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Science of How Consumers’ Buying Changes over Cycles 59

Communicating a value proposition

Businesses who try to communicate their value proposition
by saying, “We appreciate and understand the tough eco-
nomic times you’re going through, and recognize your
bottom line, and as a result of this, we are doing X” often
miss the mark.

Value proposition scripting like this is pervasive in the
financial industry with varying degrees of perceived sincer-
ity. Somehow businesses think that consumers are naïve.
That maybe they will believe this projection of empathy.
They do not. In fact, it leads to a number of distinct cogni-
tive and emotional reactions:

● You’re lying to me
● You really don’t care about me
● You really don’t know me
● I’m unimportant to you
● You don’t respect me
● I didn’t really trust you before, but now I trust you a little

bit less.

Therefore, it’s best to be straight when trying to reach
consumers. The following principles will help to achieve
that:

● Deliver empathy realistically as to a stranger
● Be honest and straightforward
● Deliver your value proposition in simple quantified terms.

This is even more important during a downturn economy.
During those times, consumers’ processing gets simple
(Figure 3.7). The use of heuristics and simple quantified
messages works best. Heuristics allow you to provide
a mental shortcut that lets consumers make a buying