The Buying Brain: Secrets for Selling to the Subconscious Mind

Chapter 13. The Buying Brain and Products

At the end of this chapter, you'll know and be able to use the following:

• The specific processes that the subconscious goes through when a product is consumed or experienced

• How the neurological high points of those processes can be extracted and leveraged for maximum product design, performance, and marketing effectiveness

• How to apply neurological testing to significantly improve the success rates and avoid the potential pitfalls of new product introduction

• How to determine the appropriate price for a product and the bounds of price elasticity and reasonability within the deep subconscious mind of the consumer

• How the principals of product feature bundling work from a neuroscientific point of view

The Problem: Altering a "Sure Thing"

The Brand Manager and the head of Consumer Insights sat across the conference table from me. In between, atop the polished mahogany, sat their product.

The Brand Manager explained, "We already know what the top attractors are—what we'd like to get is additional data on how our customers would respond if we alter the formulation." The confidence in her voice bespoke her long tenure at the helm of this well-known brand. "Slightly," she added, with a note of reassurance for my benefit, I guessed. "We're not going to mess with a sure thing."

"Well, we know from focus groups what the attractors are," the Consumer Insights chief quickly interjected. "But you're saying the test you do may produce something else?"

That conversation ...