How to Use Triggers in Marketing to Increase Sales
How a simple name change for ‘Cafe Milk’ increased sales by 17%
What’s the difference between the right name from the wrong one for a product or a company? What exactly should the right name be? What is necessary to consider choosing it: maybe it should be easily remembered, easily pronounced, or evoke some associations?
You’ll be able to answer these questions yourself when you learn more about ‘triggers’ from this article. But first, a story of my friend's cafe and how a simple name change increased sales by 17%.
Ballito is a coastal town with a population of 20,000 located in the East of South Africa. Steve Hartson set up a cafe, “Pinokkio” in this town eight years ago. It was a typical, quite profitable ice cream parlor, and Hartson wasn’t going to change something.
But besides the cafe, he had a daughter, Grace, who studied at the University of Johannesburg. She decided to rename the family cafe for an experiment after completing a course on vital marketing, and her father, after some persuasion, agreed.
“Pinokkio” became “Café Milk” and was accompanied by the slogan “Good Food & Ice Cream.” Nothing else changed, not the cafe’s menu, opening hours, prices, promotions, etc.
The following year, they found their sales had increased by 17%. Delving into the figures, Grace found that people weren’t spending more money on their visits, but they were simply visiting more often.
Why renaming the cafe affected its profits, you’ll understand yourselves after I’ll introduce you to the studies by Jonah Berger, professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a world-renowned expert on viral marketing.
Triggers are incentives that make you think about things connected. Peanut butter reminds about bread, and a dog reminds about a cat, and conversely.
Triggers are incentives that make you think about things that are connected. For example, peanut butter reminds us of jelly; a dog reminds us of a cat, etc.
From Mars candy bars to the student canteens: how triggers affect our behavior
Every moment thoughts appear in our minds. Probably now, you’re thinking about this sentence or a sandwich that you’ll eat at lunchtime. Some thoughts are with us continuously: sports fans constantly think about their favorite teams’ results and gourmands about the next meal.
But there are triggers everywhere that can determine what following thoughts will appear in your mind — whether you want it or not. If you see a labrador running around the park, you may recall that you wanted a dog in your childhood; if you smell Chinese food walking past a cafe downtown, you may remember that you haven’t any meal since morning; and so on.
Sights, smells, sounds… everything around us causes associations that occupy our mind. Why is it so important what thoughts occupy our heads? Because thoughts turn into ideas, and they turn into actions. Let’s consider a couple of examples.
Mars chocolate bars and NASA
In mid-1997, Mars confectionery company noticed unexpected sales growth. Company management was surprised because they hadn’t changed anything lately: they hadn’t changed the marketing and pricing policy and hadn’t spent additional funds for promotion, etc. But still, sales were increasing. What was the cause? The reason was the mission Pathfinder by NASA.
The mission’s purpose was sample collection of the atmosphere and soil on the neighboring planet. The program took many years of preparation and a lot of millions of dollars. When the lander finally landed on the surface of the planet, all the mass media had been reporting about NASA’s triumph during a long period of time. I think you’ve already guessed that the planet was Mars.
Mars company was named after founder Franklin Mars, not after the planet. Nevertheless, media attention to the mission Pathfinder became a trigger that reminded people about Mars chocolate bars: so sales shot up.
Wine and music
Musicologists Adrian North, David Hargreaves, and Jennifer McKendrick studied the impact of triggers on the customers’ behavior at supermarkets. Do you remember background music that we got used to listening to while choosing goods?
So, these researchers changed it to music from different countries: several days, they put on French music, later German. It was the music you would expect to hear at a French cafe on the banks of the Seine or Octoberfest than at a supermarket. So, the scientists studied — what type of background music would affect what type of wine people buy.
As you may have guessed, when French music was playing, most people chose French wine, and when German music was playing, most people chose German wine, etc. Under the music affecting, customers’ thoughts became connected to certain countries, and subsequently, it was impacting their shopping decisions.
Healthy food for students
Most students understand they should eat more fruits and vegetables; many students even say they plan to eat more fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, when it’s time to put some food on a tray, they forget their knowledge about healthy meals. But what if triggers will be applied?
Scientists conducted the following experiment. In one student’s canteen, researchers hung a sign with the call “Lead a healthy lifestyle, eat five fruits and vegetables per day”; in another canteen, they placed a sign with the call “On each tray, put five fruits and vegetables.”
Before placing the signs, the researchers asked the students to express their opinion regarding these slogans. They much more liked the first one than the other with “the tray” (the students found it banal). The experimenters also asked the students whether the calls can affect their behavior and preference: they just laughed in reply.
As a result of the experiment, the students who saw the sign with “Lead a healthy lifestyle…” nearly didn’t change their meal behavior; but the students who saw the sign “On each tray, put on five…” began consuming by 25% more fruits and vegetables. I think you have already guessed why it had happened. The students ate in the canteens, where they used trays to put food. And the effective slogan contained a trigger.
This experiment reminded me of Steve Jobs’s quote:
“It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.”
What contributes to much more effective using of triggers
Considering the examples above, let’s allocate common principles of how triggers can be used effectively.
The frequency of incentives is the first key factor.
The sales growth of Mars chocolate bars happened because NASA’s mission was being reported on many various mass media and for a long period of time: the only mention wouldn’t be enough.
The strength of associations is the second key factor.
The sun, for example, connects with many things, and as a result, it isn’t a powerful trigger for a specific product. If NASA carried out a mission near the sun, it likely wouldn’t increase product sales for any specific product. But Mars chocolate bars are the only obvious association with the planet, so the association is strong.
Context and surroundings combine to be the third key factor.
In the experiment with students’ canteens, researchers hung the signs so that students could see them while putting food on trays. The result would be different if they hung them in front of the entrance to the canteen. The correlation between wine sales and music also occurred because of the connection of music with wine shelves at the same place and time.
Biologists often say any flora and fauna has its areal: natural habitat that contains all necessary elements for survival (ducks need ponds; deer need pastures, etc.). Products also have their areal; therefore, triggers should be chosen considering it.
Let’s go back to Ballito
I remind you, the old cafe’s name was “Pinokkio” and the new one “Café Milk” with the slogan “Good Food & Ice Cream.” So, I’ll list some facts, and you’ll make conclusions yourselves.
South Africa produces 50% of all milk in Africa, and in general, South Africans love milk. Ballito is no exception: a few milk farms surround this town. Besides, Ballito has a humid subtropical climate, with hot and humid summers and pleasantly warm and dry winters, snow and frost-free: people in these parts want some ice cream year-round.
Simplicity is genius.
P.S. If you want to learn more about triggers or viral marketing, I recommend reading the book “Contagious: Why Things Catch On” by Jonah Berger.