Today I am very excited to introduce you to Elina Halonen, a behavioral insights strategist who has worked in the space for 15 years and co-founded a London-based insights consultancy working with global brands on branding, communications, and product/service development projects. She has expertise in behavioural analysis & design, consumer insights & market research, Cultural understanding, desk research & trends, branding & marketing strategy, and more.

Today on the show we talk a little about the COM-B and MOVE models, as well as Elina pre-committing to us all that she is going to write a book, called the Behavioural Blueprint!

COM-B is for: Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and Behavior.

MOVE is for: Meanings, Observations, Viewpoints, and Experiences. We dive into what these models mean, a couple of examples, and so many other great topics.

Show Notes:

[00:40] Today I am very excited to introduce you to Elina Halonen, a behavioral insights strategist who has worked in the space for 15 years and co-founded a London-based insights consultancy working with global companies on branding, communications, and product/service development projects.
[03:13] Elina and Melina have been connected on LinkedIn for years and officially meeting for the first time for this interview!
[03:53] Elina shares about herself and her background.
[05:15] For the last couple of years she has worked as an independent consultant and has worked with various research agencies.
[08:02] Tips for starting a business in an emerging market? Find a niche where you can raise awareness for what you do. Some areas are easier than others. Find a way to educate the market.
[09:52] You will need a lot of creativity to promote yourself and what you do.
[12:07] If you pick what you are going to do, you have to be all-in on that thing for at least a year to give it a chance to be successful.
[14:55] Elina’s first degrees were in marketing and it was always about consumer behavior.
[16:42] All of business is a long game.
[17:22] Give information generously. Make sure you add value to people.
[20:31] She works with market research agencies and brings her behavioral science expertise.
[22:19] There are different ways of talking about behavioral science depending on what it is you are doing. It is not one size fits all.
[23:01] When they do a project, they think about the target behavior, what is the business objective, and what behaviors do they want to influence or change.
[25:04] Elina shares her commitment to writing her book, Behavioral Blueprint. Hold her accountable on Twitter. (handles below)
[27:51] Melina shares her tips for writing a book, including to break it down and just get started.
[28:39] Break it down into chapters and look at what content you already have that fits that information and start segmenting it in.
[31:34] Bringing cultural psychology into behavioral change is becoming increasingly important.
[33:45] She has an intuitive process of looking at things in a certain way that is her Behavioral Blueprint.
[35:02] Start by looking at the situation and accessing what you are up against.
[35:44] She is a big fan of the COM-B model: Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and Behavior.
[36:46] There is a huge amount of context that applied behavioral science often ignores.
[39:11] When she is analyzing or trying to organize things she likes to make it logical.
[41:54] Solving the wrong problem is very common and very human. Not spending enough time identifying the problem is the biggest mistake Melina sees companies make.
[43:37] Elina shares her blog post that she wrote about Netflix solving the wrong problem.
[45:10] Everything you do has an opportunity cost. We need to be sure we are solving the right problem first. It is the foundation of everything we do.
[48:03] We need to understand someone’s logic empathically, putting ourselves in their shoes before we try to change their behavior.
[50:53] There are just some ways of spending money that is socially acceptable and some that aren’t.
[51:15] Never assume you understand why someone does something because you don’t.
[53:45] It’s not about you, it’s about the audience. Could it help someone else?
[54:35] Melina shares her closing thoughts.
[56:19] If you enjoy the experience I’ve provided here for you, will you share about it? That could mean leaving a rating/review or sharing the episode with a friend (or 10!)

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More from The Brainy Business:

🎉🎉🎉 Buy Melina’s award-winning book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia 🎉🎉🎉

Get the Books Mentioned on (or related to) this Episode:

Engaged, by Amy Bucher
Predictably Irrational, by Dan Ariely
Semiotics in Marketing, by Rachel Lawes
Get it Done, by Ayelet Fishbach
What Your Customer Wants and Can't Tell You, by Melina Palmer

Connect with Elina:

Already Heard That One? Try These:

Other Important Links:

Brainy Bites - Melina’s new LinkedIn Newsletter
De-Mystifying COM-B And How It Can Be Used In Research
The MOVE Framework: Meanings, Observations, Viewpoints, and Experiences in processes of Social Change
Squared Away Newsletter

Show Notes:

Check out What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You on Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, and Booktopia

188. Behavioral Blueprint, including COM-B and MOVE models with Elina Halonen

The Brainy Business | Understanding the Psychology of Why People Buy | Behavioral Economics