Nudge nudge, wink wink. Say no more?

Nudge nudge, wink wink.
Say no more?
Mike Hurst FIRP MSyl, Director, HJA
has a general understanding of these areas of business
will have some knowledge of techniques used to
influence purchasing and decision making, and many
of these have been around for a long time. I suppose it
first came to the fore in the UK when the Behavioural
Insights Team (BIT) was established, as a government
institution, working within No.10. BIT is now a social
purpose company, selling its services internationally.
Here are a couple of examples on how BIT operated.
In the UK, the top 3,000 earners pay more tax than the
bottom 9 million, but perhaps not always on time.
In an attempt to speed up tax payments, BIT targeted
the top 1 percent or the richest people in the country.
The graphic below shows the different approaches taken
to three sample groups.
I defer to few in my appreciation of the Pythons and
the Eric Idle written sketch is one of the classics: “Know
what I mean squire?”
However, the phrase Nudge Theory or ‘nudging’ does
have more contemporary use. Wikipedia, my safety net
for such things, defines it as “a concept in behavioural
science, political theory and economics which argues
that positive reinforcement and indirect suggestions to
try to achieve non-forced compliance can influence the
motives, incentives and decision making of groups and
individuals, at least as effectively – if not more effectively
– than direct instruction, legislation, or enforcement.”
It may also be useful to define “theory”. Theory is
often mis-defined as being an idea or a suggestion,
when in context it actually means, as defined by the
OED, “A scheme or system of ideas or statements held
as an explanation or account of a group of facts or
phenomena.” For example, the Theory of Evolution.
The Nudge Theory has been around since about
2008 and originated, as these things often do, from
academics: in this instance those working in Psychology
and Behavioural Science / Economics. For any of you
interested in reading more on this, I’d recommend
“Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth
and Happiness” by Cass R Sunstein and Richard H
Thaler, and “Misbehaving, The Making of Behavioural
Economics” by Richard H Thaler as good reads.
Anyone who has worked in sales and marketing or
G S
At perhaps the opposite end of the wealth scale there was
a trial in Job Centres to encourage job seekers to turn up
for interviews that had been arranged for them.
• Job Seekers were sent a simple text reminding them
of an interview arranged. The attendance was
11%
• By adding the applicant's first name, attendance rose
to
15%
• Additionally, when signed by the the job Centre staff,
it rose to
17%
• and finally, by adding "Good Luck" to the end of the
message attendance hit
27%
27 percent is still quite a low figure, but a massive
increase from 11 percent.
In another trial, this time in Essex, job seekers were
asked to write about their attitudes towards work and
outline some of their goals and aspirations. The people
undergoing this particular trail were 17.5 percent more
likely to acquire a job than those in the group using the
pre-existing system. These trials have now been rolled
out nationally.
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These examples are all related to government activity,
but there are other applications in, say, parenting or, of
course, commercial applications. In business (or at least
in smart business) there is a clear move away from just
the traditional way of sales and marketing into a more
considered, sophisticated, some may say, intelligent way
of doing business. You still need people ‘on the road’
seeing customers (and selling to them) and marketing
people presenting the company and the products, but I
work with a number of companies who seek to promote
their businesses along Nudge principles. They may not
call it nudging or even be aware of Nudge Theory but
this is the current trend - and it can work.
In many cases it is as simple as putting away the stick
and bringing out a carrot. We’re all aware of some of
the child psychology where rather than saying, “tidy
your room or you will get punished,” the child is told
“tidy your room and you will get rewarded.” It’s much
the same in business. Why try to make someone feel
guilty for not buying something, when by taking a more
heuristic approach you can make them truly want to buy
into the product.
This may all sound a bit touchy-feely, but it is based
on solid academic research by people far more clever
that me. I know - when I first learned of this approach
I was sceptical as, to be fair, is my wont. However, after
looking in to it I realised I had been nudged and had
helped nudge others, without realising it. Since then I
have tried to use Nudge to help both my business and
my clients’.
As ever, knowledge is a powerful tool. Or, to put it
into Nudge terms (sort of), “A slight inclination of the
cranium is as adequate as a spasmodic movement of one
optic towards an equine quadruped utterly devoid of any
visionary capacity.”
Mike Hurst is a director of security and fire recruitment
specialists HJA, www.hja.co.uk
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Recruitment
Professionals, a main board Director of the Security
Institute and Vice Chairman of ASIS International
in the UK and a member of its European Advisory
Council.
“Why try to make
someone feel guilty for
not buying something,
when by taking a more
heuristic approach you
can make them truly want
to buy into the product.”
- Mike Hurst
DIGITAL LEADERS
Target, target, target
Identify a small number of outlets that
you think will be able to get your message
out to the target audience you are trying
to influence. Get to know the outlets, the
key editorial staff in them, their reach and
readership, and any claims they make.
Know the outlets you trust
If you are using a media outlet and you
don’t look into the audience they claim
to reach then how do you know you are
hitting the right target? Check what they
say that they do. If they claim a geographic spread, check it on alexa.com; if
they claim an online readership, ask for a
snapshot of the back end of their website
or server; if they claim a target audience,
request a sample of their visitors. Print
circulation claims are difficult to verify,
but online claims are not. With today’s
technology, if online media outlets say
they can’t track your post - get suspicious.
Statistics and what is or isn’t accurate
is a separate debate. Some people like
some tools to capture read statistics, some
like others. The actual numbers between
different tools will differ hugely. The
important thing is to ensure consistency
in reporting and to watch the trends.
For more on statistics, visit:
http://www.securitynewsdesk.com/
statistics-useful-guide-misleading-lies/
Don’t use one message for all
It’s easy to produce one press release and
send it to all your favourite media outlets
and think, “great, job done.” Wrong
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You will not achieve the online impact
that you are looking for.
When was the last time one of
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target audience. You should have a few
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of your product or service; or one for
installers and integrators that might
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The greater the variety of versions,
the greater the likelihood that they will
be better indexed in search engines and
therefore read more widely.
Rich content appeals to all
Some people love to read, some people
love to watch, and some people like to
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outputs able to work in different media?
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Review, review, review
Having sent a story out, how can you
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Six tips to get
the best out of
media outlets
28/05/2015 17:53