Removal of Humans

If you don't need someone to exemplify the quality of your product, show the product by itself.

Removing a person from the product image for a blender

Remove Humans From Product Images When Possible-min

Remove Humans From Product Images When Possible

A new study found that humans in product images reduce conversions because it triggers a lack of ownership. It's their product, not my product.

Prices seem cheaper when you reduce the left digit (e.g., $49). Turns out, this effect reduces speeding too (e.g., 49 km/h). Drivers are anchored to this lower numerical bracket (Rubaltelli et al., 2021).

Left-Digit Effect Reduces Speeding

South Korea tried to reduce overspending by sending a text message after every payment. But ironically, it increased spending. People no longer felt obligated to remember past transactions because they could delegate these memories to their device (Kim et al., 2023).

Mobile Payment Notifications Increase Spending

Some people touch products to feel more confident in buying them. New research shows that touchscreens (vs. a traditional mouse) can satisfy this need (Hattula, Herzog, & Dhar, 2023).

Touchscreens Satisfy the Need to Touch

Empty Space Effect

Customers believe that marketers were unable to fill this space with additional benefits.

Customer review and list of benefits with empty space crossed out in each

Remove Empty Space Below Sales Copy

Messages are less persuasive when they're surrounded by empty space, especially toward the bottom. 

Apple just launched iPhone 15. If you bought iPhone 14 (like me), you might feel distant. Research shows that new versions are detrimental to owners of the previous version, reducing their likelihood of buying the brand in the future. Brands need to reinforce their relationship with these customers (e.g., special promotion; Jung, Peck, Palmeira, & Kim, 2022).

Customers Feel Left Behind With Product Upgrades

Some products resemble humans (e.g., toaster with eyes). We develop stronger relationships with these products, so it's harder to discard them. We typically sell them for higher prices (Kim & Swaminathan, 2021).

We Sell Anthropomorphic Products at Higher Prices

People received a restaurant suggestion from their device. They were more persuaded when they heard it from Alexa or Siri, compared to reading this text on the screen (Flavián, Akdim, & Casaló, 2023).

Voice-Based Recommendations Are More Persuasive

Customer IDs and Tolerance

Customers feel less human, numbing them to service failures.

Waitress spilling drink on customer who stays smiling

Customers Ignore Failures With Ids

Customers Tolerate Bad Service When They're Given ID Numbers

A new study found that customers feel less human when they're given ID numbers, numbing them to bad service.

A large European hotel surveyed 85,000+ guests. Turns out, guests who remembered an exceptional staff member were more likely to cancel future reservations. They felt a communal relationship with the hotel, as if they would understand and forgive the cancellation (Shuqair et al., 2022).

Close Relationships Are a Double-Edged Sword

Participants performed better with a golf putter when they assembled it themselves, compared to an identical pre-assembled putter (Köcher & Wilcox, 2022).

Self-Assembled Products Increase Performance

Researchers are closer to a treatment for severe procrastinators. Activating the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex reduced procrastination in individuals by increasing the perceived value of the outcome (Xu, Zhang, Zhou, & Feng, 2023).

The Neuroscience of Procrastination

Tolerating Failure

Scientific Backlash

Scientific rationales feel misplaced in emotional contexts, so they weaken perceived benefits.

Chocolate bar that claims to use nano technology

Don’t Use Science to Sell Emotional Products-Chocolate

Don't Use Science to Sell Emotional Products

Science is persuasive, unless you sell emotional products. Then it feels unexpected and misplaced, weakening the perceived benefits.

Humans need social interaction to improve their well-being. But this goalpost is nearby. Based on research with 180k participants, a moderate amount of social interaction fulfills our intrinsic need. Afterward, these interactions produce diminishing returns (though it doesn't slope downward; Ren, Stavrova, & Loh, 2022).

How Social Do We Need to Be?

