You might think that making a decision about anything in life is generally quite easy.
You weigh up your options, measure them against your main objective(s) and decide on the course of action that will benefit you the most.
However, it’s not always that simple. Many factors come into play and different people have different motivations or influences that will shape how they come to a decision.
So, as a director or senior manager of a financial services provider or a large advisory business, how do you support your customers in making better decisions?
At Wi-Ai we are fascinated by the decision-making process, in all its aspects. Important factors may include:
- Emotion
Our emotions can be extremely powerful and can often override our own logic. Research suggests that we use our emotions in our decision-making more than our logical faculties.
When helping clients or customers with decisions, it’s tempting to guide them to focus on the facts. However, it’s also important to allow them to reflect on how they will feel if they make a particular decision and whether the prospect of experiencing that emotion is stopping them making the BEST decision for themselves.
- Too much choice!
If people have too many options it can make their decision process more of a challenge. If someone feels overwhelmed by the sheer number of things to choose from, it can cloud their judgment and in turn stop them making the right decision (or at times, any decision).
- Make difficult decisions easier
Similarly to having too much choice, when people suffer from information overload they may not be able to process all the information correctly, which will hamper their decision-making. When it comes to financial decisions these can often be difficult. As an adviser or provider, you can help customers make the right decisions by providing them with all the information they need, in a digestible format. Breaking a decision process down into smaller chunks may help. Focusing on each area step-by-step will help someone come to a more informed decision.
- Behavioural biases
This is our specialism at Wi-Ai. Our software allows individuals to measure and take ownership of their susceptibility to a range of the behavioural biases that may influence decision making for all of us, such as Recency Bias, Loss Aversion and Optimism Bias. Understanding these susceptibilities allows your customers to pause and think again before rushing to important decisions, such as encashing investments, based on knee-jerk reactions rather than well considered evaluation.
Each of the examples above shows that many factors can influence a person’s decision-making process. Making a decision about anything isn’t just a black and white matter. Our emotions, the number of options, how complex material is presented and our behavioural biases are all factors that may influence our thought processes when it comes to making a decision.
Our software tools can help your customers to understand this process better. Wi-Ai empowers your financial services client or customer to make better decisions about your products, freeing you to create happier and more profitable business relationships.
Contact us today to find out how Wi Ai Technology can help: [email protected]