For decades psychologists and self help writers have focused on motivating people to do things like save money or lose weight, but it turns out most often it’s the case that you cannot change someone’s motivation. Instead of focusing on one requirement for behavior, i.e. motivation, BJ Fogg gives us a behavior model that helps us understand the role of motivation and allows us to understand how to alter a person’s behavior. To do this we need to place low cost triggers in the path of the person. Costs include cost in time, resources, effort, etc.
Why are established platforms good for marketing campaigns?
Established platforms like facebook, youtube and mobile devices like iPhone and iPad provide lower cost to the user for initiating behaviors than, for example, a behavior to visit your website. The cost is lower because the user doesn’t have to commit as much to performing just that behavior. Of course this only work if the user has a routine of going to that platform.
Consider an offline example. Terrence receives two ads in his mailbox. The first is for a product from a new producer of energy drinks at Wal-Mart where Terrence goes every week to purchase groceries. The other ad is for the same new energy drink, but at Sweet Bay grocery stores; a store Terrence has never visited. The cost for Terrence in the first ad is lower, because (1) he has a routine of going to Wal-Mart so he does not need as much motivation to go as he would to a new store and (2) if he doesn’t end up purchasing the item, the trip might still be salvaged since he knows about other purchases he can make there. The 2nd point is important because if you’re trying to get a person to make a purchase of a new product at an unfamiliar store, they have to commit to making the purchase before leaving the house, whereas if the place is familiar the commitment doesn’t need to be as strong. They could do other things while they’re there.
Bringing this back online, consider the user who gets an email for a new product or service and the email (or notification) comes from either facebook or the email comes directly from the vendor. Which email is likely to be opened (behavior 1)? Which email is likely to be acted on (behavior 2)? Why? It’s not just the familiarity, but the low cost in acting on it, i.e. the user can do other things on facebook and this call to action might even be a good excuse to do that. In addition, the user already has a routine that includes acting on emails from facebook.
Many companies large and small are already on facebook. If you’re not you probably should be. If you are, be sure to consider the likelihood you’ll get your users to perform the desired behaviors by leveraging the platforms. For instance, suppose you’re launching a new feature for your interactive marketing strategy. Should it be hosted on your website or your facebook page or a mobile device? It depends on your users, the desired behaviors and other factors like the underlying technology, but understanding how to alter a user’s behavior in a desired way is an important factor in the decision to leverage one platform over another.