We're more likely to buy unhealthy food with credit cards because we feel less pain. Cash payments are more painful, which pushes our focus toward the guilt and risks associated with these purchases (Park, Lee, & Thomas, 2021).

Cashless Payments Fuel Unhealthy Purchases

People saved more money when they saw an image of cash with humanlike traits. It felt more vulnerable, as if it needed saving (Wang, Kim, S., Zhou, 2023).

Anthropomorphic Money Increases Savings

Science backlash effect

Discount Proximity to Products

Customers are more likely to buy adjacent products if they don't compete with a discounted product.

Discounted yogurt between two yogurts. A similar yogurt on the left suffers, while a dissimilar yogurt on the right benefits.

Place Discounted Products Next to Dissimilar Products-min

Place Discounts Next to Dissimilar Products

A new study shows that customers are more likely to buy dissimilar products that are next to a discounted product.

Women aren't perceived differently from their posting frequency (Edelblum & Warren, 2023).

Men Seem Feminine When They Frequently Post on Social Media

Most stories depict a main character who embarks on a journey. New research shows that people find more meaning and purpose when they conceptualize their life from this perspective (Rogers et al., 2023).

Perceive Your Life as a Hero's Journey

Cash seems more powerful because it's closer and more tangible (Zhou, Ye, & Liu, 2023).

Cash Feels More Valuable Than Digital Money

Product Shelf Psychology

Ugliness Premium

Customers believe that unattractive people are more competent.

Ugly faces and attractive faces generate more sales

Ugliness-Premium

Ugly Faces Increase Sales

Everybody knows that beautiful faces are persuasive, but ugly faces are surprisingly persuasive too.

Some organizations encourage healthy eating by drawing faces on fruits. But these designs reduce consumption because we don't want to hurt the food. It feels immoral (Schroll, 2023).

We Eat Less Food When It Looks Human

Females search more than males for product information on social media (Kol & Levy, 2023).

Men on a Mission, Women on a Journey

At first, the title said "unattractive" to avoid offending anybody. But it shouldn't matter. Research shows that we can't tell if we're ugly, so nobody should feel offended (Greitemeyer, 2020).

Ugly People Don't Realize They're Ugly

Touchable Cues

Touchable cues activate your muscles, making nearby actions seem easier.

Insert Haptic Cues Near Desired Actions-min

Insert Haptic Cues Near Desired Actions

A recent study found that motor actions (e.g., signing up) are easier with nearby haptic cues.

When you receive attention online, your perspective becomes egocentric. You believe that other people in the real world are staring at you (Hall, 2023).

Digital Spotlight Effect

Researchers asked people to spend 20 minutes with 2-3 strangers in a room. Some groups could use their phones; other groups needed to remove their phones beforehand. When people removed their phones beforehand, they enjoyed the interaction more. If people could use their phone, they did. And they were less happy with the experience (Dwyer, Zhuo, & Dunn, 2023).

Do You Really Need to Use Your Phone?

Sellers want flashy cars and expensive watches to impress their clients, but it backfires. Clients prefer sellers who display a neutral status (Moyal & Garcia, 2023).

Sellers Shouldn't Flaunt Their High Status

Incompleteness Effect

When customers acquire one item in a bundle, they're motivated to acquire the remaining items.

A "casual night" bundle of clothes with a shirt that has already been purchased and pair of jeans that hasn't been purchased yet

Insert Past Purchases Into Incomplete Bundles

Bundle Past Purchases with New Products

When restaurants are awarded a prestigious Michelin star, their reviews get worse. Why? Because it creates unrealistically high expectations (Rita, Vong, Pinheiro, & Mimoso, 2023).

Michelin Star? More Negative Reviews

Businesses generate more revenue when they suggest relevant products, rather than top selling products (Donnelly, Kanodia, & Morozov, 2023).

Which Products to Recommend: Relevant or Profitable?

Based on data for 10k+ product launches, products perform better when they're launched during a recession (especially in the later stages; Talay, Pauwels, & Seggie, 2023).

