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Nudge Newsletter

Phill Agnew

I spend 18 hours each week turning marketing psychology into readable newsletters.

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Use present tense to boost persuasion | Nudge Newsletter 🧠

Present tense boosts persuasion. In January 2023, three researchers analysed 500,000 product reviews. Specifically, they analysed if the review was written in present tense: The book is heart-warming Or past tense: The book was heart-warming Turns out, present tense boosts persuasion. Using present tense in messages makes them 26.4% more helpful. And it increases likelihood of product interest by 12.3%. Why? Because this subtle reframing boosts the trustworthiness of the review. We...

4 days ago • 1 min read

Duration drives more urgency than dates. If this subject line had said, read this before Sunday, fewer people would have opened it. At least that's according to a 2023 study which found that duration (rather than calendar dates) drives more urgency. Durations (e.g., "3 days") prompt action more effectively than specific dates (e.g., "July 1st"). In Jeong, Hwang & Suk's 2023 study, college students were more likely to start a writing assignment when they were told a duration rather than a...

11 days ago • 1 min read

Why special days work. Promotions linked to original and appropriate special days are more effective. Researchers in 2021 tested sales discounts with standard justification: "It's our annual sale" Vs. justification due to a special day: "It's international picnic day" People were 25% more likely to purchase from a picnic-related retailer during a "National Picnic Day Sale" compared to an "Annual One Day Sale". So, if you're creating a sales promotion. Why not link it to a relevant day....

18 days ago • 1 min read

State the work you've done. I promoted Nudge in two Reddit ads. One version highlighted what you'd learn by listening: "Learn 6 memorable marketing lessons" The other version showed the effort I put into the show: ”I’ve spent 480 minutes spent listening to experts” Stating the work I'd put into the show worked. The labour illusion ad saw a 45% higher click-through rate compared to the control version. Why? Because we value things more when we see the effort that's gone in. Have you tried...

24 days ago • 1 min read

Why fancy restaurants hide the $ sign. Back in 2009, Sybil Yang (one of the first guests on Nudge) removed the $ signs from a menu. Turns out people spent more money than before. Her hypothesis? Seeing the $ sign makes people consider the pain of paying. Removing it makes the cost more hypothetical. So, if you run a fancy restaurant or a luxury store, consider removing the currency sign. Have you seen this in the wild? Hit reply and let me know. Cheers, Phill - Tune into Nudge - Advertise on...

about 1 month ago • 1 min read

Concrete language boosts sales. Using concrete language in customer service calls boosted sales. Professor Jonah Berger researched customer service interactions. He asked half of the reps to use vague terms: Trainers And half to use concrete terms: Lime green Nike trainers The concrete terms boost customer satisfaction. Moreover, such specificity led to a 30% rise in customer spending in subsequent weeks. Specific, tangible language significantly increases customer satisfaction and spending....

about 1 month ago • 1 min read

Add charitable donations for luxury purchases. Buying luxury goods produces guilt for many of us. We feel bad for spending so much. Automatic donations to charity mitigate this guilt. This offers customers a justification for their indulgence. So: Gucci should plant 4 trees for every purchase. First class flights should auto-offset emissions Michelin star restaurants should donate 5% profit I'm fairly certain this effect causes me to spend far more on Patagonia's t-shirts—has it worked on...

about 2 months ago • 1 min read

Show price broken down by day* Back in 1999, Gourville ran a series of pricing experiments. Some saw the monthly price of a subscription: £30 a month. Some saw the daily price of a subscription: £1 a month. Some saw a petty cash equivalent: Two cappuccinos a week. Those who saw the full monthly cost rated it as worse value than those who saw the broken down cost or petty cash equivalent. *But, there's a catch. Gourville found you can't exceed £4 per day. So, if you're selling B2B software at...

about 2 months ago • 1 min read

Brave enough to ride Nemesis Inferno? According to Hyunjin Song and Norbert Schwarz from the University of Michigan hard to pronounce names affect people's evaluation of risk. Therefore, hard to pronounce theme park rides are seen as more dangerous (and for most people, more fun) 👇 If you want to make something scary (like a new drug, or airplane) seem safe, give it an easy to pronounce name. If you want to make something exhilarating (like an energy drink, or club night) sound more exciting...

about 2 months ago • 1 min read

How to save 765 lives. A few weeks back I shared how making something easy increases action... But, say you want someone not to do something. Well you can simply reverse the effect. In September 1998, the British government introduced legislation paracetamol overdoses harder. In 2013, Professor Keith Hawton, a director at the Centre for Suicide Research at the University of Oxford, ran a study to analyze the impact. He estimated that there was a 43% reduction in deaths involving paracetamol...

2 months ago • 1 min read
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