What vs. Why

Buyer motivation varies hugely. Often we have no choice (e.g. gasoline, basic food, etc.), often we have some latitude of choice (do I buy a $500 suit or a $2000 suit? And what is the opportunity cost of the more expensive option?). There are multiple, very mature technologies that are being applied to this issue, the most obvious examples being predictive analytics and collaborative filtering. Another area that is starting to develop is behavioral profiling. Behavioral engines (sometimes called psychometric profiling) are most commonly used in education and human resource applications, and will occasionally dip their toes in the retail sector as a targeting mechanism. While the delimited between predictive analytics and behavioral engines can often be gray, there are some clear distinction between them, and they can often be very complementary. How exactly? I’ll talk to that in my next post.