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What Is 'Receptivity'? (Marketing)

Receptivity is a measure of how open s person is to your message. People ignore what they don't care about.

The form and customization of your message influences how receptive people are the information it contains.

The two primary components of Receptivity are "what" and "when." People are more receptive to certain things at certain times.

Josh Kaufman Explains 'Receptivity'

People ignore what they don't care about. One of the primary functions of the human brain is perceptual filtering: determining what to pay attention to, and what to ignore. The fastest way to be ignored by anyone is to start talking about something they don't care about.

Receptivity is a measure of how open a person is to your message. Rabid fans of hit novels like Stephanie Meyer's Twilight books are paragons of receptivity: they're interested in almost anything they can find about their obsession as soon as it's available. To the people behind these franchises, that's a really great thing-it's difficult to offer something that this audience won't want immediately.

On the other hand, a committed ethical vegan isn't likely to be interested in hearing about the benefits of red meat consumption, regardless of how much disconfirming evidence there is or how compelling the presentation. The worldview mismatch is just too big, and even the largest publicity campaign won't be able to overcome the overwhelming urge to ignore.

Receptivity has two primary components: what and when. People tend to be receptive only to certain categories of things at certain times. I love hearing about great new business books, but I never want to be on the receiving end of a 3:00am phone call from a publicist.

If you want your message to be heard, the medium matters. The form of your message has a big influence on how receptive people are to the information that message contains. If the form of your message suggests that it was created just for them, you're far more likely to get your prospect's attention.

Here's an example: almost everyone will ignore postal junk mail-if it looks blatantly commercial or mass produced, there's a 99% chance the recipient will throw it away without a second thought. Change the form, however, and receptivity changes as well.

Most people will at least open a hand-addressed envelope, since it's clear someone spent time and effort sending it to them. Taken to an extreme, almost everyone (including busy executives) will open and look through the contents of a large overnight hand-addressed FedEx envelope- it's big, expensive, and clearly requires effort to address and send. Even then, if the contents don't match what they're interested in, you'll lose their attention immediately.

Questions About 'Receptivity'

• How, when, and where are your probable purchasers most receptive to hearing from you?
• How can you be present where and when people are looking for you?

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"They say it takes 7 exposures to a product ad before you'll want to buy it, but after 8,743 spam emails for Viagra, I still don't want it!"

Erin Pavlina, intuitive counselor and blogger at erinpavlina.com

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