Flawless is worthless. Adam Grant shared a study of world-class sculptors in his book Hidden Potential. It turns out that world-class sculptors were average students. 66% graduated high school with Bs and Cs. A similar pattern emerged when comparing America's most influential architects. The great architects had rarely been great students: they typically finished college with a B or C average. Adam Grant writes how, in their quest for flawless results, research suggests that perfectionists...
9 days ago • 1 min read
How I pitch Nudge. I sent marketing influencer Tom Goodwin a cold email asking him to come on Nudge. He responded with this. What a lovely thing to say. Buoyed by this praise, I thought I'd break down the nudges I included in my pitch. 1: Credible social proof This one speaks for itself. 2: Input bias Most pitches don't bother to research guests and suggest a bespoke topic. I do. 3: Halo effect Picturing well-known marketing profs beside my dumb face will make Tom believe I'm more credible...
16 days ago • 1 min read
All of us need a goal. Feeling lethargic? Maybe you need a goal. In one study, cyclists who completed two 30km time trials finished an average of almost two minutes, or 4%, slower when they weren't given an explicit endpoint. Without a clear goal, the cyclists performed worse. In a separate study, individuals completed mental tasks at a slower pace when they were unaware that the task would last 90 minutes. More importantly, they became stuck more frequently, taking more breaks from the task...
23 days ago • 1 min read
Open plan fallacy? Do open-plan offices work? Researchers Ethan Bernstein and Ben Waber found out. They monitored in-person interactions at the main offices of two Fortune 500 companies before and after implementing open-office plans. In the open-plan office, face-to-face interactions didn't increase; they actually fell by 70%. Bernstein was curious to see if making minor changes to privacy could have an impact. He worked with supervisors at a Chinese factory to experiment with using curtains...
30 days ago • 1 min read
Are you fooled? Quickly try to estimate the answer to the following equation: 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5. Now, quickly do the same for this equation: 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1. Was your answer for the second equation higher? The answer for both is the same (120, if you're wondering). But you probably estimated more for question two. Kahneman and Tversky proved this in a famous 1973 study. Those who saw the higher number first in the question made a 4x higher estimate. This is the primacy effect; information...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Know your anchor. In 2005, three researchers sold energy drinks at two prices: Full price: $1.89 Discount price: $0.89 The researchers wondered if the price influenced the participant's performance on a cognitive task. Would a higher anchor make them perform better? Yes. Those who purchased the drink at the full price performed better on the mental task. The price anchor shaped their expectations and influenced their behaviour. This is also why you should never go clubbing with your...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Turning bankers into saints. British charity fundraisers asked behavioural scientists how to increase donations from investment bankers. The scientists said, "use reciprocity". Give the bankers a small packet of 50-pence sweets before asking for the donation. According to Robert Cialdini, this gift doubled the bankers' donations. A different Cialdini study showed that mailing a $5 "gift" check along with an insurance survey was twice as effective as offering a $50 payment for sending back a...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Remove the humans. In 2023, Lu Jung & Peck analysed 14,725 Instagram photos from travel influencers. Specifically they measured: Which images got more likes Which images drove more sales Turns out, there was one clear correlation ... humans. The images of travel destinations received fewer likes if they showed somebody in the photo. This effect reduced sales, too. Why is this? Well customers want to feel ownership over products. The endowment effect reveals that the more control we have over...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
Stop using technical jargon. It's commonplace to see companies to use technical language to describe products. We read about: Next-level AI Trusted provenance Wholesome nutrition Marketers use this technical language because it makes them seem smart. Yet it harms sales. In 2023, researchers showed consumers multiple product descriptions in an online experiment and measured their likelihood to buy. Turns out, technical language damages sales. Why is this? Well technical language is hard to...
2 months ago • 1 min read