In terms of the methodology, we conducted an in-depth analysis off all aspects of communications for both Old El Paso and Schwartz brand communications at fixture. Using our master database of 1,500+ behavioural science insights, each brand’s in-store communication was cross referenced against 15 different Behavioural Science subtopics, from visibility and stand out, through processing fluency and emotion, to how price and promotion are being communicated.
Let’s Talk Results
The Schwartz branded bay treatment returned a very good score of 67% in terms of being psychologically optimised. Whereas the Ole El Paso branded bay activity returned an optimisation score of 48%. In fact, the Schwartz communications outscored Old El Paso in 14 out of 15 Behavioural Science subtopics.
So what made the difference? When we conduct Behavioural Science audits for our clients, they receive comprehensive analysis, complete with recommendations and direction. Here are just a small fraction of the types of recommendations we make.
Old El Paso use a headline image of food, Schwartz, on the other hand, use a headshot of Nadiya: Psychologically, we are a social species driven by fight, flight and find a mate, and even have a dedicated area in the brain specifically for identifying and processing other peoples faces. As a result, faces are more attention grabbing than tacos.
Next, when it comes to brands being considered in-store, Processing Fluency is a key consideration. Processing Fluency is a cognitive bias where our preference for something is strongly influenced by how easily our brains can process and understand it. When a message, product, or brand is simple and clear, we tend to like it more because our brains naturally favour what’s easy to comprehend.
From a shopper marketing perspective, this offers a significant advantage. When a brand’s messaging or product presentation is easy for shoppers to understand and engage with, they are more likely to prefer it. In essence, if a shopper finds a brand easy to process mentally, they are more inclined to make a purchase, as their brain associates this ease with a positive experience.
Old El Paso POS messaging is solely text based, longer in word count, and less ‘obvious’ than Schwartz. From a psychological perspective there is more effort needed to ‘process’ the Old El Paso side of this bay.
Finally, not only are the Old El Paso products considerably more expensive, but this is exacerbated by the fact that the price tickets are bigger, as are the numbers printed on them. From an evolutionary psychological point of view, there are several biases our brains use to simplify processing numbers (a relatively recent phenomenon). For example, shoppers associate the physical size of the printed numbers with their perceived value.
There is also what is termed ‘left digit bias’. This refers to the fact that we tend to mentally process numbers, reading left to right, and as soon as we see the first digit. The Old El Paso prices begin with either £2… or £3… Conversely, each and every Schwartz product has a left digit of £1…
So, although both gondola ends are no doubt influencing the in-store performance of Old El Paso and Schwartz, Nadiya products, there appears to be a significant opportunity of delivering a greater return on investment by applying Behavioural Science to each design.
Incidentally, we are always on the look out for shopper interventions we can showcase, just like the example in the article. So if you would like us to consider conducting a specific shopper intervention, promotion, pack design or other marketing communication, for a full Behavioural Science audit, completely FREE of charge, then drop us a line.
From Packaging and POS to Websites and Retail Media Advertising, each can be dramatically improved following a comprehensive review and analysis using Behavioural Science principles.
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Chances are that if you haven't yet embraced Behavioural Science, then your competitors may well have an advantage.
