Familiarity principle is the tendency of humans to have a better preference for the things that they are more familiar with.
I saw an interesting real-life story that can explain it better: “my[author’s] dog was scared of the hoover the first time it came out, and he refused to leave the house when it snowed in his first winter with us. ”
It is an example that most of the animals fear or try to hide/run away from unfamiliar things, but tends to overcome the fear if it becomes regular/familiar as time passes by.
Just like this analogy, when it comes to consumer behaviour, people tend to “trust” products which they have seen before more than a new product with zero familiarity, even if the new product may be of higher quality.
How can businesses achieve this?
By portraying a consistent personality for their brands through whatever elements the brand uses to communicate to the audiences. It might be Logos, fonts, Tone of voice, colour palette, the images that the brand uses etc..
Having a long term strategy and consistently communicating the same with your audiences is what makes an organisation a brand.
Article originally published here .
