Do you ever come across the term ‘halo effect?’ It is the tendency of human psychology to perceive a particular product, company, people, or anything as good or bad, depending upon their first impression in a field. For instance, a handsome person will be perceived as more intelligent; hence more positive character traits will be associated with him, although the two qualities of being handsome and intelligent have nothing to do with each other.
The cognitive bias of the brain correlates the two properties. The marketing agencies and the logo design services intentionally or unintentionally use the halo effect. A good logo can be far more influential than it is thought to be. A good logo imposes a halo effect on the overall perceived value of the brand.
A study revealed that the jurists were more lenient towards good-looking criminals than the unpleasing ones even though they committed the same crime.
How does the halo effect work?
Companies create a halo effect by capitalizing on their strong plus most dominant product in the market. By concentrating on the highly performing plus more successful products and services, brand reputation increases, and brand equity strengthens.
When consumers have a positive effect on one product of a company, they cognitively form brand loyalty with the other products, including the promotions and offers. Consumers are more likely to buy products from the company they’ve formed loyalty to than trying new products. This belief is independent of the consumers’ experience. This is because if one product of a company is good, surely its other products will also be good.
Apple used the halo effect to boost its sales together with business through one of its cheapest products. The consumers fell in love with the iPod’s coherent experience and went on buying the other products of apple, forming brands’ loyalty. Initially, iPod was only compatible with Mac. The iPod-Mac experience created the halo effect to raise sales. Furthermore, Apple is again using the same strategy by making Apple watch only compatible with iPhone.
Ways of employing the halo effect
In the history of marketing, celebrity endorsement is most common. People identify it as if an important or famous person uses it even if the celebrity and the product are not correlated. The other strategy that brands use is “beauty pays.” To run such campaigns, they feature beautiful models to advertise their products, personalize aesthetic yet easy to work on the website or run towards the logo design services to customize aesthetic and simple logo designs. For sure, people remember logos and associate them with the brands. A sense of design means that the products offered by the brand will be outstanding too.
Cons of halo effect
People tend to form strong impressions based on first perceived traits. The term conflicting with the halo effect is the horn effect. In the horn effect, a person associates negative feelings with the first negative impression of the brand. Bad advertising campaigns or the product’s poor serving can decrease the other products’ overall sales. The first impression in marketing is the most crucial.
Maintaining the halo effect of a brand is a tough gig. A well-known marketing case is that of Coca-Cola. When they changed the formula of their coke, even it worked at the testing stage, but consumers were enraged, and Coca-Cola quickly reverted back to its original formula. The new formula worked well, but they underestimated the emotional connection consumers had with the original formula.
Controlling the halo effect can be as hard as dodging a bullet. The brand image can therefore act as a make it or break its effects. It is crucial for logo design services to create a brand image that is distinct yet powerful enough to leave a lasting positive impression on customers.
Conclusion:
The halo effect influences both the consumer’s judgment of the website and other visual representations. Besides, it also affects the decisions from the strategic point of view of the logo design services and the marketing agencies.
On the one hand, you can use the halo effect to change the overall perception of the website, product, or brand. Just associate it with something or someone attractive or successful or maybe both; on that account, boom, you are done.
While on the other hand, it can also be dangerous for a brand. The post-doc indicators of a successful business can sometimes over calm a person and create the idea that the overall business is well-tuned. For instance, if a person is doing well at the initial stage of his job, owns a posh house, a car, and is known to be the expert in whatever he does. If he is provided with the statistics and math proving that his business is over the edge, he is more likely to turn it down. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”