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1-Page Summary of Buyology

Overview

We often don’t know why we buy things. In order to better understand consumers, marketers should look at consumers’ brains while they’re making purchases.

What was your last big purchase? Was it a smart decision or a spur-of-the-moment thing? Did you choose the product rationally and logically, or did external factors influence your decision?

If we’re honest, there are times when our purchasing decisions aren’t based on a rational comparison of the product’s pros and cons, but rather a gut-level decision that we can’t explain. What exactly motivates us to buy? And why is it that some people prefer Pepsi over Coke or Ruffles over Lays? While it may seem like personal preferences in taste, there’s actually more to it than meets the eye.

Buyology studies what happens in our brains to make us buy different products. It shows that the methods used by marketers, such as questionnaires, don’t always work because we often say we want one thing and our brains actually want something else.

Instead of using marketing strategies that have been proven to work, marketers should look into neuromarketing. This is a form of marketing that uses advanced neuroimaging technology to understand how the brain reacts when exposed to products and branding materials.

In this article, you will learn whether subliminal advertising works, why sex doesn’t sell products, what Oreos and the Catholic Church have in common, and how to gross out smokers enough into quitting.

Big Idea #1: Mirror neurons are responsible for our buying decisions.

Why do we yawn when someone else does? Or why do we smile when someone smiles at us? It’s all because of mirror neurons.

In 1992, a scientist named Giacomo Rizzolatti conducted an experiment on monkeys. He was surprised to discover that the same part of the monkey’s brain lit up when they were reaching for something and when they saw someone else reach for it.

Mirror neurons are activated when we see other people perform an action. This suggests that our brains respond the same way whether we’re doing something or watching someone else do it.

Essentially, we reenact what we see others doing. Companies use this to their advantage when they advertise products, because our mirror neurons respond to images of people using a product or wearing clothes from that company. For example, the attractive models on Abercrombie & Fitch bags trigger our brains with the promise of a perfect body.

Mirror neurons work with the pleasure hormone dopamine to create that feeling of happiness. Retail therapy is a good example of this, because it causes us to buy things we don’t need even though our rational minds would tell us not to.

Buying things makes us feel good. The reason for that is evolution. Buying something indicates an increase in social status, which increases our chances at reproduction—our survival instinct releases dopamine to urge us to buy the latest car model or a fancy new handbag so we can reproduce more effectively.

Big Idea #2: The way we perceive products is affected by our body’s reaction to them.

Imagine you’re at the grocery store buying peanut butter. Do you choose Skippy, Jif or Peter Pan? Most likely, you decide without giving it much thought – though if asked why, you probably can’t explain your choice either.

This is because our brains have created shortcuts to help us make decisions. These shortcuts are called somatic markers, and they’re made up of a lifetime of experiences that we condense into one automatic response whenever we face the same decision.

In fact, a recent study found that more than half of our purchasing decisions are made on impulse and without thinking about it. This is because we have already created a decision-making map in our minds with somatic markers. These markers cause us to prefer certain brands over others. For example, the Andrex puppy mascot makes us think of families and toilet training, which strengthens the brand’s association with those concepts.