Imagine you are selling sports clothing and you want to encourage people to go to the gym. The typical person wants to work out for fitness and/or weight loss purposes, but they may approach their objective(s) in many ways. A client can have dual goals—wanting to lose weight while also trying to get fit. These two things might be equivalent in substance, yet one of them emphasises fitness while the other is concerned with avoiding fatness. The context and customer incentives have a significant impact on the effectiveness of your marketing communications.
This distinction is based on E. Tory Higgins’ extensive research at Columbia University, which suggests that people are often motivated in one of two ways: through promotion (e.g., “how can I accomplish a good outcome?”) or prevention (e.g., “how can I avoid a poor outcome? “). These two strategies have the same goal (going to the gym, for instance), but they are driven by opposing factors (wanting to “be fit” or “not be obese”). In essence, clients are in a promotion-focus (“I want to win!”) if they anticipate a favourable conclusion. They are in a Prevention-focus (“I don’t want to lose!”) if they are worried about avoiding a negative consequence. Knowing this, you should contextualise your marketing communications.
A person’s Regulatory Focus, according to Higgins, is the adoption of a Promotion- or Prevention-focus, and when a product or campaign aligns with a customer’s Regulatory Focus, they are more interested in it and driven by it. Advertising that emphasises potential success, for instance, will inspire people who want to “become fit,” whereas advertising that emphasises worst-case situations, for example, will motivate those who want to “not be obese.” This is where contextual messaging comes in.
In order to what end? – A contextual messaging approach
Which Regulatory Focus a client will have is determined by what? In general, some people naturally embrace a Prevention-focus while others are more prone to think about their goals with a Promotion-focus. However, more often than not, their Focus is situational, either because consumers have a tendency to view certain things in a particular light or because you may genuinely affect how they feel.
The Dragonfly Effect co-authors Angela Lee and Jennifer Aaker showed that by adapting your messaging to meet your audience’s perspective, you may improve engagement if you know whether they tend to consider your product as Promotion- or Prevention-focused. For instance, they had participants read about the advantages of consuming grape juice with various contextual signals in one of their research. The product-oriented mindset of half the readers concentrated on how juice gave them an energy boost that enabled them to do whatever they desired, while the other half read about how juice kept them healthy by preventing cardiovascular disease (a Prevention-focused attitude). When asked to rate a juice advertisement with either of the following phrases: “Get Energized! or “Don’t Miss Out on Getting Energized! When the advertisement matched their current focus, people were far more favourable to it (Prevention). To put it another way, if they thought the juice was intended to revitalise them, they wanted to “Get Energized! “, but they didn’t want to “Miss Out on Getting Energized! if they believed the juice was intended to keep them safe and healthy.
You must pay attention! – In marketing psychology, regulatory emphasis and contextual message
To start using Regulatory Focus, all you have to do is question (either to yourself or to your clients): “What does this product do?” You want to know what the most typical (or natural) manner is to describe the impact of the product.
Is it more logical to consider the product as assisting clients in obtaining something beneficial or good? Do they want it to accomplish or complete a goal? If this is the case, your clients will respond better to a promotion-focused message (that emphasises approaching or obtaining positive objectives). For instance, people typically purchase junk food to enjoy it rather than to prevent negative consequences of not doing so. This may be the reason Coca-Cola has stuck with catchphrases like “Open happiness” and “Life begins here” since 1939 while avoiding topics like “thirst” or other problems that Coke may help with (“Coca-Cola has the taste thirst goes for”).
Does it make more sense, instead, to consider the product in terms of assisting customers in avoiding unpleasant outcomes or pain points? Do they desire it to prevent or fix a problem? If this is the case, your clients will respond better to a prevention-focused message (which emphasises avoiding or mitigating undesirable outcomes). For instance, people frequently purchase pharmaceuticals when they are ill or injured in an effort to get rid of an uncomfortable sensation, therefore it is not surprising that Tylenol’s motto is “Feel better.”
Recall that Regulatory Focus might vary depending on the situation. Using your Promotion or Prevention descriptions to develop your own psychological ploy can be a riskier option. Regulatory Focus interacts with Loss Aversion, as stated in a 1998 paper by James Shah, E. Tory Higgins, and Ronald Friedman. If you are using a Promotion-focused message, suggest that the customer is getting a great deal because they are gaining the quality or value of the product, whereas if you are using a Prevention-focused message, suggest that the customer is getting a great deal because they are saving a lot of money or reducing a lot of risk.
Lessons learned about contextual messaging
Either achieving favourable outcomes or averting undesirable outcomes motivates people. Make your message more relevant and engaging by matching it to your audience’s driving forces.
Customers will evaluate your adverts, products, discounts, and contextual messaging differently if they are focused on achieving positives or avoiding negatives.