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

By Melina Palmer

Business Social Sciences

What's The Brainy Business | Understanding the Psychology of Why People Buy | Behavioral Economics about?

Consumers are weird. They don't do what they say they will do and don't act how we think they "should." Enter Melina Palmer, a sales conversion expert with a personal mission to make your business more effective and brain friendly. In this podcast, Melina will take the complex concepts of behavioral economics (the study and science of why people buy - or not) and provide simple, actionable tips you can apply right away in your business. Whether you're a small business or thriving corporation, Melina's tips can help your business increase sales and get more customers.

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171. Paradox of Choice: Why...

09.24.2021

I know you have a lot of options for what to listen to, and I’m glad you chose The Brainy Business. Especially because (as you’ll hear about on today’s episode), due to the paradox of choice, having too many options ...

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

09.24.2021 171. Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, a Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode I know you have a lot of options for what to listen to, and I’m glad you chose The Brainy Business. Especially because (as you’ll hear about on today’s episode), due to the paradox of choice, having too many options ...
09.17.2021 170. When Machine Learning Meets Neuroscience, with Ingrid Nieuwenhuis of Alpha.One A few weeks ago, I had the honor of being a speaker at Greenbook’s IIEX Behavior Conference, an amazing event that brings people together from around the world to talk about behavior and insights and so much more. My piece ...
09.10.2021 169. The Science of Cool, with Dr. Troy Campbell Today is a very fun episode about something that you might not think has a science to it, but definitely does which is so amazing! My guest is Troy Campbell, who got his Ph.D. at Duke University and has worked ...
09.03.2021 168. Using the Senses to Increase Sales, with Michelle Niedziela of HCD Research Today I am excited to introduce you to Dr. Michelle Niedziela, VP of Research and Innovation at HCD Research. She is also an editorial board member of the Neuromarketing Science and Business Association (or NMSBA) and part of the brains ...
08.27.2021 167. Hindsight Bias: Why Hindsight is Definitely NOT 20/20, a Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Today’s episode is all about hindsight bias. You have probably heard the phrase “Hindsight is 20/20” and maybe even said it yourself on occasion. Well, I hate to burst your bubble, but this simply isn’t true. We humans have a ...
08.20.2021 166. Combining Artificial Intelligence and Behavioral Economics, with Sam Albert of Behaviorally Today I am very excited to talk about something I know is a common question for many these days. It is something that I get asked a lot and what I know many see as the future of behavioral economics ...
08.13.2021 165. The Era of Applied Behavioral Economics, with Matej Sucha Today I am very excited to have Matej Sucha with me on the show to talk about the importance of applied behavioral economics and the work he has done to help shape the field. As you will hear in our ...
08.06.2021 164. How Businesses Can Design for Behavior Change, with Dr. Amy Bucher Today I am very excited to have Dr. Amy Bucher on the show to talk about how you can design for behavior change using insights from her fantastic career and wonderful book, Engaged. Amy graduated magna cum laude from Harvard ...
07.30.2021 163. How to Approach Negative Reviews Using Behavioral Economics Today we are going to be talking about something that is sort of a fact of life whether we like it or not. If you want to live in the world amongst other people and put your personal or professional ...
07.23.2021 162. Do You Subtract Enough? An interview with Dr. Leidy Klotz Today I am very excited to have Dr. Leidy Klotz on the show to talk about how we humans have an instinct for adding things. We want more and often don’t even think about taking things away. But why is ...
07.16.2021 161. The Philosophical Side of BE, an interview with Dr. Nick Hobson Today I am very excited to have a fellow behavioral science podcaster, Dr. Nick Hobson on the show. His podcast is called, It’s All Just a Bunch of BS. He also writes for The Behaviorist and is the chief scientist ...
07.09.2021 160. Neuroscience and Psychology in the Business World, An Interview with Matt Johnson Today I am very excited to have Dr. Matt Johnson on the show to talk about the application of neuroscience and psychology to the business world. A professor, researcher, and writer, Matt received his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology/Neuroscience from Princeton ...
