Impulse by Design

We live in a world that sets new bars for development and strides towards achieving and conquering them. Today, the world does not only have advanced markets, services, and products but is also highly advanced technologically. Taking it a step forward, we not only look at our needs but also look for uniqueness in every aspect of life, including in the products we use. This uniqueness entails the products, services, as well as how attractive and different products we use makes one feel and look. In a situation such as this, the biggest question remains, how can we create different products ensuring they make an impact ?

Customer needs and experience

We're all customers and consumers of sorts and this is a key factor why most brands invest both time and economically on research of the markets and changing customer/consumer behaviour. In this case, both pre as well as post - purchase perspectives are essential to gauge the impact customers or consumers have on the market. Another essential aspect of this is creating a product’s life-cycle with the help and growth of the market and customer behaviour. Nowadays every research company creates algorithms to analyse the markets on the basis of the behaviour of their focus groups.

Understand & Collect data

Quoting Steve Jobs as he once said, "A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them. It's really hard to design products, [especially having to keep] in mind the requirements of [the] focus groups." This very mantra makes Apple Inc. one of the most successful companies throughout the globe. The success of the company's products depend on the impulse created due to their customers and users' liking towards different aspects of the products, such as the variety and category of products, their designs, technology, and the uniqueness provided to them, thus making it more attractive, encouraging if not enticing them to buy.

In response to this we would naturally be curious about a few questions such as: What impacts people and their decision making socially ? What gives them satisfaction in usability and/or desire to have the item ? And what can or does create social recognition ? To further this argument backed by Daniel Kahneman, people often make irrational decisions leading to inconsistencies.

The vertical of behavioural economics helps in making decisions while designing a product. The whole purpose of this is to help understand how people make decisions in different situations and the role it plays while helping them select products, brands and markets. Most people do act spontaneously, and according to Daniel Kahneman they do it not only because they're irrational but also because their decisions are influenced by their emotions, desires, situations and naturally by others.

These days even FOMO (fear of missing out) also plays a vital role in consumer spending/buying.

Important design principles:

No Challenges: The human brain loves to solve problems which have previously been solved. The reason behind this is that it's both easier and comfortable to stick to the information we already know and have. Thus, in design, less is always more as it's important to be minimalist when it comes to design because the more complicated the product is, the more people will shy away from it.

Comfort: Companies make a conscious effort of getting rid of all barriers from their designs to make it more comfortable for the users. A couple of questions we would ask ourselves to support this claim would be, what is more easily accessible, health food or junk food ? Is it easier to pay via cash or card ? Companies and their design teams work towards designing products to maximise user engagement and smoothen their experience. Easy designs are more interactive and engaging, thus they gain more traction removing all ifs and buts whilst keeping it simple.

Simplicity: Companies work on making both user experience as well as their products simplistic. Human behaviour doesn't accept change easily, thus we often tend to avoid red flags or warnings in our path. However, navigation through issues and to the end result only works if things are made simple, such that people can vouch for them without any hesitation or difficulty.

Image: We often hear of the phrase, first impression is the last impression, and so it is important to appeal to the users and attract them during the initial stages of communication.

Social Impact: While aligning with the cultural values and behavioural patterns of the end user, people tend to use products that help them attain recognition socially. Many a times things that we do end up being for the public eye, including our buying preferences, brand status, etc.

Tata Nano Story:

The acronym “Keep it Simple Stupid” or “Keep it Simple & Straight -forward” was adapted by the Tata group; A KISS (keeping it simple and strong) marketing case study of Tata Nano, shows the impact of impulse:
Tata Nano: The most reasonable road car in the world today and is also a made in India product.

In 2011, Tata Motors launched its cheapest car, the Nano. According to the company, Nano was said to be a revolutionary product, especially for the lower income groups. Tata Nano was a good product with great engineering for the price it was and continues to be sold at. This led to a creation of a case study in frugal innovation. The company reduced costs through different spectrums, such as operational and manufacturing costs along with many others. Up until 2014, the Tata Nano failed to create a buzz in the market, leading to a failure in their communication and marketing strategy. However, according to R&D there is a huge and growing demand for such cars within the same price segment. The question that then arises is, despite all data and market surveys being in support of the Nano, what was the reason behind the annual decline of their sales ?

As stated previously, people not being rational led to the poor performance of the Nano in the markets. The marketing strategy for the Nano was about it being the cheapest car. However, if you come to think of it, most people wouldn't want their first car or one of their cars to be the cheapest cars. This marketing strategy that was expected to work in the favour of Tata Motors went against them as it had a negative impact on the mind-sets of people. The desire to buy this car despite it being the need of the hour for such a vehicle was abandoned by many due to the fear of people’s perception and how it would impact or tarnish their social image.

The trick is for brands to be able to not only understand customer behaviour but also to use that information to stimulate a buying impulse within them. Today the world focuses less on pricing and costs but more on the value and experience. This makes design a key component in the success of any brand where it helps focus on both the value as well as the experience desired by the customers.