The Six Minute Book Summary of You Are What You Choose by Scott de Marchi And James T. Hamilton

Executive Summary

The authors of You Are What You Choose: The Habits of Mind that Really Determine How We Make Decisions believe that there are six TRAITS of each consumer that can determine and predict what each will buy, do, or believe. These six TRAITS are Time, Risk, Altruism, Information, meToo, and Stickiness. Each of the six TRAITS are scored based on a short survey of five questions each.

The first trait is Time. Some consumers are focused on the short term and not concerned about the future, while others will take a longer view and value the future. A low Time score will indicate that the consumer ignores the future, while a higher score will indicate a consumer that values the future and is thinking ahead.

The second trait is Risk. How willing is the consumer to take risks, how much of a gambler is he or she? Risk measures how the consumer assesses dangers and payoffs in the decision making process. A low Risk score shows a consumer who does not like taking risks or chances, while a higher score shows a consumer accepting and willing to take risks.

Altruism is the third trait indicated by the authors and measures how much the consumer cares about others. How willing is he or she to pay the price for doing the right thing? Scoring low on the Altruism trait indicates a self-concerned consumer compared to a higher score which indicates a consumer who is concerned about others and about society.

Information is a trait used to measure how much information one consumes, whether it be in the form of books, magazines, television programs, internet blogs, websites, or any other form of information gathering. How much does the consumer enjoy acquiring knowledge? A low Information trait points to a consumer that does not care to seek out data in the decision making process, while a higher score will point to a totally opposite consumer that uses all the information possible to make decisions.

The meToo trait is used to measure how much a consumer is influenced by others in the decision making process, whether it be other’s opinions, friendships, their image, or social status. The meToo factor measures how much the consumer tends to follow the crowd or make their own decisions or choices. As expected, a low score will show someone who is individualistic that does not care about the opinions of others, while a high score will indicate the opposite, someone who wants to feel accepted by others and share in the consumer choices of others.

The final trait is Stickiness, or loyalty, which measures how far a consumer will stray from the familiar. A low score will reflect a consumer that is independent, who likes variety. A high score shows a consumer who is loyal to his choices, whether it be a certain brand or idea.

The authors conclude that these six TRAITS can be combined with other information and demographics to more accurately predict consumer behavior.
The Ten Things Managers Need to Know fromYou Are What You Choose

The authors believe that there are six TRAITS of each person that can predict behavior and help determine their consumer choices as well as their social decisions. These six TRAITS are: Time, Risk, Altruism, Information, meToo, and Stickiness.

The first trait is Time. How willing are you to wait for a large payoff later? Some people are focused on the short term, while some will take a longer view and value the future.

Another trait is Risk. How much of a gambler are you? Risk measures how you assess dangers and payoffs in your decision making process.

Altruism is another trait. How strongly do you consider the welfare of others in your decision making? Are you willing to pay the price to do the right thing?

Information is a trait used to measure how much information you consume, such as reading books, websites, magazines, newspapers, and watching television programs. How much do you enjoy acquiring knowledge?

The meToo trait measures how much you are influenced by other people’s opinions, friendships, your image, and social status. Do you tend to follow the crowd or make your own decisions or choices?

The last trait is Stickiness. This trait determines how loyal you are to certain products and decisions. How far do you stray from the familiar?

The authors believe these six TRAITS can be combined with other information and data such as demographics, and political party to more accurately predict consumer behavior and choices.

Demographics such as gender, age, education, income, race, number of children at home, and urban or rural living status were all considerations in evaluating the decision making process of consumers. Political party affiliations were also considered in combination with the TRAITS theory.

The authors also use microtargeting, including a large set of consumer choices, to zero in on consumer personalities and how they coincide with the decision making process.

Full Summary of You Are What You Choose

How You Decide

When you evaluate the lives of two consumers, Felix and Oscar, who have similar demographics, there are many differences in their consumer choices. Both will tell you that they consider safety most important when buying a car. But there is a big difference in what they drive. Felix may drive an Audi, a top safety pick of the insurance industry, while Oscar may drive a Dodge Ram truck, which earns a moderate safety rating.

Both consumers will tell you that they enjoy eating out, but their restaurant choices and type of cuisine will vary greatly. Felix may visit four different restaurants in one month, while Oscar may have one or two favorite restaurants that he prefers to visit. Felix may prefer healthy food choices while dining out, while Oscar does not consider healthy choices when choosing menu items.

