Look before crossing
"I have noticed that even people who claim everything is predestined, and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road."
Stephen Hawking
Businesses who don’t know any better focus on customer beliefs.
Business who do, focus on customers looking before they cross.
94% said they buy, only 1/3 did
94% of consumers said they were willing to pay a price premium for an energy efficient lightbulb, but only one-third actually purchased the product.
This is the problem of “Willingness-to-Pay (WTP)” research, and why not all behavioural studies are the same.
When people are asked a hypothetical, like “would you buy this product?” or “how much would you pay?”, they give you their best guess. As well intentioned as their answer might be, it...
Walking our talk
Early in my consulting career a prospective client gave me some feedback that would change my life.
You see, they’d seen me give a talk on behavioural economics and were interested in how I could help them gain customers for their new bedding range.
No problem.
I outlined the behavioural techniques we would use to frame pricing, create a sense of urgency and overcome customer concerns about buying what was an unfamiliar brand.
The proposal, well I thought it was a slam...
Why so much research is misleading
A tip when you are reading posts citing 'research' stats on what business leaders or consumers are doing.
Add "say they are" to most of the claims.
For example, "Nearly half of content marketers use AI to brainstorm new topics, and 46% use it to research headlines and keywords."
I'm guessing this stat is based on self-reported claims, so it should read: "Nearly half of content marketers SAY THEY use AI to brainstorm new topics, and 46% SAY THEY use it to research headlines and...
Hypotheticals
When you ask hypothetical questions, you get hypothetical answers.
So why do we so often rush to ask our customers what they will do? What they will like?
When we pose these hypotheticals, we set ourselves and our customers up for failure.
Because intention doesn’t always translate into action.
Say doesn’t mean do.
Stop asking what they will do.
Start watching what they do do.
See: Influencing Action
Five pitfalls of behavioural economics
There is plenty of upside in applying behavioural science, but there are five pitfalls that you should know about too.
In this video I’m going to take you through the 5 pitfalls of behavioural economics, and how to avoid them.
Pitfall #1. Thinking it only applies to customers
Behavioural economics is the study of how emotional, social and cognitive biases and heuristics impact behaviour.
Behaviour is the operative word here, because the same forces that impact your...
Why asking customers can lead you astray
Listening to people.
I totally get it.
It's compelling when a customer tells you what would make them buy your product, a staff member tells you what would make them happier and more productive, or a stakeholder tells you what would make they sign off on your idea.
Straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak.
We rush to send out employee engagement surveys and customer questionnaires. We run polls and focus...
