Source: Amazon.com

I think this book could be described as an introduction to current marketing research. It discusses the importance of subconscious desires in purchasing behaviour that is often ignored in marketing textbooks, which tend to consider consumers as rational decision makers instead of the highly influenceable and varied group that they are. A lot of the information is quite strange to think about, like how smoking warnings actually prompt smokers to light up more, while others are more intuitive, like how daily rituals affect purchasing choices. It’s also a relatively easy read and you can tell that the author is passionate about his research in consumer behaviour.

The book has some interesting studies about how consumers subconsciously react to advertisements, and consequently how marketing affects our behaviour without our knowledge. It’s actually quite frightening to think about how much our behaviour is shaped by external influences. Lindstrom also talks about the use of new technology is changing market research, specifically, the use of fMRI and other neurotechnology to help marketers understand consumer behaviour by examining how their brains react to advertisements. While I’m a bit wary of the results of his studies, I’m blown away by his descriptions of how successful corporations use their knowledge to create advertisement campaigns. The amount of detail and planning that goes into marketing a brand is outstanding. Despite the great insights on how companies influence our buying decisions, there are some problems in the book that limit my enjoyment of it. I’m not keen on how Lindstrom makes conclusive statements on how consumers react to certain advertising tactics based on the fMRI scans of a limited group of volunteers. The research he’s done is a good to consider in seeing general trends in how consumers behave, but I don’t think there is nearly enough evidence to support the cause-and-effect relationships he describes.

Overall, Buyology is still an entertaining and interesting book on the psychology of buying, and if nothing else, it will at least give you a better perspective to examine what influences your own purchasing behaviour.

Source: Amazon.com

* I think if you enjoy this book, you’ll also like ‘How We Decide’ by Jonah Lehrer. It doesn’t have the    marketing perspective of Buyology, but it does give a clearer overall look at the cognitive processes  involved in decision making.