How do you balance consistency and novelty in your consumer learning strategies?

1 Consistency and novelty

Consistency and novelty are two dimensions of consumer learning that affect how your customers perceive and process your messages. Consistency refers to the degree of similarity or coherence between your current and previous communications, while novelty refers to the degree of surprise or uniqueness of your new information. Both consistency and novelty can have positive or negative effects on consumer learning, depending on the context and the goal.

2 Why consistency matters

Consistency is important for consumer learning because it helps to build trust, credibility, and familiarity with your brand. Consistency can also reinforce your core values, benefits, and positioning in the market. By using consistent elements such as logos, colors, fonts, slogans, and tone of voice, you can create a strong brand identity and recognition among your customers. Consistency can also reduce confusion, uncertainty, and cognitive effort for your customers, making it easier for them to recall and use your information.

3 Why novelty matters

Novelty is important for consumer learning because it helps to capture attention, interest, and curiosity among your customers. Novelty can also stimulate emotion, memory, and creativity, enhancing your customers' engagement and satisfaction. By using novel elements such as images, stories, humor, or interactive features, you can create a memorable and distinctive impression of your brand. Novelty can also challenge, surprise, or delight your customers, making them more receptive and responsive to your information.

4 How to balance consistency and novelty

Achieving a balance between consistency and novelty in consumer learning strategies requires an understanding of customer needs, preferences, and expectations, as well as your objectives and resources. As a general guideline, use consistency as the foundation of your strategy and novelty as the spice. The level of consistency and novelty should be adapted to the stage of the customer journey; for example, consistency is more important in early stages while novelty is more important in later stages. Additionally, this level should be adapted to the type of product or service you offer; for instance, consistency is more important for low-involvement purchases while novelty is more important for high-involvement purchases. Lastly, it’s important to test and measure the impact of consistency and novelty on consumer learning outcomes by using surveys, feedback forms, analytics, or experiments.

5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?