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Why Behavioral Science Is Marketing’s Missing Link

Fractional Insights Blog Cover - Why Behavioral Science Is Marketing’s Missing Link

For a moment, consider your company’s messaging–especially as it relates to the products or services you provide.


Here’s what we’ve seen: Most companies struggle to craft compelling narratives around their high-level brand, as well as the products and services they provide, because they’re not confident that they’ll cut through the noise. In the age of AI and advanced technology, getting noticed—even with a compelling product—has gotten even harder. 


Describing a product or solution is complicated, let alone differentiating it from a crowded market. All the while, buyers are becoming even more discerning—and they’re choosing to educate themselves long before they’re willing to speak to someone on your sales team.


Traditionally, companies have relied primarily on their product marketing teams to articulate their value propositions and create those narratives. That’s because product marketing sits at the intersection of product, marketing, and sales, interdisciplinary by nature. And, while traditional product marketing has served companies and brands well for decades, to stand out in crowded markets today there is one more discipline that must be added to product marketing’s mix to truly capture attention: behavioral science. 


Why the traditional messaging playbook is no longer enough

For years, marketing teams have dutifully highlighted lists of features and benefits, technical specifications, and broad market trends. They’ve created personas based on demographic data and crafted messaging using industry-standard frameworks. 


To be clear: this approach can bring short-term wins for a portion of the market. However, we’ve also seen this approach fall short in unseating the status quo because it doesn’t actually help the buyer think differently, feel differently, or act differently. Getting a buyer—or more often, a buying team—to purchase a high-ticket solution inherently requires all three. 


Consider a typical line of messaging for SaaS-based products: “Our enterprise software solution increases employee efficiency by 30% through automated workflows.” While this might be true, it’s a message that doesn’t win over a skeptic or help a buyer understand why this particular automation tool is any better than the one they already have. 

Instead of making vapid claims, we have to educate buyers—both on how technology has unlocked a new way to solve their problem, and the nature of their problem to begin with. And, we need to connect that to the motivations of the potential buyers you’re courting.


The behavioral science evolution for go-to-market impact

Enter: The go-to-market orientated behavioral scientist. These experts bring a fundamentally different perspective to the challenge of articulating value propositions. Rather than starting with product features or market trends–all things that might be more important to the brand at first than a potential purchaser–we begin with a different question: “How do humans actually make decisions?” 


This shift in perspective leads to profound differences in how value propositions are developed and communicated:


From features to human needs

Where traditional marketers might emphasize a product's technical capabilities, behavioral scientists dig deeper to understand the psychological needs driving purchase decisions. They recognize that behind every B2B purchase is a human being driven by both rational and emotional factors–from the desire for professional success to the fear of making the wrong decision. They are thirsty for insights that help them feel confident, inspired, and willing to champion a solution, not just claims or feature lists.


From voice of the customer to mind of the customer

Typical market research often relies on surveys and focus groups that capture what people say they want. Behavioral scientists, on the other hand, understand that human behavior is often driven by unconscious factors that people cannot articulate. Behavioral scientists use existing and new data and research to uncover these hidden motivations, leading to insights that might otherwise get missed.


From generic to specific use cases

Think of a time when you’ve vetted a specific solution or product to solve a problem for your company. How many times have you seen broad, hypothetical messaging–i.e. “Perfect for any team looking to improve collaboration.” At first glance, this is good–what team wouldn’t want to improve collaboration? However, the more generic messaging is, the more it will fail to tap into specific psychological contexts where solutions are most needed. 


Go-to Market behavioral scientists can help design use cases and case studies that connect deeply with actual human experiences in the workplace. Rather than just saying "improves team collaboration," they might highlight the underlying why and how. For example, providing data and insights about the core challenges of new managers, paired with a case study on how the solution helped a newly-promoted manager overcome their anxiety about leading their first remote team. Or, about the challenges of top level leaders staying aligned with their teams under dynamic conditions and how it helps experienced leaders maintain team trust and cohesion during a period of organizational change. Behavioral scientists can help you provide data, insights, and proof to support it. 


From marketing speak to clear communication

It happens to the best marketing strategists and writers: Sometimes, you’re so close to your industry or company jargon that it makes its way into your messaging without you even realizing it. Instead of technical buzzwords, working with a behavioral scientist can help you focus on emotional truth and deep seated pain: “Stop spending your mornings wondering if important tasks fell through the cracks—know exactly where every project stands, so you can lead your team with confidence." resonates at a different level than "AI-powered, cloud-native solutions that leverage cutting-edge algorithms to optimize synergies,” right? But how can marketing teams know what pain point is sharpest for their market? What deep seated pain is most common, most salient, and most motivating to solve in your market? What insights can you offer to position yourself as an authority on that pain? These fundamental questions must be answered so you can craft these messages - and that’s a job for a behavioral scientist. 


From vanity to outcome-focused metrics

Messages like, “Join our community of 50,000+ users!” might sound impressive, but often, these aren’t the numbers that potential buyers of your products and services are looking for. Instead, behavioral scientists can help you steer the conversation towards metrics that demonstrate true change in both human behavior and business outcomes. "87% of managers report reduced anxiety about project status while maintaining productivity goals and that means a 1.5X increase in goal attainment." These metrics connect psychological well-being to business performance, bridging the gap between human impact and bottom-line results.


Understanding prospect behavior = a competitive marketing edge

In an era where differentiation is increasingly difficult, partnering with behavioral scientists for go-to-market insights provides a distinct advantage. They understand the importance of:


  • Truly knowing human behavior, including nuanced understanding of why people make decisions

  • Scientific expertise for insight generation and translation for commercial application 

  • Bridging theory and practice, allowing them to apply academic theories to real-world business contexts

  • Predictive power–the understanding of behavioral patterns and how they create better prediction of customer needs and market trends

  • The holistic approach of considering the entire end user experience–not just isolated touchpoints–which can lead for more comprehensive solutions for prospects

  • Product impact metrics and solid outcomes measurement so that marketing is enabled to tell the commercial stories they need

  • Credibility, because having scientific credibility enhances trust with buyers


It’s not about what we say, it’s how we understand

The worktech market is crowded, and your ideal customer is only becoming more discerning. Companies and brands that embrace this synthesis of scientific insight and marketing expertise will not only find themselves better equipped to connect with their audiences, they’ll also be able to build lasting relationships with customers and drive sustainable growth of their bottom lines. 


The future of marketing lies not just in what we say to our customers, but in how deeply we understand them. By bringing behavioral scientists into the process of articulating the what, how, and why of our products and services, companies can truly create those compelling narratives that might be alluding them currently.


Ready to transform how you communicate your value to the market? Learn how Fractional Insights' team of behavioral scientists can help you create more compelling, scientifically-grounded narratives. Contact us today to start the conversation.



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