Like ducklings imprinting on the first thing they see, the human brain clings to initial associations – especially first impressions or media cues. These quickly shape our perception and strongly influence our behavior since they become our “truth”.
Anchoring explains why people think dying in a plane crash is more likely than dying in a car crash. Media coverage makes plane crashes very visual and seem more common. It also explains why someone moving to a new city evaluates housing prices based on their old city’s prices — even if there’s a big difference.
Tap into success
The most common anchor is linking your offer to something the customer sees as successful. For example, Readly in the start positioned itself as “like Spotify for books and magazines”, and many products are described as having a “Mercedes feeling” – even if they are totally unrelated to cars.
And why don’t take ownership of a day in the week. “Fredagsmys” (Cozy Friday nights) is a recent strong anchor in Sweden – that drove record snack sales for both OLW (and the category) and made OLW market leader. Not long ago though, Friday was the “chicken day”. Think about the value of that position. Every Friday, millions of households considered what type of chicken to eat. In short, losing the anchor to Fridays was a stupid loss for the poultry industry, which didn’t understand the value of its anchor and failed to protect it.
Anchoring for better business
A simple way is to link your less known product to a known brand e.g. – “as common as Facebook” – to create positive associations. Use anchoring for upselling too: e.g., one bike isn’t enough – a true enthusiast “needs” a city bike, a racing bike and a mountain bike. A simple logic to triple market size.
Anchoring is also very powerful for pricing. That is one reason that all “taxfree” shops presents the price they call “ordinary”, which of course always makes the offered taxfree price look like a fantastic bargain – even if it in many cases is more expensive.
Anchoring Starter Kit
Here follows a number of established ways to use Anchoring
- What new powerful associations can you create (e.g., diamonds + love, cheese + burgers)?
- What mental anchors are missing in your category or decision process that you can take ownership of?
- What behaviors from other product categories can inspire new anchors?
- Can you start or strengthen rituals, like that you always need a slice of lime to enjoy a Corona?
- What anchor makes it easier for customers to imagine the benefits – or the risks of not acting?
- Can you use anchoring to establish a price level, making your product look more affordable?
There is a lot of interesting opportunities. If you want to discuss how you can leverage Anchoring as a strategy, just reach out to ulf.vanselius@comprend.com