When it comes to marketing, language is everything. You have to use words that capture the imaginations of your target demographic. To do this, you must understand the associations that a word can carry.

Connotations are the cultural and emotional baggage that words can carry within a specific culture. For example, the words clever and devious are synonymous, but devious has a negative connotation, as it is associated with underhanded motivations. Many people haven’t thought about connotations since their high school English classes, but it’s a crucial idea for anyone using language to sell a product.

This featured poll is like a case study in how connotations affect customers’ perception of a product. Fifty female respondents were asked which of two names they would prefer for a YouTube channel and website featuring reviews of different bags. Option A was the name “Bag Vids” and Option B was “Bag Reports.” Can you guess which one won?

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A PickFu pollster tested two potential wall-mounted bottle opener designs, drawing on an audience of 50 Amazon Prime members. The products differed both in price and in design. The first design (Option A), priced at $12.99, was a metal trapezoidal receptacle with an attached black bottle opener. No artwork adorned it save for the embossed brand name. The second design (Option B), priced at $24.99, was a wooden wall mount shaped like a bottle, with an attached silver metal receptacle and a retro-style joke about beer. Can you guess which bottle opener the respondents chose? Check out the poll results here. … Continue reading

A PickFu pollster tested two potential names for a website and YouTube channel that reviews handbags, messenger bags, and backpacks. The poll asked 50 women to choose between Bag Vids (Option A) and Bag Reports (Option B) Which channel name would you pick? Which one do you think our test group chose? Check out the poll results. … Continue reading

Noted futurist Alvin Toffler said, “You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things so that all the small things go in the right direction.” In other words, small things end up having a huge impact.

A recent PickFu poll demonstrates this principle well. Respondents were asked to choose between two photos of home humidifiers.

At first glance, the two humidifiers look identical. Both have sleek lines, a glossy, reflective black color, similar shapes, and a simple control panel. Yet respondents overwhelmingly chose one design over the other.
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