Do you know the types of heuristics? Do you know what this concept refers to? Our brain acts in certain ways when we find ourselves in different situations and, in the field of marketing, this places us as targets for certain mental shortcuts. To learn more about what they are and what the characteristics of the types of heuristics are, we encourage you to continue reading this article.
Types of heuristics
Heuristics are a series of mental shortcuts that are made to save cognitive resources.. These are moments that the brain takes us to when we do not want to go through a very long process, but rather we want to fulfill our purposes effectively and quickly. So, below we talk to you about the 6 types of heuristics, so that you can take advantage of them in your next digital strategies.
Availability or accessibility heuristic
This type of cognitive bias refers to the increase in the subjective probability of an event, since many similar situations and examples come to mind. This is seen in the following example:
Which is more likely, death by accident or stroke? The safest answer would be death by accident, since it is news that we see every day and that generates a cascade of availability.
In short, availability affects three variables:
The more accessible the event is, the more likely it is to happen to us.
The more recent the information, the more likely we are to remember it.
The more obvious, the less random it will be.
To work with the availability or accessibility heuristic from digital marketing we must use repetition, where we will put important information near the action buttons (if it is, for example, on a website).
Representativeness heuristic
It is when a certain element belongs to a category. The prototypical is valued, but the probability of occurrence and social prejudices are not taken into account, as we see below:
A methodical person has a hobby of using computers, which is more likely to study engineering or humanities? We will surely respond engineering.
memory heuristic
These are the memory biases that we relate to very positive or very negative examples. We are more likely to remember strange moments sooner than everyday ones.
Scarcity heuristic
This cognitive bias leads us to think that an object has much more value because it is limited than because of its usefulness and functionalities.
This is used by fashion companies to present their collections.
As marketers, we must work with this bias by giving exclusivity, limited time campaigns and limited quantities.
Frequency illusion heuristic
A shortcut is called a frequency illusion heuristic when the situation arises that something is important to us and, therefore, we proceed to activate and focus only on similar phenomena. It seems that when we have a discovery regarding a word or solution, we begin to find it everywhere.
Accommodation heuristic: Frog Soup
The type of accommodation heuristic is the moment in which, in the face of gradual changes, an accommodation effect occurs that we are not aware of. Thus, the primitive brain reacts to strong contrasts and not to gradual change.
What’s next?
Now you know what these 6 types of heuristics consist of. If you get enough out of it, you will be able to meet the objectives you set for yourself to attract your users or future clients with digital strategies that put mental shortcuts into play. Do you want to continue exploring related topics? We invite you to join our Digital Marketing and Data Analysis Bootcamp! Focus on your work life and Enter now to request more information and discover how to become an expert.