Mar. 26, 2010 at 2:25pm

Flatter your way to market share

Posted by Kurt Jacobson in Talking to Members, What We're Up To
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Harvard Business Review cites research demonstrating that even “insincere” flattery can make customers more inclined to choose your brand. The research shows that given a choice, participants were more likely to choose a coupon from a store that had complimented them than from one that hadn't.

We have to assume that flattery from an ad, e-mail blast or TV commercial is “insincere” because it’s not a personal comment based on personal knowledge. So we can either get upset that insincere flattery works, which can seem so wrong, or we can use it to our advantage.

Here’s an example from a local credit union I’m working with. The campaign was never intended to “insincerely flatter,” because that’s not part of Kitsap Credit Union’s culture. But it shows that making people feel good about themselves can be powerfully appealing.

Kitsap Credit Union, in Bremerton, WA, is focusing on “local working families.” These family members must work very hard to nurture their families in spite of intense negative economic and cultural forces working against them. Nobody really recognizes the work involved in maintaining a family…except Kitsap Credit Union. Its campaign tells working families to "Keep up the good work." The message is part of every communication aspect with members and the community, from advertising to giveaways such as refrigerator magnets, greeting cards and a recognition program. Kitsap Credit Union considers “Keep up the good work” as encouragement, not flattery. But the researchers cited in HBR probably would view it as flattery.

Emotions aren’t easily swayed
Getting back to the HBR blog, author Andrew O’Connell also says, “The distinction I'm drawing between conscious thoughts and unconscious feelings is crucial…unconscious ideas—known in research parlance as implicit attitudes—are stickier than conscious opinions.” The unconscious feelings/implicit attitudes based on emotions are hard to change, while our rational, fact-based stances can be changed by new facts.

Kitsap Credit Union’s kudos campaign touches the implicit emotional side. People appreciate the recognition—OK, flattery—and are showing their loyalty to the credit union.

The research, “Insincere Flattery Actually Works: A Dual Attitudes Perspective," is from Jaideep Sengupta and Elaine Chan of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and appeared recently in the Journal of Marketing Research.

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