Marketing Yo! - Cognitive Fluency: How Simplicity Shapes our Decisions

Last week I looked at the importance of brand consistency in an age of fluid ownership of brands. This week I've decided to continue exploring the vagaries of branding theory and consumer behaviour by looking at the concept of 'Cognitive Fluency':

Imagine that you are very rich. Rich enough that you have a large investment portfolio of stocks, shares and a few properties dotted around the world, hell you even have hot girlfriend/boyfriend (completed unrelated, but important). Guessing that sounds good? Well imagine that I tell you that I had a completely new investment strategy, one that could triple your money without relying upon any economic data or theory.

The new strategy is this: 'Invest in companies with names that are easy-to-pronounce'

Whilst your answer would probably be a simple 'jog on', recent research shows that the topic of 'cognitive fluency' or the measure of how easy something is to think of has serious ramifications for how we see, sell or buy in modern marketplaces. For example did you know that shares in companies with easy-to-pronounce names outperform those with hard-to-pronounce names? That repeating statements, or adjusting the legibility of font can adjust peoples perception of the truth of a statement?

"Every purchase you make, every interaction you have, every judgement you make can be placed upon a continuum from fluent to disfluent" Adam Alter, New York University Stern School

The concept being that simplicity or fluency is an adaptive shortcut, i.e if something is simple it means it signals familiarity. The link being things that are familiar are associated with positive past experiences. By visualising this as an imaginary continuum from familiar to unknown, companies can attempt to plot their products, services or marketing efforts against competitors. So now imagine you work for a company releasing a completely new technical product to the global mainstream market, how can you make that product seem familiar?

Case in point, the launch of the Apple iPhone. Despite its plethora of features and many innovative features, the name is indicative of a simple function and both this name and physical design echoes other Apple products which customers are deeply familiar with e.g the iPod. The fluency of Apples communication is consistent from design, marketing, packaging, website and even through their retail outlets.

So full circle, we arrive back at the concept of brand consistency. However, this form of consistency isn't measured in deviation but how companies can consistently perform on that continuum of fluency. I wouldn't suggest that companies 'dumb-down' in order to gain customers, or that you should invest your well earned riches in shares of 'easy-to-pronounce' companies but at the very least, perform at level consistent with the values of your customers.