Predicting the future is crucial to running a successful business. An attractive company will indeed attract financial backing after it is founded and when investors see its growth potential. However, its success depends on people believing in its continued prospects.
These intangibles are what make customers loyal to brands all over the globe.
There is a great deal of information and numbers at play here. Data abounds, but why bother making forecasts and analyses in the first place?
Simply put, it makes potential investors more likely to invest and strengthens their belief in the company's mission.
For decades, this has been the norm for businesses everywhere, and without realizing it, corporations have been banking on some fundamental principles of neuroscience.
Why Neuroscience?
In a nutshell, neuroscience examines how brain activity affects human emotions, thoughts, and actions. Based on research areas and study subjects, neuroscience has roots in various fields, including business with applied neuroscience.
In its most basic sense, applied neuroscience is the study and analysis of human behavior that makes use of methods and findings derived from research in the field. Leaders can use applied neuroscience to discover key decision points and then use this information to make choices that will confidently steer an initiative into the future.
And there is so much to learn about different business processes just by analyzing our brains. The human brain, made out of more than 80 billion neurons, is the command processing center of our bodies.
What do neurons do? They transfer information from the brain to the rest of the body based on sensory input. Like when you see, smell, and feel the crust of freshly baked bread, this is all data that your senses pick up and send to your brain, where neurons will process it.
The sight of lightly browned bread that has just come out of the oven can trigger a pleasant feeling and the desire to grab a knife and butter it.
But there is so much more that we can understand by just analyzing these stimuli. That is why neuroscience has found its place in business, and we will explain how it can help every company out there.
Easing Decision Making Processes
Researchers in applied neuroscience rarely use big, permanently installed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners to do their work. Instead, researchers use portable solutions like electroencephalogram (EEG) headsets and eye-tracking technology to read the brain's responses to different stimuli.
Because of this, applied neuroscience is typically implemented at the beginning of a project, when the business problem is being defined, or at the end, to identify new solutions.
Capturing actual data on decision-making in relation to a specific situation is crucial in applied neuroscience. You can use this information to learn when and why people (either internal stakeholders or customers) make decisions and then use that knowledge to plot a course for future success.
A perfect example would be IKEA, which has started using neuroscience to explore potential new business models. A group of researchers used EEG headsets and eye-tracking devices to study how Polish and Dutch IKEA customers reacted to new ideas like solar solutions that let customers make clean energy.
The team then correlated the reactions and comprehension levels with a behavioral database to identify which business models customers were likely to accept or reject. This has led to new ideas, like making plastics that can be reused and giving IKEA's restaurant chain healthier, more environmentally friendly food options.
IKEA was able to gauge which of its business models customers accepted, rejected, or would likely accept in the future by studying their neural responses. Making a behavioral map helped them better understand the motivations behind choosing one business model over another.
Marketing and Consumer Behaviour
Neuroscience can help businesses understand the needs of their consumers by providing insight into how the brain processes information and makes decisions. This can help enterprises to design more effective and consumer-friendly marketing and advertising campaigns.
For example, neuroscience research has shown that the brain responds positively to specific colors, images, and sounds and that certain techniques, such as framing, can influence consumer decision-making.
By using these results, businesses can make marketing materials that are more likely to catch the eye and interest of customers, which can lead to more sales and revenue.
Also, neuroscience can help businesses understand the emotional and mental factors that affect how customers act, which lets them make more effective and personalized marketing plans.
The brain is more likely to focus on something if it is either novel, useful, or emotionally engaging in some way. A company's marketing efforts will be more successful if they include these aspects.
With tools such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), businesses can learn how their customers' minds work as they see different kinds of advertising. This can help them figure out which types of advertising will get people's attention and change their minds about what to buy.
Companies can create more compelling marketing messages by applying neuroscience principles. For instance, studies have shown that messages framed positively or desirably, or that appeal to consumers' emotions, are more likely to elicit a response from the brain. Using these tips, companies can produce ads that work.
Businesses can better market to each customer if they know what makes them think and feel a certain way and how that affects their buying decisions. Personalized marketing campaigns are an excellent example of something that has been shown to make people respond better. Companies can use this information to market to each customer based on what they like and what interests them.
Enhancing Workplace Culture
The application of neuroscience to technology goes far beyond business development. It also has enormous implications for enhancing company culture as a whole. You can find a more productive culture in workplaces that make use of neuroscience and artificial intelligence.
With the help of artificial intelligence (AI) and neuroscientific techniques like electrocardiogram (ECG), electroencephalogram (EEG), and eye-tracking technology, businesses have been able to expose the dangerous undercurrents of office politics that have been holding them back. Without the application of neuroscience and AI, these troublesome subcultures would not have emerged.
Positive work environments, opportunities for social connection, and a focus on work-life balance have all been shown to increase employee satisfaction and productivity, according to studies in neuroscience.
The field of neuroscience can also shed light on the brain's reaction to stress, allowing us to devise effective methods for dealing with it and thereby enhancing productivity in the workplace.
Putting neuroscience research into the workplace can make it happier, healthier, and more productive.
Must, Want, Nice — MUWANI
Our minds tend to get in the way of our best intentions and make us choose and act in ways that don't help us reach our goals.
We are presented with the stark contrast between chance and free will every day. We often make quick decisions when we have many options because our brains are overloaded.
Some people experience cognitive overload daily, and it's woven into the fabric of many organizations. This seriously affects efficiency, effectiveness, and morale in the workplace.
MUWANI, one of the most straightforward, potent, and versatile tools for handling information overload, has a vast potential to help organizations avoid mistakes based on information overload.
MUWANI is a simple prioritization tool made by scientists at Kognitive. It can help businesses improve their performance by reducing cognitive overload and helping people focus on what's most important.
It works by dividing options into three categories: MUST, WANT, and NICE:
- MUST represents options that are necessary and cannot be compromised on.
- WANT represents options that are desired but not essential.
- NICE represents options that are desirable but unnecessary.
By categorizing options in this way, it becomes easier to prioritize and make decisions, reducing cognitive overload and allowing individuals and teams to focus on what matters most. This can lead to improved productivity, performance, and well-being.
Just the Tip of the Iceberg
At first glance, any of these untried paths might seem very risky for a big company with a good reputation. In today's business world, where industries and technologies are quickly merging, it is sometimes necessary for a company to move away from its core strengths to come up with solutions that work and last.
Even though there has been a lot of development in the application of neuroscience to business technology, there is still much to be done. After everything that neuroscience has accomplished so far, it's reasonable to expect even more incredible uses in the future.
So, as neuroscience becomes increasingly integrated into technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence, these groundbreaking changes will help businesses learn more about their customers and employees. All of that can lead to significant advancements in the growth of companies in all areas.
With neuroscience and technology merging to create experiences unlike anything humans have ever had, the future of business is brighter than ever before.
Author bio: Travis Dillard is a business consultant and an organizational psychologist based in Arlington, Texas. Passionate about marketing, social networks, and business in general. In his spare time, he writes a lot about new business strategies and digital marketing for FindDigitalAgency.
