Your Decisions And The “Switch” In Your Brain

Every morning you follow a routine. Your routine enables you to make thousands of daily decisions subconsciously. These decisions come naturally like whether you eat breakfast, drive, or take public transportation to work or the grocery store. You become dependent on this routine to function efficiently. During your day you make phone calls, respond to email, and decide what type of meals you’re going to eat. All of these decisions are made through the activities generated subconsciously in your brain.

While you never give much thought to these activities, a series of systematic actions are taking place. Here’s the simple explanation. Thousands of neurons in the brain are uniting with other neurons, to form an extended connected network. Together these neurons release chemicals that exchange a “like” or “dislike” reaction. It’s what happens when, for example, you’re standing in the grocery store, trying to decide between two items. You may think about an item’s taste or smell, tapping into your personal thoughts to make your decision.

In that moment, your neurons are trying to triumph over one another. With one set of neurons winning the battle over the other (ultimately making the decision you make). Want an example? Take a look at the image below.

What do you see? Look again. Do you see a young women in a bonnet looking away, or do you see an elderly women in a coat and scarf? If you stare at it you’ll see both images, but only one at a time. Your brain is processing each image separately, because the many neurons in the brain are making decisions on which image you currently see. Looking long enough, you’ll see a switch (not in the image) but how your brain processes the information. It’s in that moment, your brain chooses to focus on the specific image you currently see.

The same thing happens when we decide between a product or service. Most of the time it happens subconsciously. The brain is “switching” between what we know about a product or service and how it makes us feel. Other factors weigh in like how the item is presented and the appeal of the message. Is the item known for good service, high-quality, or low-prices?

This gives weight to the importance of branding your product or service. If you communicate the benefits your product or service can offer over competitors; you have an opportunity to resonate with customers when their deciding between two brands. In many cases the decision customers choose comes from their emotional side (that neuron switch), and if your product or service resonates with this side of the customer, it tends to win their decision.

With the new year underway, how are you marketing your products or services? Want an idea? Think about doing something different, like an infographic. The short visuals and concise text can deliver a powerful message. Interested? Contact me directly to talk.