7 Ways to Engage Your Customer’s Reptilian Brain
According to SalesBrain and the Triune Brain theory, the reptilian region is the brain’s attention gatekeeper and decision maker. If you can grab the attention of a consumer’s reptilian brain with your landing page, advertisement, or commercial, you’ve got a much better chance of guiding them to conversion.
Fortunately, there are specific techniques you can use to make your value proposition communicate directly to this region and give you the edge in engaging your audience from the start.
Although the Triune Brain theory is sometimes controversial as experts argue about it’s accuracy – see this earlier Neuromarketing post, the theory provides a helpful, simplified view of how the brain reacts to stimuli. More.
Actually, the theory is a crock.
In her blog on the vagaries of neuroscience, Janet Kwasniak explains,
The reptilian brain is a myth that should not be taken seriously and yet is referred to by many writers and is even seen in educational sites for children. It is the idea that we have three brains: a reptilian one, the paleomammalian one and the mammalian one. The story goes that these were acquired one after another during evolution. The details differ with the writer. But it is all a myth based on an idea from the ’70s of Paul MacLean which he republished in 1990. Over the years in has been popularized by Sagan and Koestler among others.
It would be astonishing if they had not. Such a simple, naturalist answer. And so wrong. More.
But a marketing guru can sell anything, right? (Except the bird brain. That failed focus group tests.)
So we learn from the rep rep:
Appeal To Its Self-Centered Nature
Since it is strictly responsible for its own survival, the consumer’s reptilian brain will be more likely to be attentive if you’re talking about its favorite subject: itself.
Within seconds, the reptilian brain wants to know what you plan to do for it. Make sure to make this extremely apparent in your proposition or the consumer will not be interested.
Could we summarize this as: You want to talk to me? Come to the point. I don’t want the next hour to be sixty minutes I wish I had back.
But how does that relate to either self-centredness or the reptilian brain? Isn’t that just how everyone who has lots to do and must account for their time behaves?
See also: Why the human mind does not work that way.
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Possibly actual reptilian mind (fun but not very inspiring):