Give Your Customers a Nudge

A recent study conducted in the Philippines, Peru and Bolivia, led by Dartmouth University economics professor Jonathan Zinman, proved that text messages helped bank customers boost their savings by 6%. Researchers found that simple reminders or “nudges” were effective at changing banking behavior.

Would that approach work in the United States? In other industries?

In fact, a successful program sponsored by Kaiser Permanente California sent email reminders to employees prior to the lunch hour with tips on eating healthy and walking just 10 minutes each day. Positive lifestyle changes, even among the “intervention group” (the most unhealthy) were recorded and lasted four months after the study.

For marketers, these studies are significant. They prove repetition of a message has impact, especially if the message is relevant to the consumer’s goals. It’s not about us as marketers of products and services, it’s about you the customer and how we can help you achieve your goals.

At Priority, we are already testing the nudge concept. Email subscribers can read an article within an email and then click on “remind me later about this topic” and they receive an automated nudge in 30 days.

We’re still tabulating the results of these tests. If you’d like to learn more, send me an email reminder at jlarranaga@priorityresults.com.

This blog post was originally published on the Priority Blog at priorityresults.com/blog. Priority Integrated Marketing is now BlueSpire Strategic Marketing.