Prime Location

On a scale of 1-10 how frustrating do you find trying to find a parking space when in town? And then when you do find an unoccupied space it is reserved for some special purpose or other for which you don’t qualify?

If you are anything like me your frustration-o-meter will be off the scale.

I ask this question because last week I was driving in ever decreasing circles around Britain’s Second City looking to park and I was struck by the number of bays reserved for the charging of electric vehicles. And all sitting there unused.

''What a waste of space?'', I thought to myself.

And then I had an epiphany and the penny dropped. They weren’t there to be used.

This might seem strange but it is a great example of the workings behind Behavioural Economics.

As you know there are people out there worried and concerned about the effects of so-called ‘man made’ climate change on our environment. And as a consequence all of us are being constantly implored to switch to a more sustainable lifestyle less reliant on hydrocarbon power.

Of course the car and car owners are like Public Enemy Number One and so car manufacturers have been rushing headlong to offer us greener cars including cars that run on electric power. This is not the place to debate the green-ness or otherwise of such vehicles but when it comes to electric cars the manufacturers have to persuade us to break the habit of a lifetime and to switch from buying a nasty polluting car and to make the electric car our default vehicle of choice.

And this is where Behavioural Economics comes in.

We have identified the behaviour we want to change but what stops  us changing our behaviour. After all in so many ways electric cars are the rational choice-cheaper to run; good for the planet; and since most journeys are less than 5 miles the chances of running out of ‘fuel’ are remote.

But we do worry about running out of ‘fuel’. It is irrational but it is emotion and irrational factors that keep our bad habits firmly entrenched.

And so someone out there thought ‘I know… if we create a significant number of highly visible parking bays with charging points to send a signal that charging is convenient’.  And if consumers can be persuaded to think like this then this reason not to switch is removed.

Have you noticed how these spaces are illuminated with an eerie blue light. This does nothing except make these spaces difficult not to notice.

Brilliant.

In the jargon nudge interventions like this are known as priming-cues that work on our sub-conscious to influence behaviours. In this case the highly visible charging point is the priming cue.

All of us in marketing have the opportunity and the need to change behaviours, to break habits. Often we do this through pricing cues. But there are other ways to break the habits and change behaviour.

What do you want to prime your customers to do?