IESE Insight - Marketing

Are we perceiving more polarization than there actually is?

Barasz, Kate; Kim, Tami; Evangelidis, Ioannis Are our inferences about Trump supporters or Brexiteers accurate? The more extreme the position, the more we may jump to faulty conclusions, says research by Kate Barasz. In an increasingly polarized world, understanding this cognitive bias is key.

How many choices should you offer your clients?

Reutskaja, Elena; Lindner, A.; Nagel, R.; Andersen, R.A.; Camerer, C.F. Choice is good, but having too many options can be paralyzing. Using MRI machines, researchers can actually see a point at which having too many alternatives starts overwhelming our brains. The ideal number of options may be fewer than marketers think.

Advertising Up: When Regular Brands Go for Premium Advertising

Guitart, Iván; González, Jorge; Stremersch, Stefan Can premium-ad techniques be persuasive to sell non-premium products? A study of more than 2,000 car commercials homes in on the practice of "advertising up" to show when it boosts sales -- and when it backfires.

Will Targeted Ads Survive Our New Era of Data Transparency?

Kim, Tami; Barasz, Kate; John, Leslie K. The requirements of Europe's new data protection regulations need not spell doom for targeted advertising. In fact, increasing transparency along with the responsible use of data can boost the efficiency of digital marketing, according to a new study.

Rethinking the Funnel for the Omnichannel Age

D'Andrea, Guillermo Wearables, self-driving cars, AI: these trends are triggering a seismic shift in consumer patterns toward a constantly connected and engaged omnichannel model. From his research on retail sector trends and digitization, the author offers a series of tips so that brands and businesses can adapt to the consumer of the future.

Blowing the Budget: Analytics, Risk and the Race to Overspend

Güçlü, Burçin; Canela, Miguel Ángel For savvy marketing, the more information you have, the better, right? Not necessarily, says Miguel Ángel Canela. While investing in sophisticated tools for marketing analytics might yield more consumer insights, it also tends to inflate risks and drive overspending.

That Missing Piece: Playing to Our Need to Complete Sets

Barasz, Kate; John, Leslie K.; Keenan, Elizabeth A.; Norton, Michael I. People don't like to leave things incomplete. So, how might framing things in "pseudo sets" nudge or otherwise affect people's choices at the moment of decision? IESE's Kate Barasz and co-authors investigate.

Heart Over Head: How to Sell an Experience

Gallo, Iñigo; Sood, Sanjay; Mann, Thomas; Gilovich, Tom What would make a better gift for the graduating college student in your life: a new laptop or an exotic getaway? And as a marketer, what tactics can be used to sell one option or the other? The rules for experiential marketing, insists IESE's Iñigo Gallo, are completely different from those for marketing material goods.

To Get People to Pay, Understand How They Think: The Psychology of Pricing

Raghubir, Priya In a world of contactless payment, rewards programs and deep discounts, our perceptions of money are changing. Drawing on concepts from behavioral economics and the author's own research on money matters, this article helps companies gain a clearer focus in today's turbid pricing environment.

Money Matters: Memory and the Psychology of Spending

Raghubir, Priya; Capizzani, Mario; Srivastava, Joydeep Knowing the value of money is one thing. Spending it according to that value is another. Research by IESE's Mario Capizzani and co-authors confirms that we tend to hold biases about different forms of cash and that our memory also affects how much we spend.