Note: This is part 4 of a 10-part series that examines theories of behavioral motivation.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs (adapted from “Motivation & Personality” ©1970) Source: Wikipedia Commons, ©2010, used with permission

Feeling and longing are the motive forces behind all human endeavor and human creations.

– Albert Einstein (one of Maslow’s self-actualized research subjects)

What implications does new brain research hold for marketers? What makes us tick? Is everything that’s taught in marketing school wrong? In part 4 of this 10-week blog journey, I continue to reconcile the new with the old: David Rock’s SCARF model of human motivation (Status Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness and Fairness; introduced in part 1) versus Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Nothing’s certain but death, taxes and marketing

Certainty—the brain’s desire to accurately forecast what’s coming next—is touched upon in Maslow’s Safety level as a sense of security and on his Esteem level as a sense of mastery and competence. But Maslow does not fully describe the brain’s need to understand its world by comparing stimuli to contextual memories and making predictions.

Marketers often target fear, an emotion associated with uncertainty. Guarantees and testimonials are examples of marketing tactics that appeal to the brain’s need for certainty. Products, such as stock-analysis tools, and even entire industries, such as insurance, are built around this level of motivation.

Leveraging fear is an effective marketing tactic because—similar to the principle of inertia in physics—the brain requires some amount of arousal to initiate action. Too little and nothing happens. Too much and we become emotionally distracted.

Traditional, or normative, decision theory focuses on humans making choices to maximize utility; it assumes that we’re fully informed, accurate and rational. But findings from a recent study on decision-making in the context of uncertainty by the California Institute of Technology and University of Iowa, “show that this hypothesis is wrong on both the behavioral and neural level.”

It turns out that certainty “lights up” the striatal system—a region associated with reward-based learning. Whereas, uncertainty activates three completely different regions of the brain:

• the amygdala—the evolutionary fight-or-flight self-defense system that reacts to emotional stimuli;
• the orbitofrontal cortex—a region that integrates cognitive data with emotional inputs; and
• the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex—the regulator of the amygdala that balances emotional responses to the level of perceived danger.

Rock says, “When the craving for certainty is met, there is a sensation of reward.” The opposite is true of uncertainty; an alert goes off and the brain diverts resources from higher-order processing. The way our brains are “wired” helps explain a variety of social phenomena like gambling addiction, why humans are reluctant to accept large-scale change and the expression, “No one was ever fired for hiring IBM.”

Certainty plays a complex role in marketing. Increasing certainty can make the brain feel rewarded. And some level of uncertainty can motivate us to take action, while too much can limit our ability to make sound decisions, make us avoid decisions, or predispose us to guided or default choices. (Note: In the next post, I’ll address irrational decision-making.)

Let’s take a look at trends related to certainty and the implications for marketers―including examples.

There’s no need to fear

Certainty implication #1: As the pace of change accelerates, uncertainty is increasing.

The evolutionary history of the human brain has not been one of embracing rapid change. High levels of uncertainty trigger emotional responses.

Take-away: Instead of relying on fear exclusively, build trust by providing solutions to problems that keep people up at night.

Example: In his Marketing with Meaning book, Bob Gilbreath gives the example of marketers of Abbott’s Glucerna, a brand that helps meet the nutritional needs of people with diabetes, who started “Diabetes Control for Life”―a Web-based platform that features educational content to provide certainty to users who are trying to manage their condition.

Beyond and Above

Certainty implication #2: Numerous opportunities exist to increase certainty.

From teenagers who are trying to master their worlds through video games to the elderly who are afraid to try new things, marketers can provide environments that help prospects move toward a sense of accomplishment, security and reward.

Take-away: Go beyond products and into usage environments to research areas of uncertainty…then, stand above the competition by reducing anxiety.

Example: Marketers at Avis Rent-A-Car discovered that the main emotional need of their customers was to reduce the stress associated with traveling. The company made changes and promoted new video monitors with flight departure times and gate numbers in its offices, business centers where customers can make calls and recharge electronics, and training for its representatives to give better directions.

My mind’s made up

Certainty implication #3: The structure of our brains makes it difficult to overcome certainty.

If your job is to convert prospects from a competitor or to convince them to outsource, you face a triple whammy: First, the “inertia” to initiate action is even stronger when someone has already made a decision with which they’re satisfied. Second, you need to challenge the sensation of reward that comes with certainty. Third, you must calm the emotional response that comes with the uncertainty of change.

This explains why market leaders tend to stay leaders unless there is a major price difference, an important differentiator or a disruptive change to the business model.

Take-away: Use a combination of tactics to overcome certainty.

Example: In my own work, I have used novelty, visuals and metaphors to overcome inertia; research findings, quantified financial benefits, and interactive quizzes with scores and customized recommendations to challenge certainty; and sampling, interviews and thought leadership to calm anxiety about switching.

How do you make sure that prospects are certain about their purchase decisions?

You might also like…

What motivates us?: new marketing and brain research (part 1 of 10)

What motivates us?: new marketing and brain research (part 2 of 10)

What motivates us?: new marketing and brain research (part 3 of 10)

The 10 golden rules of marketing white papers

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