07.02.2021 159. Amazon: A Behavioral Economics Analysis Episode I know these behavioral economics analysis episodes are very popular. The ones on Starbucks and Peloton have quickly risen through the ranks to become the third and fourth most downloaded episodes ever on the show (and as we are on ...
06.25.2021 158. 3 Steps to Better Decision Making, An Interview with Matthew Confer Today I am delighted to have Matthew Confer on the show to be share insights from (and beyond) his popular Ted Talk: Before you Decide: 3 Steps to Better Decision Making. This talk came out before the pandemic, and Matthew ...
06.18.2021 157. Dr. Robert Cialdini and the (Now!) 7 Principles of Persuasion Today I am beyond excited to have Bob Cialdini here to talk about the newly expanded version of his book Influence. There are 220 additional pages and a 7th principle of persuasion that has been added, which he explains in ...
06.11.2021 156. From Marketing Mess to Brand Success, with Scott Miller Today I am so excited to have Scott Miller back on the podcast to talk about marketing and branding, some of my favorite things! I really love the way Scott puts his books together, broken into 30 chapters with great, ...
06.04.2021 155. What is Behavioral Baking? Today I am excited to share a favorite analogy I came up with while writing my book, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You. It has also been awesome to see how well this is resonating with readers, at ...
05.28.2021 154. Failure is an Opportunity not Ending, with Madeline Quinlan Today I am honored to be joined by Madeline (Maddie) Quinlan, co-founder of Salient. Just like last week’s guest, Nuala Walsh, you’ve heard Maddie’s voice when she was part of the contingent who came on to discuss the Global Association ...
05.21.2021 153. Only 1% of People Blow the Whistle at Work—How to Fix That, with Nuala Walsh You have heard her voice before as she was part of the contingent that came on to discuss The Global Association of Applied Behavioural Scientists or GAABS when it first launched in the fall of 2020. In addition to her ...
05.14.2021 152. A Surprise Guest... Today there is a very special interview taking place on the show, in that the person being interviewed is…me! And, no, it isn’t me asking myself questions. I guess that is kind of like every solo episode I’ve done or ...
05.07.2021 151. How To Change, an interview Dr. Katy Milkman Today I am very excited to have Dr. Katy Milkman joining me on the show. She has done so much amazing work over the years, some of which you have heard me share in episodes already, including the fresh start ...
04.30.2021 150. Using Behavioral Science to Build Connections, an interview with Jon Levy, author of You’re Invited Today I am very excited to have Jon Levy and I am also very excited for our big milestone. This is the 150th episode of The Brainy Business podcast. Can you believe it? We now have well over 350,000 downloads ...
04.23.2021 149. Familiarity Bias: Why the Devil You Know Feels Safer Than the Devil You Don’t, a Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Today we will be talking all about familiarity bias. Sometimes on the show, I share concepts with you that are a bit foreign. Like one of my all-time favorites in hyperbolic time discounting or even something like “choice architecture” which ...
04.16.2021 148. The Speed and Economics of Trust, an Interview with Stephen M.R. Covey Today I am very excited to have Stephen M. R. Covey with us on the show today. In case his name sounds familiar, it’s because his father Dr. Stephen Covey wrote The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People—one of the ...
04.09.2021 147. What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You: All About Melina’s First Book I can hardly believe the topic of this episode! It has been such a long time in the making and I’m so honored and overjoyed to be able to share this with you. My first book, What Your Customer Wants ...
04.02.2021 146. Using Anchoring in Negotiations, an Interview with Kwame Christian I am so excited to have Kwame Christian back on the show. Kwame was first on the show back in July of 2020. We have become friends over this past year and I know how much fun he is to ...
03.26.2021 145. The Power of Story, an Interview with Dr. Michelle Auerbach Today I am very excited to introduce you to Dr. Michelle Auerbach. She and I met a few weeks back by an introduction from another podcast where we had both recently been guests, and it was clear we had a ...
03.19.2021 144. Disney: A Behavioral Economics Analysis Disney is such a massive company this episode could have gone in a lot of different ways. Today is mostly focused on traditional Disney: amusement parks, movies, and a bit about Disney+. I’ll go through a whole bunch of concepts ...
03.12.2021 143. The Hype Handbook, an Interview with Author Michael F. Schein Do you think that hyping up yourself or your business is a good thing, or does it feel a little shady to you? Join me in this episode of The Brainy Business as I interview Michael F. Schein, who, among ...
