There’s a wealth of research on how best to frame messages to appeal to your audience.
For example, advertisements that are framed positively work best for promotion-focused people – in other words, people who seek to maximise the probability of obtaining a positive outcome.
This is true regardless of whether the product was what academics and marketers would term ‘hedonic’ – pleasurable things like a massage or holiday – or ‘utilitarian’, referring to useful products such as a calculator.
For these promotion-focused people, you can talk about the benefits they’ll enjoy and what they’ll gain. It’s more nuanced for the other type of consumer, who is prevention-focused.
These people prefer to avoid negative outcomes rather than seek positive ones. If the product is hedonic, they respond more favourably if the ad is negative – probably because it assuages any guilt they may feel for ‘indulging’.
Meanwhile, for utilitarian products, positive advertising works best. In separate research, prevention-focused consumers prefer products with utilitarian attributes – for example, a laptop with a long battery life – and promotion-focused people prefer products with hedonic attributes, such as a laptop with an appealing design.
This is all very well, but how do you know what type of person you are dealing with?
Promotion or prevention?
If you are sending an email, having a meeting, or conversing with a customer, how can you determine whether to talk the benefits up in a positive frame or talk about avoiding downsides?
The first thing we need to work out is whether people are inherently prevention or promotion-focused. Is it a stable character trait, or does it depend on the context?
The body of research related to this is called ‘regulatory fit theory,’ a term first coined by Tory Higgins in 1997. In short, people are either geared toward accomplishment and aspiration or safety and responsibilities.
Theories about regulatory fit fall into two camps. First, there are those studying regulatory fit as a ‘chronic condition’. That may sound ominous, but it means a way of seeing the world developed during infancy.
The second camp sees regulatory fit as a malleable, temporary condition; context changes how we respond. Here are some characteristics to help identify someone’s type.
Promotion-focused people:
- Work and make decisions quickly
- Consider alternatives and are ‘brainstormers’
- Are open to new opportunities
- Have a rosy, optimistic outlook
- Plan for the best-case scenario
- Seek positive feedback
- Dejected when things go wrong
- Happy when things go right
Prevention-focused people:
- Work and make decisions deliberately
- Tend to be accurate
- Are stressed by short deadlines
- Stick to known ways of doing things
- Prepare for the worst
- Are uncomfortable with praise or optimism
- Feel worried/anxious when things go wrong
- Relieved when things go right
During your interactions with customers, you can often pick up on these hints and clues during the conversation.
Applying regulatory focus
Once you know a person’s regulatory focus, you can address them in a way that maximises their sense of compatibility.
They’ll be more likely to be persuaded by your message if it ‘fits’ with their style.
When communicating with promotion-focused people, be sure to compliment them, as they respond well to praise.
Use optimistic terms and phrases, such as ‘growth’, ‘gain’, ‘opportunity’, ‘benefits’, ‘chance’, and ‘innovation’. Prime them to think in a promotion-focused way by getting them to reflect or express their hopes and aspirations.
When communicating with prevention-focused people, remember that they can be motivated by a gentle critique – though nothing too personal.
Use terms and phrases related to security, such as ‘protection’, ‘secure’, ‘avoid’, ‘risk’, ‘thorough’, ‘careful’, ‘planned’, and ‘accurate’.
Prime them to think in a prevention-focused way by getting them to reflect or express their duties and obligations. You can likewise adapt messages about your product according to whether your target market is prevention- or promotion-oriented.
For example, if framing a luxury vehicle in a promotion-focused way, the seller might discuss its performance and design. When framing it as prevention-focused, the seller might focus on its fuel economy and safety standards.
Playing the odds
If all else fails, and in situations where you can’t pre-determine what the regulatory focus of your target audience is, I suggest playing the odds and leading with the positive rather than the negative.
A positive message will give you ‘coverage’ across all promotion-focused people and some prevention-focused types. From there, you can hedge your bets and supplement a positive framing with some negative messages.
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