If you work in marketing, sales or market research, understanding how consumers make choices is key to getting it right. After all, if we want to influence a decision, we must first know how it is made, right?

For a long time, it was thought that we made rational choices: we weighed pros and cons and chose the best. But reality doesn’t fit with that idea. We make decisions that are not logical all the time.

Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman helped us understand why. He ruled that we have two systems of thinking. System 1 is fast, automatic and emotional. It works without us realizing it: we know if we like something, we recognize a brand by its color or shape, or we feel rejection without knowing why. It is our “automatic pilot”.

System 2, on the other hand, is slow and rational. It requires attention and effort, as when we solve a complicated problem or compare prices. We use it less because it expends a lot of mental energy. And since we can’t be analyzing everything, we let System 1 make most of our day-to-day decisions.

This means that many choices, even those we think are rational, are influenced by emotions or subconscious associations. In fact, it is estimated that 85% to 95% of our decisions are automatic, not rational.

This is why it is so important to adapt our consumer research. Asking them why they chose a brand may not yield useful results if they don’t know it themselves. Instead, it is better to observe actual behaviors (known as behavioral research) or explore how their emotional brain reacts (neuroresearch).

The key is to combine methods: use surveys when we are looking for conscious opinions, and other techniques when we want to understand more instinctive decisions.

In short: if we continue to think of the consumer as a totally rational being, we are leaving out a large part of the real buying process. The obligation of every marketer, salesperson or researcher is to better understand System 1, which conditions our decisions so much.