Heart Before Cart

Your product might be perfect for your customer. But if they can’t see that it’s for someone like them, they’re probably not going to buy.

In this episode of Heart Before Cart, I sit down with Sonia Thompson, founder of Frictionless Growth Lab, to talk about one of the most important questions customers ask when deciding whether to buy:

“Is this for someone like me?”

We talk about why most personalization isn’t actually personal, how brands unintentionally create friction for different groups of customers, and why simply adding more diverse images to your website isn’t enough.

We get into:

• Why traditional customer personas often miss what actually drives buying decisions
• Sonia’s “mosaic” approach to understanding different customer groups
• How identity, experiences, needs, and circumstances influence decision-making
• Why user testing can uncover friction your analytics will never explain
• How to identify the customers your marketing may be unintentionally excluding
• Why the information customers need often already exists
• What brands can do to create more relevant, customer experiences without rebuilding everything

The goal isn’t to create a completely different experience for every customer. It’s to understand the people you want to serve well enough that they can recognize themselves in what you’re offering.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your personalization is actually helping customers feel understood or quietly creating more friction, this conversation will give you a new way to look at the customer experience.

🎧 Watch the full episode to learn how to make more of your customers think, “Yes, this is for someone like me.”

RESOURCES
→ Check out my FREE workshop: https://taliawolf.com/workshop
→ Get my NEW book (Emotional Targeting): https://taliawolf.com/book

CONNECT WITH ME
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taliagw/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaliaGw
Website: https://getuplift.co/

What if the best way to get people interested in your product is to stop talking about your product?

One of the biggest viral campaigns of the past few weeks did exactly that.

“Oreo Gate” got more than 10 million views, had people choosing sides, arguing in the comments, making response videos, and even other brands joining the conversation.

And almost none of that attention was actually about the product being advertised.

In this episode of Heart Before Cart, I’m breaking down the viral Oreo Gate drama, why millions of people became so invested in it, and what marketers can learn from the way Suno put its product at the center of a viral moment without making the product the story.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why the product doesn’t always need to be the main character in your marketing
• How Suno turned an AI music generator into part of a story millions of people already cared about
• Why asking “How do I make people care about my product?” may be the wrong question
• How to identify what your customers already care about and find your product’s natural place in that story

Your audience isn’t sitting around waiting to learn about your features, capabilities, or why you’re better than the competition.

They’re looking for things that make them feel something. 

Things they want to talk about, laugh about, argue about, send to a friend, or become part of themselves.

That’s the real lesson from Oreo Gate.

Your product doesn’t need to be the hero of the story.

Your customer does.

RESOURCES
→ Check out my FREE workshop: https://taliawolf.com/workshop
→ Get my NEW book (Emotional Targeting): https://taliawolf.com/book

CONNECT WITH ME
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taliagw/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaliaGw
Website: https://getuplift.co/

Thinking about redesigning your website?

Before you change the colors, layout, navigation, buttons, or overall look and feel, you need to figure out what’s actually broken.

Most teams rush straight into a redesign based on what looks good, what everyone else is doing, or what could be cool. 

And now, with AI, it’s easier than ever to redesign an entire website faster than ever before.

But if you don’t understand why people aren’t converting, AI just helps you redesign the wrong thing faster.

In this episode of Heart Before Cart, I’m breaking down why so many website redesigns fail, the three fundamental reasons people don’t convert that most redesigns completely miss, and how to approach a redesign in a way that reduces risk and actually improves your results.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The 3 fundamental reasons people don’t convert that most redesigns fail to address
• Why changing how your website looks won’t necessarily fix your conversion problems
• Why you should optimize your current website before building a new one
• How analytics, heatmaps, and session recordings can show you where people are getting stuck
• Why customer research is essential for understanding why people leave
• How to decide which page or problem you should tackle first
• How to redesign one step at a time, test each change, and use what you learn to inform what comes next

The page you want to redesign isn’t necessarily the page you should redesign.

Before you change anything, start by figuring out what problem you actually need to solve. 

Is it that people don’t see themselves on the page? Do they not feel safe choosing you? Does the decision feel too hard?

Once you know what’s stopping people from converting, you can solve those problems in order of importance, test your changes, learn from the results, and use those insights to decide what comes next.

The goal isn’t to redesign your website faster. 

It’s to figure out what actually needs redesigning, test it faster, and build the right website as you go.

RESOURCES

→ Check out my FREE workshop: https://taliawolf.com/workshop

→ Get my NEW book (Emotional Targeting): https://taliawolf.com/book

CONNECT WITH ME

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taliagw/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaliaGw

Website: https://getuplift.co/

What color should your call-to-action button be? Red? Green? Orange?

If you're asking that question, you might be starting in the wrong place.

There isn't one button color that magically increases conversions for every business. Color absolutely influences how people think, feel, and make decisions.

In this episode of Heart Before Cart, we're taking color psychology one step further and looking at how to actually use it in your marketing.