Launch Products During a Recession

Separated Discounts

All else equal, coupons are more effective than visibly reduced prices.

A $90 blender on sale for $80 vs. a $10 coupon with no visible reduction

Integrated Discounts

Separate Your Discounts When Possible

A new study shows that customers prefer larger purchases when they don't see the final price from a known discount.

Men don't show a preference, but women prefer to buy female-made products to support other women. And this tips the balance (Schnurr & Halkias, 2022).

Customers Prefer Products Made By Women

Female CMOs are more risk averse (e.g., they launch fewer products) under male CEOs because they fear scrutiny. But this effect reverses under female CEOs, perhaps because it inspires confidence and freedom (Varma, Bommaraju, & Singh, 2023).

Female CMOs Make Less Risky Decisions

Patients are 8% more likely to choose branded medication because they think it's superior to generic medication, even though the ingredients are identical (Hermosilla & Ching, 2023).

Bad Medical News? You Prefer Brand Name Drugs

Final Price Neglect

Durations vs. Dates

Durations (e.g., 5 days) feel sooner than calendar dates (e.g., July 12) because they are moving closer.

"in 5 days" feels closer than an equivalent date of "July 15"

Durations Feels Sooner Than Calendar Dates

A new study found that durations (e.g., 5 days) feel sooner than equivalent calendar dates (e.g., July 12).

Entrepreneurs seem patient, considering they invest time and money for future benefits. But new research suggests the opposite. People are more likely to become entrepreneurs if they discount future time investments (e.g., prefer to save 1 hour now rather than 2 hours later). Why? Because entrepreneurs conceptualize time as "Moving Observer." They imagine themselves moving through time, so the future seems farther away (Gutierrez, Sloof, & Crilly, 2023).

Who Becomes an Entrepreneur?

Review photos can be matching (e.g., they illustrate the text) or additive (e.g., they give new information). Based on 7.4 million reviews from Yelp, customers prefer matching photos because they ease readability (Ceylan, Diehl, & Proserpio, 2023).

Reviews With Matching Photos Are More Helpful

Moka seems healthier than Mokanupo. Subconsciously, a smaller name feels like it will contain fewer ingredients with smaller portion sizes. It just feels lighter (Motoki & Pathak, 2023).

Foods with Short Names Seem Healthier

Optimal Deadlines

New Guide - Donation Psychology

Online donation form with a beneficiary staring at the user

Make Donors Self-Aware and Visible

Make Donors Feel Self-Aware and Visible

Insight of the Week: Make donors feel self-aware and visible. Humans perform “good” behaviors when other people are watching.

New products (e.g., robot vacuums) are eliminating chores. But some people dislike these products because they find meaning in these chores. Research shows that it helps to mention the time they'll save, which they could spend on other meaningful activities (de Bellis, Johar, & Poletti, 2023).

Some Customers Enjoy Daily Chores

They believe these treatments will maintain their true identity (Li & Gal, 2023).

People Prefer Natural Medicines For Psychological Conditions

Buyers want more money for digital goods than sellers are willing to give them (Nguyen & Wang, 2023).

Digital Goods Have Larger Endowment Effects

New Guide

Work-to-Unlock Rewards

Want to strengthen motivation? Don't give immediate rewards. Force people to reach a small goal to unlock rewards.

Motivate Behavior Through Work-to-Unlock Rewards

Motivate Behavior Using Work-to-Unlock Rewards

A new study found that work-to-unlock rewards are highly motivating. What are they? And how do they work?

Subconsciously, a gentler color will seem gentler on the environment (Pichierri &  Pino, 2023).

