LET YOUR CUSTOMERS COMPLETE THE PICTURE

Home > On Customers > LET YOUR CUSTOMERS COMPLETE THE PICTURE.

LET YOUR CUSTOMERS COMPLETE THE PICTURE.

March 12th, 2008

Read the following paragraph.

“Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabridge Uinvervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the litteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a ttoal mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is besauae ocne we laren how to raed we bgien to aargnre the lteerts in our mnid to see waht we epxcet to see. The huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but preecsievs the wrod as a wlohe. We do tihs ucnsoniuscoly wuithot tuhoght.”

In addition to sending your spell-check into panic mode, the above paragraph does one other thing. It demonstrates how your brain can make total sense out of something even when some seemingly vital parts are missing.

Researchers have shown how new information automatically flows into pre-formed channels in your brain. These channels were created by your life experiences. After a while, it takes only a small bit of information to activate an entire channel. The mind automatically corrects and completes the information to select and activate an established pattern. Pretty cool, huh?

For marketers, this points to the importance of “triggers” that will activate the channels in your customers’ brains. All they need is a little something to remind them of their experience with you, and you’ve got them.

The most powerful triggers are the sensual ones or others that elicit emotional responses. (Think of how the smell of freshly baked bread can take you back to your mother’s kitchen.)

By acknowledging that as consumers, we all have these pre-formed channels, it frees you from the belief that every communication starts from scratch. Instead, we view them through the filters of our life experience. And as research show, communications are more effective when the receiver has the opportunity to participate in them.