I'll show you why context matters, how color can change the way we interpret what we're seeing (and even what we're smelling), and the three things you should consider before choosing colors for your website, landing pages, ads, or calls to action.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why there is no universal "best" CTA button color
• How color changes the way we interpret the information around us
• A fascinating experiment that demonstrates how strongly color influences perception
• Why you should start with the emotion you want your customer to feel, not the color you want to use
• How culture, experience, and learned associations influence the meaning of color
• How context affects the results of your A/B tests
• Three steps for using color psychology more effectively in your marketing

Your copy, images, typography, offer, social proof, colors, and overall customer experience are all working together to shape how someone interprets your message.

That's why the goal isn't to find the magical color that makes people buy.

It's to understand your customers well enough to create an experience that helps them feel what they need to feel to make the right decision for them, and use color to support that strategy.

Check out the full color psychology guide here: https://getuplift.co/color-psychology-guide/

RESOURCES

→ Check out my FREE workshop: https://taliawolf.com/workshop
→ Get my NEW book (Emotional Targeting): https://taliawolf.com/book

CONNECT WITH ME

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taliagw/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaliaGw
Website: https://getuplift.co/

Everything you think you know about color psychology might be wrong. 

We've all seen the infographics claiming that blue means trust, red creates urgency, and green represents health. 

But what if that's not actually how color psychology works?

In this episode of Heart Before Cart, I break down one of the biggest misconceptions in marketing and explain why choosing colors based on generic psychology charts can actually hurt your conversions. 

Instead, you'll learn how color really influences decision-making and why understanding your audience is the key to using color effectively.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why popular color psychology charts are often misleading
• What color psychology actually is and how it influences buying decisions
• The connection between color, emotion, and customer behavior
• Why the same color can create completely different emotions for different people
• The three factors that shape how people perceive color: culture, symbolism, and personal experiences
• Common myths about color psychology that marketers still believe
• How to start thinking about color through the lens of your audience instead of generic "rules"

Whether you're designing a landing page, choosing brand colors, creating ads, or optimizing your website, this episode will challenge the way you think about color psychology and help you make more intentional marketing decisions based on your audience, not internet myths.

Check out the full color psychology guide here: https://getuplift.co/color-psychology-guide/ 

RESOURCES

→ Check out my FREE workshop: https://taliawolf.com/workshop

→ Get my NEW book (Emotional Targeting): https://taliawolf.com/book

CONNECT WITH ME

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taliagw/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaliaGw

Website: https://getuplift.co/

Spider-Man has had different actors, different stories, and different versions across generations, yet people keep showing up.

Why?

Because the thing that makes Spider-Man matter isn’t really the superpowers.

It’s Peter Parker.

In this video, I break down one of the biggest marketing lessons hiding inside Spider-Man: your product might be the superpower, but your customer’s life is the story.

Too many brands focus their marketing on features, technology, functionality, AI, speed, integrations, and measurable outcomes. Those things matter, but they don’t necessarily explain why your customer should care.

Great marketing goes deeper.

It understands the human consequence behind the problem your product solves: the pressure, frustration, uncertainty, ambition, relief, confidence, control, or possibility your customer is actually experiencing.

In this video, we’ll explore:

🕷️ Why Peter Parker is the real reason Spider-Man has endured for generations
🕷️ The problem with feature-heavy marketing
🕷️ How to uncover the emotional stakes behind a purchase
🕷️ Why B2B marketing needs emotion too
🕷️ How to find the “Peter Parker” underneath your customer’s problem
🕷️ A simple challenge you can use to evaluate your own homepage and messaging

Because nobody wakes up wishing they had a 14% higher conversion rate.

They want what that improvement makes possible.

Your product is the superpower. Your customer’s life is the story.

So take a look at your marketing and ask yourself:

Where’s Peter Parker?

RESOURCES
→ Check out my FREE workshop: https://taliawolf.com/workshop
→ Get my NEW book (Emotional Targeting): https://taliawolf.com/book

CONNECT WITH ME
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taliagw/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaliaGw
Website: https://getuplift.co/

We like to think we're rational decision-makers. 

We compare options, make pros and cons lists, and convince ourselves we're making the most logical choice. 

But research tells us something very different: most buying decisions are driven by psychology, not logic.

In this episode of Heart Before Cart, I break down five of the most powerful cognitive biases that shape customer behavior and explain how understanding why people make decisions can help you create marketing that connects on a deeper level. Because when you stop focusing only on what your customers are doing and start understanding why they're doing it, your marketing goes from guessing to strategizing. 

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why behavioral data only tells you what happened, not why
• How hyperbolic discounting influences urgency and immediate action
• Why anchoring changes how customers perceive pricing and value
• How choice-supportive bias reinforces purchase decisions (and why testimonials matter)
• What false consensus bias is and how it can quietly hurt your marketing
• Why loss aversion is one of the most powerful motivators in decision-making
• Practical ways to apply these cognitive biases to your website, landing pages, emails, ads, and campaigns

Whether you're optimizing a landing page, writing copy, launching a campaign, or simply trying to understand why customers make the decisions they do, this episode will help you look beyond the click and start building marketing rooted in human psychology, not assumptions.

