I want to let you into a little secret. I've learned to ask customers a specific question over the years:
Has anything changed since the last time I spoke to you?
This question is a good one. Customers change their minds on many occasions. If you think they are still where they were two weeks ago, when you last spoke, you might be surprised that things have changed. But you won't be surprised if you ask the question.
The essential theoretical insight regarding why customers change their minds is that we often think of our minds as unitary, meaning only one version of our minds. In reality, we have multiple versions of ourselves that can become activated under different circumstances.
All of us have two ways of thinking about things. Professor Daniel Kahneman called them System One and System Two in his book, Thinking Fast and Slow. In our book, The Intuitive Customer, we called them the Intuitive and Rational Systems.
We apply different cognitive systems to making a decision. Sometimes, we use the fast and automatic Intuitive System, and other times, we use the slow and deliberative Rational System.
However, while this is a critical distinction, it is not the only one. There are all kinds of different dichotomies within us. Consider abstract thinking versus concrete thinking or short-term thinking versus long-term thinking or emotional, hot cognition versus sensible, cool cognition.
There are also different temporal perspectives. For example, you could think about where you are now versus where you will be. These are different versions of the self. You could explain why people change their minds as they are different people from one time to another.
So, if you've decided to use one mindset or perspective and later consider the same decision with a different one, you might realise you don't like the previous decision. Thus, you will change your mind.
The influence of intuitive and rational systems on decisions
If you listen to what people say, they often mention that they were thinking about it. So, what does that mean? What frame or mindset are they using?
For example, your intuitive system is always on, a gut reaction to things. Also, it doesn't take any energy to make that decision because it's always there. In contrast, the rational side uses a logical process where you have to think and use energy.
It's not a problem that we have multiple mindsets, approaches, or perspectives. The problem might occur when you switch perspectives or mindsets from time one, when you make the decision, to time two, when you reconsider the decision.
In the 1970s, researchers asked undergraduate students to choose a poster they might take home to put on their wall. Then, researchers asked a second group to fill out a survey on the posters that asked questions and sought feedback from several perspectives. Then, the researchers had undergraduates choose a poster after the survey and analysis.
In other words, the first group chose intuitively, and the second group rationally. When the researchers followed up with the students later, the students in the second group were less likely to put it on the wall and keep it there. They didn't rate them as highly as the first group, who chose intuitively.
Now, most of us interact with a poster intuitively. We like it, or we don't.
There are some posters that you react to rationally. I've got a poster on my wall with the Birds of North America, and I like to sit there and stare at that sometimes and learn about various birds.