The authors of You Are What You Choose believe that the consumer decision making process is more than just demographics. They believe there are six core habits or TRAITS that help determine consumer choices and behaviors.

These six core TRAITS are: Time, Risk, Altruism, Information, meToo, and Stickiness. The first trait is Time. How willing are you to wait for a large payoff later? Some people are focused on the short term, while some will take a longer view and value the future.  Another trait is Risk. How much of a gambler are you? Risk measures how you assess dangers and payoffs in your decision making process. 

Altruism is another trait. How strongly do you consider the welfare of others in your decision making? Are you willing to pay the price to do the right thing?  Information is a trait used to measure how much information you consume, such as reading books, websites, magazines, newspapers, and watching television programs. How much do you enjoy acquiring knowledge? 

The meToo trait measures how much you are influenced by other people’s opinions, friendships, your image, and social status. Do you tend to follow the crowd or make your own decisions or choices? The last trait is Stickiness. This trait determines how loyal you are to certain products and decisions. How far do you stray from the familiar?

Each of the six TRAITS are scored based on a short survey of five questions each. This survey can be found on page 9.

If we use the TRAITS of each consumer and evaluate their choices, we have Felix that is low on Stickiness, Risk, and the meToo trait, while high on Altruism, Information, and Time. These TRAITS predict that Felix will choose healthier options at a restaurant and get a truly safe car.  His low meToo and Stickiness trait makes him open to try new restaurants and choices; his high Information and Time trait means he places value on researching his safe car choice, the Audi, and the Time trait means he places a value on the future.

Oscar’s TRAITS are pretty much the opposite of Felix’s. He has a high Stickiness trait, which means he is loyal, which could explain his purchase of the Dodge Ram truck, he is loyal to the brand and said he would only buy American. He also has a high Risk trait, which explains his unhealthy menu choices. 

While these are only a few examples, the authors believe that the habits that consumers use to make decisions affect many different types of choices, and reflect what they value and how they reach decisions. The authors will combine results of the TRAITS with demographics and political party affiliation to zero in on the marketing choices of consumers.

You Are What You Choose

Let’s look at a simple decision of whether or not to get a flu vaccine and how the TRAITS predict this decision. The CDC recommends that anyone who wants to lower the risk of getting the flu should get the flu vaccine. Deciding whether or not to get a flu shot involves Risk, what is the payoff later? People who accept risk in other parts of their lives, such as smoking, gambling, tend to not get a flu shot. Those with a lower Risk score do not want to take a chance of not getting vaccinated.

People who consume more Information are more likely to get the flu vaccine. They are more likely to learn about the benefits by reading, or hearing about it on the news.  Time can be another factor in the decision since this requires lost time away from work, time waiting in the doctor’s office. One must weigh the benefits of time lost for future payout.

The meToo factor is also considered as consumers are more likely to imitate the behavior of family and friends who have been vaccinated. Consumers with a low meToo score would not be influenced by family and friends and therefore would not get the vaccine.

Another example is the consumption of alcohol. Can TRAITS help explain who drinks and what they drink?  If we examine political party affiliation, both Democrats and Republicans like to drink. Demographics suggest that women, the highly educated, and higher income consumers drink more wine. The more educated you are, the more likely you are to drink a microbrewed beer. Men generally prefer beer over wine.

While demographics are useful, they only tell part of the story. Of the TRAITS, Risk has a role; the higher your risk score, the more likely you are to drink. Consumers with a high Stickiness trait tend to stick with domestic beer and avoid wine and microbrews. Information seekers drink more red wine, probably because they have read or heard about the health benefits of red wine. Consumers with a high meToo score drink more lite beers. This suggests they are drinking lite beer to please others – either to lose weight, or drinking to be social.

Consumers make choices based on time, risk, other people, and information. Why does one person have a particular set of core TRAITS? Some factors include gender, income, and education. Overall, men take more risks, women place a greater value on the future; those with more education consider more options when making decisions, and higher income consumers place more emphasis on contributing to communities (altruism).

Happy, Healthy, and Wise

For many years, people thought a high fiber diet prevented colon cancer. In 1999, that changed when a new study found no link between fiber and cancer. There are similar studies for drinking water, taking vitamins, and which fats to avoid. Some support drinking huge quantities of water, while others have not supported the theory. Some studies support a low fat diet while others do not recommend it. So how do we measure whether someone is eating a healthy diet? One aspect would be to look at where you eat out. There are many options, some of them healthy, some of them not so healthy.

