Just do it…again….and again

Image: Unsplash/Maks Styakhkin

In Marketing Week, Richard Shotton (author of the must-read book, The Choice Factory) and Will Hanmer-Lloyd discuss the science behind the formation of habits and how marketers can apply that learning.

Research suggests 43% of our behavior is habitual. Habits are hard to form, but also hard to break.

The authors present three keys to creating a habit.

• A cue. Telling people why they should exercise is insufficient. Forcing them to plan precisely when and where they will exercise is a cue that triggers the desired behavior. 100 years ago when Pepsodent was encouraging people to brush their teeth, they didn’t just say, “Brush your teeth twice daily.” They said, “Brush your teeth after breakfast and before bed.” 

• A reward. Pret a Manger doesn’t make people collect stamps or get a card punched to build up points toward a free coffee…but its employees are encouraged to randomly reward customers with a free drink once in a while. 

• The routine. It can makes months for a behavior to become a habit. So, interventions must be sustained.

Marketing Week also posted an article a couple of months ago about how shopping habits in the UK are changing due to COVID. One wonders how many other kinds of habits are being broken and formed this year thanks to the pandemic.

(This WARC article explores the topic of habit in even more depth.)