Symbolize to Prime Purchase Intentions

Show me a tree with spreading branches—or even a picture of a large tree—at the entrance to your store and I become more likely to consider the items in your store to be healthy.
     That’s the logic discussed in a Fast Company article about how Whole Foods Market stores use flowers at the door, unnecessary ice beneath the cucumbers, and fruit displayed in crates. The objective is to prime shoppers to think freshness.
     Symbols of feelings and concepts influence our purchasing behavior. There is, however, a wrinkle in all this: Broad individual differences among consumers. When I see a tree bearing branches and blossoms, I’ve the subconscious urge to breathe deeply. There are other people who will be primed to buy allergy meds.
     The image of the tree might bring to mind strength. In the picture above, I think I see branches flexing their muscles at the top. I’m moved a bit closer to buying the strongest detergent on the shelf. Other consumers won’t see that in the tree.
     Or as I look at the relatively dark circle directly under the tree, maybe I’ll start thinking, “Oh my gosh! I forget to water my lawn this morning,” thereby diverting my attention toward buying a sprinkler system.
     Which works out nicely if your store happens to carry detergents or sprinkler systems.
     Primes work best when presented as a set, stimulating the brain from different angles. If we’re aiming for the impression of healthy as a purchasing prime, we’ll show not only the image of a tree, but also images of people exercising and of nutritious food. Whole Foods is doing this with the multiple primes for impressions of freshness.
     The primes must be subtle, never overwhelming:

• Delivering the prompts below the level of awareness makes the primes more influential over a shopper’s behavior. According to research at University of Florida-Gainesville, if shoppers become aware of the priming, they are more likely to feel manipulated and fight back. Subconscious primes result in fewer counterarguments.
• If the set of primes is too strong, it causes the shopper to subconsciously sense they’ve already satisfied a need. A research team from City University of New York, Loyola College, and Duke University found that when a healthy salad was added to a list of side dish choices, diners separately identified as high in self-control actually became more likely to order the French fries.

Click below for more:
Prime Your Shoppers Below Awareness
Prime Customer Interest with Adjacencies
Build Purchase Habits by Relieving Reactance
Balance Healthy and Indulgent in Merchandise