Want to dive deeper? Download our free guide to cognitive biases, packed with even more examples and practical ways to apply them to your marketing: https://getuplift.co/cognitive-biases-psychological-triggers-cheat-sheet/ 

RESOURCES

→ Check out my FREE workshop: https://taliawolf.com/workshop

→ Get my NEW book (Emotional Targeting): https://taliawolf.com/book

CONNECT WITH ME

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taliagw/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaliaGw

Website: https://getuplift.co/

Marketing is changing faster than at any other point in its history.  

With AI taking the world by storm it’s changed the way we work, attribution is becoming harder and harder, and the divisions between product, brand, growth, and customer experience are quickly crumbling. 

In this episode of Heart Before Cart, I am joined by Arielle Johncox who spent over a decade in marketing and business strategy. She most recently served as interim CEO at Balsamiq, where she led the company's push into AI. 

And in this episode she dives into what separates great marketers from everyone else in this new era. 

Together we discuss: 

• Why writing may be the most valuable skill you can develop
• Why AI rewards strong opinions instead of replacing them
• How storytelling and brand are making a comeback
• Why the future belongs to marketers who can connect the dots across an entire business, not just a single marketing channel

Whether you’re just starting your marketing career or leading a team, this conversation with Arielle will challenge how you think about AI, creativity, leadership, and what it takes to thrive in the next generation of marketing.

CONNECT WITH ARIELLE 

Website: http://ariellejohncox.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariellejohncox/ 

RESOURCES

→ Check out my FREE workshop: https://taliawolf.com/workshop

→ Get my NEW book (Emotional Targeting): https://taliawolf.com/book

CONNECT WITH ME
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taliagw/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaliaGw
Website: https://getuplift.co/

If you’re still relying on the Google Ads strategies you used a few years ago… my guess is, you aren't seeing the same results. 

Because Google Ads have fundamentally changed (which means your strategy needs to change as well).

In this episode of Heart Before Cart, I sit down with Jyll Saskin Gales, bestselling author of Inside Google Ads and former Google employee, who helps business owners, marketers, agencies, and freelancers get better results with their Google Ads.

During our conversation, Jyll breaks down: 

• Why the Google Ads playbook that worked for years is becoming obsolete, and what successful advertisers are doing instead
• How to use AI to improve your Google Ads without letting it take over your strategy
• How to create ads (today) that stand out in a crowded market
• How AI search, ChatGPT, Reddit, and changing buyer behavior are reshaping digital marketing (and what businesses need to do now to stay ahead)

If Google ads are a channel you’re looking at OR you’ve been investing in Google Ads but they’re not performing as well as they should, you need to hear this conversation with Jyll. 

CONNECT WITH JYLL: 

Jyll’s Website → https://jyll.ca/

Inside Google Ads Book → https://jyll.ca/book 

And check out her podcast, Inside Google Ads with Jyll, anywhere you listen to podcasts! 

📖Get my book Emotional Targeting: Win Hearts. Boost Sales. Own the Market. https://taliawolf.com/book

🌐 Learn more about Emotional Targeting and GetUplift: https://getuplift.co

#GoogleAds #BusinessGrowth #MarketingStrategy #BuyerBehavior #Founders #Entrepreneurship #EmotionalTargeting #CRO #HeartBeforeCart 

In business, we often assume we're stuck because we need a better strategy, another tool, or one more tactic.

But what if the real problem isn't a lack of knowledge?

What if it's fear?

In this episode of Heart Before Cart, I explore the ACT Matrix, a powerful framework from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) that helps founders, marketers, and growth teams understand why they keep doing things that feel productive but don't actually move their business forward.

You'll learn how to identify what's truly important, uncover the fears and stories getting in your way, recognize the behaviors keeping you stuck, and choose actions that move you toward meaningful growth, even when uncertainty is still present.

In this episode, we cover:

• What the ACT Matrix is and why it's so effective for business
• Why being busy isn't the same as making progress
• How fear influences everyday business decisions
• Practical examples for raising your prices, building authority, getting on stage, and starting a business
• A simple 3-step exercise you can use this week to apply the framework to your own business

Whether you're a founder, marketer, consultant, or business owner, this episode will help you stop reacting to fear and start making decisions that align with what truly matters.

📖 Get my book Emotional Targeting: Win Hearts. Boost Sales. Own the Market.

🌐 Learn more about Emotional Targeting and GetUplift: https://getuplift.co

#BusinessGrowth #MarketingStrategy #ACTMatrix #Founders #Entrepreneurship #DecisionMaking #EmotionalTargeting #ConversionRateOptimization #CRO #HeartBeforeCart