Sales & Distribution: It's all about customer context & mood.

At CrowdMob, we’re thinking a lot about how people buy things.  We’re selling package deals of virtual goods alongside deals in order to help convert those users who wouldn’t otherwise buy the virtual goods.

What we’ve found is that mindset (mood + context) is the key factor whether or not users decide to convert at the current point in time.  The easiest example with which to understand this theory is the difference between impulse buys and logical buys.

When someone is thinking on impulse, their mindset is a focus on self-indulgence.  Logic plays very little role here; if you’re impulsively thinking about buying a snickers, your mind turns off the logical part of the brain that reminds you that snickers aren’t healthy for you.  If someone is thinking about buying snickers, you’re not going to sell them a productivity product.

On the other hand, if someone is thinking logically, their mindset is strictly focused on buying what makes sense.  Someone who is thinking about productivity products is not going to be able to be sold a snickers, even if they otherwise would love snickers.

Simply put, different parts of the brain are firing, and you as a marketer can’t switch those parts of the brain on and off in the mind of your customer.  To extrapolate from this, it’s pretty clear that you have to market products in the context where potential customers are ready to convert; you’re not going to be able to change their minds.

More on this in the future, but I’ve recently become obsessed with mindset-oriented distribution and advertising, rather than behavioral advertising, which tends to ignore your current mindset.