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Illusory superiority is a cognitive bias in which we think ourselves to be superior in terms of our capabilities and qualities than the others. This is a psychological tendency of overestimating our own capabilities. For instance, if we are given three options about our driving capabilities as ‘below average, average and above,’ according to the studies, 80% of us would pick the option ‘above average’ even though in the real case it’s only true for 50%. According to the psychologists, we experience this cognitive bias, as it makes us feel good about ourselves and therefore our self-esteem is boosted. At the end, we feel comfortable to expand the dimensions of our comfort zones. However, as the name of the bias implies, it is illusionary, so we can indeed expect certain disadvantages as a result of this tendency in human psychology. For example, as a result of illusory superiority, we set impractical objectives to fulfill and also the deadlines. The results will be adverse as the bases for such establishments are not accurate as we think. So, as a digital marketer what will happen, if you are biased to illusory superiority? Will the decisions made be correct? Will you be able to achieve goals as planned? And will you be able to meet the deadlines? We all know the answer!****
As a result of illusory superiority, people handle businesses mostly based on their perception on different things and miss out the most important criticisms and suggestions of their target audience. If we are to listen to our customers without based on our mere assumptions, then it's the way out from this cognitive bias. Yes, we are talking about constant feedback gathering. Embed 'adding reviews' feature to your website. It not only enables you to track customer feedback, but also present your business with authenticity to other people. Know that a website without reviews is not very different to a website with negative reviews. Moreover, do constant social media monitoring to track what you have been doing right and wrong. Also, obtain complaint reports from the customer care department. The deeper you dig, the better you can see how you're framed to the cognitive bias of illusion superiority. Indeed, your customers know it better!
Collecting feedback won't you get anywhere unless you absorb them and act accordingly! This is when you come to realize that you have been truly trapped by the illusory superiority effect and it's vital to initiate the change immediately in such a case. As to initiate the change, you can proceed with the following set of questions. Let's take an example of a failed offer that you thought would work great towards conversion Rate Optimization (CRO). Ask these and act accordingly!
This is another great way to come out of the painful consequences of illusory superiority. Yes, in marketing, we always talk about making a difference to stand out from the competition. Yet, there are a lot of things that you can learn from successful competitors and alter your digital marketing effort accordingly. Indeed, if you copy a competitor one to one, you may fail to obtain the expected desired outcome towards Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) as the authenticity factor weakens. The ideal strategy is to study a few competitors against their strongest point of success and to come up with a strategy mixing them proportionately to form one ideal strategy for yourself.
Even though the cognitive bias of illusory superiority is presently available among many of us, the misery it can bring for a digital marketer is somewhat great. Even though your marketing attempt seems spotless in your point of view, yet doesn't act great towards the Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), then something must be missing. That's when you should pay serious attention to the facts we discussed above. Indeed, you can mix them all to create the right dose of treatment for you. On the other hand, when your senses work great towards Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) and the competitive edge, then acknowledge that you are indeed superior over many digital marketers out there!
The references contain experiments and studies that prove this bias is there.
Are you curious about how to apply this bias in experimentation? We've got that information available for you!
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