A return for podcast guest number 1, Richard Shotton, following the launch of his brand new book "The Illusion of Choice: 16½ psychological biases that influence what we buy".

"Every day, people make hundreds of choices.

Many of these are commercial: What shampoo to pick? How much to spend on a bottle of wine? Whether to renew a subscription?

These choices might appear to be freely made, but psychologists have shown that subtle changes in the way products are positioned, promoted and marketed can radically alter how customers behave.

The Illusion of Choice identifies the 16½ most important psychological biases that everyone in business needs to be aware of today – and shows how any business can take advantage of these to win customers, retain customers and sell more.

Richard Shotton, author of the acclaimed The Choice Factory, draws on academic research, previous ad campaigns and his own original field studies to create a fascinating and highly practical guide that focuses on the point where marketing meets the mind of the customer.

You’ll learn to take advantage of the peak end rule, the power of precision, the wisdom of wit – and much, much more."

What we covered in this episode:

Why the podcast 4.9 star rating is the best one
The meanest tweet Uncensored CMO ever had
Social proof gives you wings
Why the new book has 16 ½ chapters
Feel free to ignore this chapter in the book
Why biases affect professionals as well as consumers
The Russian tank effect and how AI can be misled
How AI design a better pair of Nike Trainers
Recency, primacy and the peak end rule
How behavioural science supports the laws of marketing
Jon ranks the biases
The Zuckerberg t-shirt principle (red sneaker effect)
Why breaking convention is associated with higher status
Always use concrete phrases not fluffy marketing nonsense
The more visual the phrase the easier to remember
Relatable stories beat cold hard statistics
Telling one persons story well is better than trying to represent a group
How well can experts predict a successful Super Bowl Ad
Experts are trained to see novelty rather than broad appeal
We are all rewarded based on sophistication and complexity rather than simplicity
How thicker paper led to more charity donations
Why marketer can’t predict how well their own advertising will do
Professional forecasters are no better at predicting than the average person
Why freedom of choice leads to much greater perceived value
Why we would rather suffer a loss if we now someone else has done better
Adverts aren’t trying to be funny anymore even though the funny ones work
Why making a joke would increase your tips
Making it easy is the best way to make someone do something
We radically underestimate the impact of removing friction
Removing friction beats customer benefits every time
How to frame your pricing so people buy your preferred product
What colonoscopies can tell us about the peak end rule
Why ads with a peak end perform better overall

Links

Feel free to ignore this podcast episode - Richard Shotton

Uncensored CMO