Absolute Value: What Really Influences Customers in the Age of (Nearly) Perfect Information by Itamar Simonson & Emanuel Rosen

Author:Itamar Simonson & Emanuel Rosen [Simonson, Itamar]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2014-02-03T14:00:00+00:00

III

A New Framework

9

THE INFLUENCE MIX

WE DOUBT THAT many readers of this book frequently visit certain fan pages on Facebook, such as those dedicated to paper towel brands like Bounty or Brawny. So if you’ve ever wondered what’s happening on those pages when you’re not looking, here’s a quick snapshot from a random week in the winter of 2012. On the Bounty page, the moderator asked fans: “Have an endless to do list? If only Bounty could wipe away some chores. What do you want to wipe away this week?” Nineteen people had something to say about that. At the Brawny Towels page, a different question was presented: “Eat a Red Apple Day is tomorrow. Name one of the messiest recipes that calls for apples!” Thirty-four people responded (applesauce seemed to be the winner).

With marketers’ rush to social media, we often see strategies that are adopted across categories without much attention to how well they are aligned with the way consumers make decisions in a certain domain. Inviting fans to “join the conversation” can be perfect in some categories, but the potential impact of engaging consumers in a conversation about paper towels is limited at best.

Things work differently in different categories. The shifts we describe in this book will not happen evenly across the board. There are areas where they are in full swing, then there are areas where they are progressing very slowly, and there are domains they will most likely never reach. We don’t expect these trends to apply in the same way to cars and paper towels, to well-connected and to less connected consumers, and to decisions made with or without time pressure. In this chapter we introduce a framework—the Influence Mix—that lays the foundation for this discussion. Simply put, this framework should help marketers determine the relevance of the trends we’ve described to their particular situation. From brands losing their role as proxies for quality to the declining effectiveness of persuasion techniques—the extent to which these trends apply to a particular firm depends on its customers’ Influence Mix.

We start with a simple idea: A person’s decision to buy is affected by a mix of three related sources:

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