Using thresholds in your favor

The key is to understand the different sensory thresholds in order to use

them in your favor. When it comes to consumers’ absolute threshold, you

must create advertisements above this threshold. For example, say you’re

advertising in an area that houses multiple advertisements or billboards.

Because of these advertisements, your consumers are experiencing sensory

overload and are unable to process the advertising messages. You may want

to choose to advertise in another venue that isn’t so saturated. This way you

can more easily gain the attention of consumers.

You often use the differential threshold when you don’t want your consum-

ers to sense a change, as when you need to raise your product’s price. In

order to use the threshold in this way, you must focus on the benefits of the

product to outweigh the differences. If a consumer is presented with both

the positive and the negative, he can outweigh the negative perception with

the positive. For example, suppose you raised the price but your lotion is the

best on the market. In that case, you might advertise as being rated the #1

lotion without focusing on the price increase.

At other times, though, you want your consumers to recognize the differ-

ential threshold, perhaps when you increase the size of your product. For

example, consider the shampoo bottle that reads “25 percent more,” but yet

remains the same price. In this situation, you want consumers to notice the

difference, so you focus on both benefits, 25 percent more but for the same

price.

The subliminal threshold is broken when a person is exposed to two differ-

ent messages, which are only shown for a short time. The messages are so

short in time that the consumer isn’t consciously aware of them. Here’s an

example of when you might use the subliminal threshold: You may advertise

a 30-second spot that talks about the new sandwich that you have just intro-

duced, and then shortly thereafter you play a 30-second spot about being

hungry. The consumer subconsciously stores both of these messages and

perceives that he’s hungry and should purchase the new sandwich.