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A coffee shop punch card with 10 slots (2 pre-stamped) outperforms one with 8 empty slots. Same requirement – buy 8 coffees. Different behaviour. Goal gradient – we accelerate effort as we approach a goal. Pre-stamping creates the illusion of progress. You’re not starting at zero, you’re already 20% there. Momentum beats logic. A loyalty…

Amazon’s “Frequently bought together” bundle appears after you’ve mentally committed to the main product, not before. Post-decision, the brain is in “yes mode.” You’ve already said yes to the purchase. Additional items feel like enhancements, not new decisions. Showing bundles before the button risks overwhelming the primary choice. A supplements brand moved their “Customers also…

Retailers show crossed-out RRP prices next to sale prices. “$299 $199.” You know it’s a tactic. It works anyway. Anchoring – the first number you see becomes the reference point for all judgments that follow. The $299 makes $199 feel like a bargain, even if $199 was always the real price. A homewares brand tested…

A used car listed at $4,998 feels more researched than one at $5,000. Same with e-commerce. $47 feels calculated. $50 feels arbitrary. Richard Shotton’s precision principle. Precise numbers imply measurement and justification. Round numbers feel like guesses or maximised margins. The brain trusts specificity. A B2B software company changed pricing from $100/month to $97/month. No…

A fintech app added an extra step to their sign-up flow — a “Why are you joining?” question with three options before account creation. Counterintuitive, but the question triggered commitment and identity. Selecting “I want to save for a house” made users feel like savers before they’d saved anything. The extra step wasn’t friction —…

Supreme drops sell out in seconds. Everyone knows it’s manufactured scarcity. It works anyway. Robert Cialdini’s scarcity principle combined with what Richard Shotton calls “the knowing-doing gap.” Knowing something is a tactic doesn’t neutralise its emotional pull. You can intellectually dismiss scarcity while still feeling urgency. A homewares brand added “Limited run – only 200…

Kayak shows a loading animation of searching hundreds of airlines even when results are instant. The delay is artificial. Richard Shotton’s labour illusion: we value outcomes more when we see effort being expended on our behalf. Instant results feel cheap. Watching the work happen makes the result feel thorough. A comparison site tested instant results…

The Economist famously offered: Digital only ($59), Print only ($125), Print + Digital ($125). The print-only option makes no logical sense. Cialdini’s decoy effect. The $125 print-only exists solely to make the $125 print + digital feel like a steal. Without the decoy, more people chose digital only. With it, 84% chose the combo. A…

IKEA furniture requires assembly. This isn’t a cost-cutting bug – it’s a psychological feature. The IKEA Effect (named by Dan Ariely): we overvalue things we helped create. Assembly creates investment. Investment creates attachment. Attachment creates loyalty. A meal kit company tested sending pre-chopped ingredients vs. whole vegetables requiring some prep. The “some effort” version won.…

Daniel Kahneman’s peak-end rule: we judge experiences by their most intense moment and how they end, not the average. Most brands optimise the purchase moment. Smart brands optimise the unboxing. That’s the “end” of the buying experience – and the memory that lingers. A mediocre product in great packaging feels better than a great product…