
Depletion makes people less likely to
compromise as this is a relatively strenuous
form of decision making. Requiring
integrating, analyzing and trading off this
takes a large amount of energy to perform.
Studies have shown that when people are not
depleted, they are more likely to compromise
(meaning think through a decision on two or
more products). When people are depleted they
tend to take one dimension (price for example)
and go to the extreme (just choose the
cheapest).
2.
Depleted customers are more
likely to fall for the asymmetric dominance
effect. What this means is that when people are
confronted with 2 equally strong, but very
different option the decision is very
difficult. If they are presented with a third
option that is similar to one of the 2 strong
options but very inferior, people will tend to
simply choose the option that is similar to but
better than the decoy. The simple decision
between the two will pervade onto the difficult
one. Depletion significantly intensified this
tendency.
3. Depleted customers are also much more likely to avoid making a purchase all together. When they have the option to simply walk away and worry about it another day, they will simply do that rather than take on the mental exertion of weighing out a decision.
So what can we do with this valuable information? Let’s look at it from both sides:
1.
Consumer – It makes very
good sense as a consumer to be assured that
your blood glucose levels remain constant and
full. Bringing along some fruit or energy
drinks will go a long way toward providing
this. By doing so, you will keep your critical
thinking faculties alive and awake during your
shopping experience and therefore be able to
make rational, logical decisions during the
excursion.
2. Retailers – During almost all shopping experiences the consumer has the option of simply walking away AND defaulting to simply the cheapest purchase. Many times it takes critical evaluation to understand and place an importance on the up-sell of quality and value. Think of ways to infuse sample drinks or fruits or even candy into the shopper’s experience. This will keep not only their critical thinking engaged to provide larger sales but also their longevity to hopefully provide more sales for your establishment.
Article written by David J. Parnell | The Communication Expert
© 2009 Philip Graves Consumer Behaviour Research Resource. All rights reserved.