If we examine demographics, women are more likely to choose healthy dining options, as well as purchase salads, organic foods, and read nutrition and diet books. Those with more education also tend to favor healthy options as well. Party affiliation points to Republicans eating a more healthy diet when compared to the choices of Democrats.

However, TRAITS are a leading factor when determining whether a consumer considered healthy options when choosing a restaurant. The most important TRAIT is Time; those who value the future tend to choose healthier options. The higher the Risk score, the less likely consumers were to say that healthy options were important. If you are more likely to smoke, gamble, or speed then you are not likely to make health choices when it comes to food.

People with a high meToo score are more likely to choose healthy dining also; they are concerned with status and the opinions of others. And those with a high Information and Altruism score tend to be more concerned with health as well, since they are more informed and concerned with making lives better. And those who score high on Stickiness are not likely to eat healthy, as they are less likely to change brands or try new products.

All-Consuming

When you woke up this morning and had your cup of coffee, you exchanged currency for the pleasure of that morning ritual. While you slept you were consuming electricity. Consumption is something we are all familiar with, whether it be that first cup of coffee in the morning, having a light turn on when you wake up at 2:00 a.m., or the flat screen TV you watch each night. It’s why we go to work, and there is a direct correlation between what we spend on a product or service and the pleasure we receive from it.

But while we are all familiar with this type of consumption, there is also a consumption of ideas or ideologies. Like material goods, there is also a relationship between the price we are willing to pay and the pleasure we receive.

One example of this consumption of ideas would be recycling. We are all familiar with the benefits of recycling on the environment due to public service ads. However, many consumers with low Altruism scores still do not recycle because they are not concerned enough about the environment. Or they are lazy or they do not believe that recycling helps. Their low Time score would designate that they are not thinking about the future.

On the other hand, those consumers with high Altruism scores tend to indicate that they care about the environment. The Time trait also affects whether or not they choose to recycle as those that think forward into the future are more likely to take the time to recycle.

Consuming Politics

The data collected by the authors found that 30 percent of people say they are Republican, 30 percent Democrats, 20 percent Independent, 18 percent have no preference, and 2 percent support a third party.

When we take into account the TRAITS, those with a higher Stickiness rating will support a major party, as they are pretty much locked in to Democrat or Republican, a decision which is sometimes based on past decisions. Those that enjoy Information also tend to identify with a major party, as well as Altruists, as they are convinced they are doing good no matter which side they have chosen.

Those that are Independent are less likely to have a high Stickiness rating, as they are open to changing their minds. Consumers with high Information scores and concerned about the future tend to be Independents.  Their meToo scores also show they don’t care how others view their decisions.

People without a political preference are low on Time scores and Information, which shows they are not concerned about the future, and haven’t invested time to become informed.

Early Adopters

Consumers who are first to try a new product or idea are considered early adopters. Determining which consumer is more likely to stick with the tried and true, or try a new product or idea can be very important.  One example would be the video game console industry.

There are many choices for consumers when it comes to video game consoles. Nintendo’s Wii console is quickly outselling Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony Playstation 3. Success in the video game industry could mean millions of units, and generate billions of dollars in sales. Huge upfront development costs are only offset when the sales increase and production costs drop.

TRAITS help predict which consumers will more likely be early adopters and try the latest game consoles on the market. Those who score high on Information are more likely to try a new gaming system as they have been exposed to the advertisements and reviews of the new game. Consumers with a high meToo factor will also be early adopters as they want to have the latest technology and status.

Combining this data with demographics can help determine which consumers will be leaders and which will be followers in the game console market, as well as for other products and services. Another example would be the use of the social networking site Twitter.

Twitter allows users to send out text based messages and updates called “tweets” to their friends, similar to a blog. Like video games, those who score high in Information tend to be early adopters of the Twitter service. They want to share and receive as much information as possible. In contrast, if you want to avoid Risk, you are less likely to use Twitter or any other internet based service.

Traits in the Wild

            When you perform a Google search, a set of ads pop up next to your results. These ads are not selected at random. They are matched to your search terms. Companies bid in an auction to match their ad to your search terms, and when you actually click on an ad, the advertiser has to pay Google a fee. The authors ran ads for a week to test the success of TRAITS and found that consumers who are high Risk are more likely to click on a risky ad rather than people searching for a movie review.

