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It always surprises me that our eyes are half way down our face. I tend to draw them a little higher, and it turns out I’m not alone. 

It’s called “eye placement bias”, our tendency to place the eyes higher than the halfway point. While more pronounced in younger children, the effect seems to stay with us as adults.

This despite us seeing faces all around us, everyday.

There are various theories as to why, one being the value we place on eyes 👀

We spend over 50% of our time looking at ...

“The form in which thoughts occur to a writer is rarely the same as the form in which they can be absorbed by the reader.”  Steven Pinker.

It’s the one quote I keep at my desk, reminding me that a logical narrative does not always result in an engaging one.

Bottom line? We need resolution near the start, not at the end.

Here’s what I mean.

I’ve noticed most of us tend to communicate in the following order: 

Problem – journey – SOLUTION.  

But for a business audience, especially for long...

Have you ever experienced that bittersweet feeling when you are watching a TV series or reading a book you love?

You don’t want it to end but you also can’t wait to see how it does.

Our customers experience this too.

It’s called the One-Away Mere Completion effect.  In short, people feel most engaged in something just before they complete it.

This is exciting, because it tells us two things:

1️⃣ Pay attention to what completion means. For example, would buying this item complete a set fo...

Three things you shouldn’t do if you want to influence behaviour.

1. Make things pretty
2. Normalise inaction
3. Don’t ask why

Which of the three surprises you most?

If you want to know exactly what to do in your business, Just Do This.

When real estate legend Barbara Corcoran advertised for new staff in the competitive New York market, she wrote three simple words.

“One empty desk”.

Not only did this differentiate hers from the pages of ads seeking “sales person”, it hit a major psychological button.

Scarcity.

👉 In a world of content abundance and scant attention, how can you make what you do, who you are, scarce?

Learn more about how to influence action using behavioural techniques.

You know what I’m sick and tired of being told to do? Challenge the status quo!

It’s seen as a power move. Leaders do it. Heroes do it.

Enshrined in vision statements and implored from the keynote stage, challenging the status quo is what we need to do to succeed, right?

Easy to say, hard to do.

Pointing to what needs to change or setting a vision for what a changed state looks like is the easy part – it’s hypothetical.

Actually embedding change is a behavioural influence exercise, which...

A software firm increased email open rates by 20% and sales leads by 31% and a financial services training company increased engagement by 10%. 

How?

If you were one of 400 senior marketers at Intuit Mailchimp’s From Here:To There conference, you already know the answer.

In one case it had to do with adding CEO to the sender’s address and in another, a first name to the subject line.

If you are curious about what else I covered, marketing news site B&T have just recapped highlights from m...

Let’s say you are advertising a new product, like a razor.

Should you describe it as being “laser-sharp” or “high quality”?

Laser sharp uses concrete, precise language whereas high quality is more abstract.

New research has revealed which type to use, when.

This matters because ads cost money, lots of money, so you want to make sure what you say has the biggest positive impact possible.

So, what did the researchers find?

In one of their experiments they had 124 hockey fans rate a pro...

What did I learn from the world's leading expert in psychological safety?

In my Book Bites series I share my top 3 takeaways from a book I've read.

This time it's the Right Kind of Wrong: Why Learning to Fail can Teach Us to Thrive by Amy Edmondson.

Amy was the researcher who discovered psychological safety, and has dedicated her life to revealing its impact on business performance.

If you are interested in growing your business and developing a workplace culture that excels, this is a wo...

What’s the best thing about this ad? 

Yes, they’ve included a good, clear value proposition “Let us do the house work”.

They’ve included price, which is a little unusual but clever if more people think it will be more expensive than $82.

They’ve limited their substantiation points to three – this is good too. More than that and people think you’re trying too hard.

And they’ve promised it takes 60 seconds to book online, reducing perceived effort.

But the best thing? 

 The call to acti...