How can Psychology and Research Benefit your Business?

Psychology and Research are a powerful combination in the business world, where people and their thoughts influence every avenue of success.

All aspects of business activity revolve around the perceptions and actions of people. Branding, marketing, sales, employee selection and retention, management, etc. all hinge on the psychology of the people involved.

Organizational Psychologists like myself learn deep psychological knowledge that applies to business practices. While marketers and managers do receive focused training that includes psychology, it is usually limited and superficial to make room for practical necessities of the field. Consulting Psychologists can apply their knowledge to any aspect of business with a more complete analysis of the psychological content, but usually will need to work with a few key people to make it fit practical needs.

As an example, existing marketers are likely to know lots about your customers, and be able to apply motivational (shared human needs, drives, reward systems) and perceptual (color, eye movements, engaging images) concepts to their marketing campaigns. This leads to competent and successful deployment of products and services, but often is far from optimized. A successful consult from a psychologist with research skills can broaden knowledge and techniques to further enhance outcomes. For example, the consultant is likely to identify unique psychological factors relevant to the target audience, or design a survey that will accurately discover these factors. Such a survey is likely to fail in its goals unless the creator knows what to look for and how to capture it. Without experience and extensive education, much is missed. To cite one such example from my own work, a company was thinking about customers’ interests in entertainment media in terms of genres and age groups (which is useful, but limited). With my help, the customers were instead profiled based on a combination of psychological needs and entertainment styles, into types that told us internally why they watched what they watched. Beyond the previous simple understanding, we progressed to predict enjoyment of content regardless of genre – improving both suggestions and satisfaction with the products. Imagine you really love a medieval-themed book, movie, or theater production because it deals with challenging social issues. Would you not also enjoy science fiction with the same social challenges? Probably. Maybe not, but certainly considering both your genre and psychological profile would improve the prediction over genre alone. This particular study was more complex than I’ve explained here, but it highlights the value of scientific psychological consultation.

Improving employee satisfaction, hiring practices, sales, branding, or any other important aspect of your organization has far-reaching and powerful ramifications. Don’t let the usual survey, ordinary solutions, or one-size-fits-all practices limit you to mediocrity. Investing in quality research and implementing evidence-based solutions will create better return on investment than inferior methods. Contact me today to discuss your needs for improvement or aspirations for excellence.