            When comparing Apple Mac computers to a PC, the TRAITS model found that those with high meToo scores tend to favor the Apple Mac. Information scores did not seem to matter as information geeks were just as likely to choose an Apple Mac or a PC. This suggests the decision of which to buy is not necessarily about the benefits of the hardware, but more about the cool factor of owning a Mac computer.

Conclusion

            It is obvious that knowing the TRAITS of the people you are marketing to is important. Combining Time, Risk, Altruism, Information, meToo, Stickiness factors with other important data can lead to better decisions about marketing and ideas. These choices can be used to predict what a consumer will buy or do or believe and how a person acts as a consumer, neighbor, and a voter.

Personal Insights

Why I think:

The author is one of the most brilliant people around…or is full of $ %, because:

I believe the authors have come up with an interesting survey to determine how the six TRAITS can predict consumer behavior and choices. The information obtained from the TRAITS survey can be very useful when combined with other data to target a specific market or introduce a new product. I would not rely on the results of the TRAITS survey alone.

If I were the author of the book, I would have done these three things differently:

1.            I believe there should be more questions on the TRAITS survey. I am not so sure you can predict someone’s behavior of whether or not they floss their teeth daily.

2.            I would have shown the results of more real life examples of how the TRAITS survey was used to target a specific consumer or behavior. There were a lot of general examples given.

3.            I would have brought attention to the fact that younger consumers, such as college students, will probably have different scores on the TRAITS survey compared to older consumers. The Time trait, for example, refers to having minimal insurance coverage which may be all younger consumer can afford at this time.

Reading this book made me think differently about the topic in these ways:

1.            Each consumer definitely has different TRAITS, which is something I have not thought about prior to reading this book.

2.            This book made me aware of what my TRAITS are as a consumer and how they affect my daily choices in life, like where I choose to eat and the things I buy.

3.            Political preferences are similar to consumer choices when the TRAITS survey results are applied. Politicians can use the results to sell their ideas instead of a product.

I’ll apply what I’ve learned in this book in my career by:

1.            I will think about the TRAITS survey now when I purchase items, rather than just being part of the meToo group concerned with social status.

2.            I have become more aware of how companies target consumer and will be more aware in my choices, rather than being manipulated.

3.            I will consider the TRAITS of others when I am trying to sell them on a specific product or idea.

Here is a sampling of what others have said about the book and its author:

Neurosciencemarketing.com anticipated that the book would be full of insights based on behavioral research and neuroscience. Instead, the book focuses on the author’s TRAITS system, which is used to classify consumers and predict their behavior.

The Washington Post Company says You Are What You Choose is an interesting summary of how the six TRAITS can be used from presidential races to marketing departments of major companies. Data on consumer decision making is being used in extraordinary ways.

The Weekly Book Scan states that one can better market to their clients by understanding the six TRAITS. They found the book very useful in understanding how different personalities make different decisions.

Bibliography

Dooley, R. (2009, February 17). You Are What You Choose | Neuromarketing. Neuroscience Marketing. Retrieved March 26, 2010, from http://www.neurosciencemarketing.com/blog/articles/you-are-what-you-choose.htm

Tarbox, K. (2009, October 26). You Are What You Choose: The Weekly Book Scan. The Weekly Book Scan. Retrieved March 26, 2010, from http://theweeklybookscan.blogs.realtor.org/2009/10/26/you-are-what-you-choose/.

Ravindran, Vijay. You Are What You Choose. Washington, DC: The Washington Post Company.

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Contact Info

To contact the author of this “Summary and Review of You Are What You Choose,” please email Emily.Moore-2@selu.edu.

Biography

David C. Wyld (dwyld.kwu@gmail.com) is the Robert Maurin Professor of Management at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, Louisiana. He is a management consultant, researcher/writer, and executive educator. His blog, Wyld About Business, can be viewed at http://wyld-business.blogspot.com/. He also serves as the Director of the Reverse Auction Research Center (http://reverseauctionresearch.blogspot.com/), a hub of research and news in the expanding world of competitive bidding. Dr. Wyld also maintains compilations of works he has helped his students to turn into editorially-reviewed publications at the following sites:

Management Concepts (http://toptenmanagement.blogspot.com/)

Book Reviews (http://wyld-about-books.blogspot.com/) and

Travel and International Foods (http://wyld-about-food.blogspot.com/).                

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