Brain Food: Subconscious Customers

Customers don't think, they mostly react.

And most of the things they react to are stimuli they’re not even aware of. A growing number of scientists now believe that most of our “thinking” – more than 95 percent of our “thoughts” – occurs at a subconscious level. The brain processes information, then makes decisions using areas that have been in place for millions of years. And these parts of the brain tend to run more on emotions than on higher-order cognitive processing – that being reason or logic.

Now, I don’t want you to think that the customer’s brain is passive on a shopping trip. Far from it. The brain is processing huge amounts of information about the environment as the customer walks the store or flips through a retailer’s website. However, most of what our brains take in during this process is outside our conscious thoughts, and often has us reacting in ways sometimes seemingly out of our control. That, of course, is a challenge because most of us want to believe that we’re in control of our own minds; that we call the shots and manifest our own destinies.

Wrong. Well, mostly.

In short, shoppers are largely unaware of the complex interplay between their brains and a retail environment. Each time they walk down an aisle of a store, use their smartphone or tablet, engage with digital content or talk with other people during the buying process, their brain appraises whether or not they enjoyed the experience, further influencing whether or not they buy something and if  they’ll repeat it.

You might say, “But, I look at price tags, I read the labels of products on the shelf and determine what to buy based on that evaluation.” True enough, but many of the “decisions” that drive you to the to-buy-or-not-to-buy process have frontloaded and conditioned your brain to follow through and take it home, or never give it a second thought.

Being at the top of the food chain has afforded us the fallacious notion that our big brains are what has made us who and what we are. While it’s true that the neocortex (that wrinkled part of our brains we all envision when we hear the word “brain”) and the prefrontal cortex (an area that sits behind the eyes and is responsible for “higher level” decision making) are bigger than most mammals, occupying 80-percent of the human brain, that’s not the determining factor in what makes us “human.” In fact, studies by Roberto Lent, from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, suggest a reversal of the neuroscience dogma that has postulated the prefrontal cortex as the area most densely packed – with the majority of the supposed 100 billion neurons we have in our skulls.

Lent’s publication suggests that not only have the calculations been inaccurate regarding the total number of neurons in the brain, but that the prefrontal cortex, while occupying 81.2 percent of total brain area, contains only 19 percent of the brain’s neurons. The cerebellum, (the ”reptilian brain”) seat of motor control, coordination and several other functions necessary for survival, occupies 10.3 percent of the total area, but it also contains 80.2 percent of the brain’s neurons.

Elephants and whales have bigger brains than humans, though most of us will contend they’re not smarter than us. News flash: Brain size does not account for intelligence. How our brain cells are connected does influence intelligence, however. The human brain is intricately wired to bring more brainpower to any interaction or experience, all through a connection of broader networked functional areas.

Much of the way we explore a store and how we react to its environment is determined by ancient structures called the “reptilian” and “old mammalian” brains – areas that served us well when walking through the tall Savanna grass a very long time ago. They’re still very much a part of how we experience shopping places, making us react to the circumstance of our environment in ways that are more emotional than logical.

In the years to come, understanding the customer’s emotional brain, and how to engage it, will be key to success in the retail place-making game. Shopping places that engage the customer’s brain, and get it to feel more and think less, will have a better chance of creating long-term memories and lifetime customers. Why? Because at a very basic level, shoppers are emotional beings.

David Kepron is the creative director of Little’s Brand Experience Studio and author of “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World,” published by ST Media Group Intl. and available online from ST Books. His retail design work focuses on the creation of relevant shopping experiences at the intersection of architecture, sociology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. @davidkepron; www.retail-r-evolution.com; www.littleonline.com