Engaging with the rational?

We all know we often aren’t as rational in our buying decisions as we should be. In fact, Harvard Business School professor Jerry Zaltman says that 95% of our purchase decision making takes place in the subconscious mind.

It’s supported by studies completed by neuroscientists that have found people whose brains are damaged in the area that generates emotions are incapable of making decisions. This is why appealing to the emotions is crucial in marketing, as the old saying goes ‘sell the sizzle and not the steak’.

But what about the rational side of things? Our brains generally need ‘permission to buy’ or the ability to ‘post-rationalise’ after the purchase has been made. This is particularly evident when that purchase is for something big and expensive. Like a car for example. It’s a strategy We Are Acuity have utilised in our work on Citroën’s brochures for over 15 years, by dividing product collateral into the emotional brochure, complimented by the separate rational technical specification and price list.

In many ways the emotional part is the easy part. Full of images, inspiring copy, and light on detail. The rational part however is full of detail, tables, technologies, and prices. And they are things that HAVE to be correct and TOTALLY up to date. They change ALL the time too!

So how do you deliver all of that, often within a short delivery window, whilst making the content easy to understand and engaging too? Well, we’ve had a few iterations over the last 15 years, but we are all hugely excited by the very latest interactive Citroën Price & Specification Guides we’ve just launched in the last few months.

We’ve been able to build in new levels of engagement, using dynamic product information and tapping into the wealth of digital content that Citroën was already producing. With ever more complex tech and electrification within the range, we needed to ensure that absolutely anything a customer could want to know about would be easily accessible.

The added benefit of this approach for Citroën is built in tracking will enable them to see the role these documents play in the long sales journey, helping us build knowledge of their customer base and how best to engage with it in future. We can’t wait to see the results flood in, watch out for a full case study soon.

If you’d like to talk to us about your brochures or any other technical product marketing collateral, please get in touch. Whatever sector from B2B or B2C, 2-wheel or 4-wheel, auto to homewares, machinery to parts, construction to plumbing, white goods or brown goods, healthcare, skincare and cosmetics, consumer electronics or anything else besides, We are in the rare position of have capacity in 2023 and are looking to take on new projects in this space. We’d love to have an exploratory chat. Why not schedule a FREE 30-minute assessment today here? It will be well worth your time.

Or alternatively read more about Local Marketing on our blog page "Local Thinking': https://www.weareacuity.com/local-thinking-our-blog

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