Products Seem More Sustainable With Less Saturated Colors

It increases anxiety. Instead, managers should work with employees to structure the style and frequency of supervision. This approach will maintain their autonomy, which is a key driver of intrinsic motivation (Zheng, Nieberle, Braun, & Schyns, 2023)

Employees Perform Worse With Daily Monitoring

Ironically, people seem authentic when they acknowledge their interest in luxury products. Suddenly their motivation seems intrinsic (e.g., enjoyment) rather than extrinsic (e.g., status seeking; Jung, Chen, & Yap, 2023).

Luxury Customers Shouldn't Hide Their Shame 

Best reward for behavior?

Nominitive Determinism

Nominative Determinism - Dentist Named Dennis

Is Dennis More Likely to Become a Dentist?

Researchers tried replicating a controversial principle in which you make important life decisions based on the first letter of your name.

Researchers analyzed 90,000 recruitment emails for surveys. The best incentive? Money. It outperformed all behavioral strategies (e.g., social proof, altruism, endowment effect; Martin et al., 2022).

People Are Motivated By Money

Too many emojis trigger red flags, at least in a dating context (Stein, 2023).

Don't Use Multiple Emojis in a First Message

Imagine a husband who was dragged to a festival by his wife. In this mindset, he will feel repulsed by the tables selling handmade products because they won't satisfy his desire for control and autonomy. However, this effect can be resolved by allowing him to customize these products (Song, He, & Jiang, 2023).

Handmade Products Seem Worse When You Feel Less Control

Name-Letter Effect

People are exhausting

Sales staff perform worse after they interact with more customers.

Retail traffic with spike in the beginning of the day. It leads to a reduced shift for the early employee and a longer shift for the later employee with less store traffic

Schedule Retail Staff Based on the Number of Customer Interactions-min

Schedule Retail Staff Based on the Number of Customer Interactions

Researchers found a new principle called cumulative service encounters. A popular retail chain was losing $10,000/day by ignoring it.

Curved screens are becoming popular because they feel natural to human eye gaze. Turns out, these mediums are effective for advertising too. Viewers feel more immersed in these ads (Wang, Gohary, & Chan, 2023).

Concave Ads Are More Persuasive

It performed better than humans on every measure for detecting emotions. I wonder if AI can tell that I'm scared of it (Elyoseph, Hadar Shoval, Asraf, & Lvovsky, 2023).

ChatGPT Has More Emotional Awareness Than Humans

Riskiness becomes activated while standing near the edge of something. And this activation helps people evaluate risky behaviors. In a field study, customers chose risky flavors (e.g., lingonberry, lychee) near the corner of a store, but they chose standard flavors (e.g., mango, coconut) in a central aisle. Perhaps this effect applies to workplace behavior too. Would employees produce more innovative work sitting along the edge of an office? (Esteky, 2022).

People Make Risky Decisions Near Edges

People Are Exhausting

Humans in Pictures

Isolated images perform better in early buying stages, while contextual images perform better in later buying stages.

A product assortment of shirts by themselves, and a product page of a shirt with a model wearing it.

Show an Isolated Product Before the Contextual Imagery

Show an Isolated Product Before Contextual Imagery

Which types of product images perform best? Should you include people who are showcasing the product?

In my guide on brand names, I suggested modifying the spelling of a real word. But alas, I was wrong. Across 6 studies, this technique backfired for real brands (e.g., Lyft) and fake brands (e.g., Kool Cocktails, Daily Gainz, Klear, Kreative Designs). Misspelled names trigger persuasion knowledge. In other words, customers infer that marketers are trying to influence their behavior, so they resist this persuasion attempt (Costello, Walker, & Reczek, 2023).

Mizspelled Names Perform Worse

University students drank less sugar with their coffee when a vending machine set the default at 0 (vs. 3; Priolo et al., 2023)

Nudging Down Sugar

They feel stronger emotions when they can see a vivid depiction of people who need help (Sooter & Ugazio, 2023).

People Are More Likely to Donate in Virtual Reality

People empathize with humanlike products. When they need to dispose them, recycling feels more humane than throwing them away (Wu, Malter, & Johar, 2023).

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