03.05.2021 142. Status Quo Bias: Why Change Feels Terrifying, a Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Status quo bias is one of the most foundational foundations there is. It's at the center of so many biases and heuristics the brain uses to make decisions, which is why you've heard me talk about it a lot on ...
02.26.2021 141. Where CX and Behavioral Science Meet, interview with Jennifer Clinehens, author of Choice Hacking Jennifer Clinehens is currently CX Strategy Director at Havas CX Helia, London, where she uses behavioral science and psychology to improve the customer experience for brands like Lloyds Banking Group and Compare the Market.
02.19.2021 140. How Simple Nudges Can Save Hundreds of Millions, interview with Dectech’s Dr. Benny Cheung Today I get the honor of introducing you to Dr. Benny Cheung, a director of DecTech. You may remember that company’s name as Dr. Henry Stott, a cofounder, joined me on the show in episode 130 to discuss some of ...
02.12.2021 139. Endowment Effect: Why We Like Our Stuff More, a Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Today we will be digging in on the endowment effect. This concept is similar to a few you have heard on the show before, including loss aversion, the IKEA effect and even a little bit of reciprocity mixed in there. ...
02.05.2021 138. Why Cute Sells and Other Marketing Magic, interview with Patrick Fagan, author of Hooked Patrick has done all sorts of interesting research over the years, including a study for eBay and some for social media. He has such a great knowledge of the mind and how it applies to marketing and behavior. You can ...
01.29.2021 137. Using Ethnography to Understand Your Customers and Staff, an interview with Felicity Heathcote-Marcz You’ll learn a lot from this conversation with Felicity because…I did too! As you’ll hear throughout the episode, I’m not worried about asking the “dumb” questions like “what does that mean” or “what’s that term you just used?” I’m here ...
01.22.2021 136. Temptation Bundling: A Simple Trick to Reach Your Goals, a Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode Today we are going to be talking about a really cool trick called temptation bundling. You may have noticed this is a shorter episode than we usually have on the podcast and that is because while temptation bundling can make ...
01.15.2021 135. Using Behavioral Science in Healthcare, Interview with Aline Holzwarth In today’s episode, I am so excited to introduce you to Aline Holzwarth. Talk about an amazing person doing fantastic and exciting things! Aline is both a principal at the Center for Advanced Hindsight, where she works directly with Dan ...
01.08.2021 134. Using Behavioral Science to Tackle Addiction (and the Lessons for any Business), Interview with Richard Chataway Today I am so excited to introduce you to Richard Chataway. Richard is such an awesome and fun guy to chat with. He has worked on so many amazing projects, and let me just tell you right now you are ...
01.01.2021 133. The Best of The Brainy Business in 2020 Hello and Happy New Year everyone! While 2020 was nowhere near the year any of us were expecting it to be, I’m always looking for silver linings, so it seemed worth taking the time to celebrate the top content and ...
12.25.2020 132. Decision Fatigue, a Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode So many people felt bogged down by all the extra stress and decisions of 2020. We had our habits upended and were forced to think about things we were used to letting our subconscious brains handle for us. Because of ...
12.18.2020 131. The BIG Effects of Small Behavior Changes in Business, an Interview with Jez Groom and April Vellacott, coauthors of Ripple Jez Groom and April Vellacott are coauthors of the book Ripple: The big effects of small behaviour changes in business. Jez and April work together at Cowry Consulting in the UK, which he founded in 2015. During the conversation, we ...
12.11.2020 130. How To Use Behavioral Science in Banking, Food Delivery and More–An Interview with Dr. Henry Stott, Co-founder of Dectech Today I am very pleased to introduce you to Dr. Henry Stott, cofounder of Dectech, a behavioral science consultancy in the UK. As you’ll hear on the show today, Dectech works with all sorts of companies and industries, from banks ...
12.04.2020 129. Melina’s Go-To Brainy Books: Behavioral Economics Books You Need To Read Reading and research are some of my favorite things. (I’m guessing that doesn’t surprise you too much...especially if you’ve ever dug into the show notes for the podcast.) For this reason, I frequently get asked for my top book recommendations. ...
11.27.2020 128. How to Build Products That Create Change, An Interview with Matt Wallaert Matt Wallaert, author of Start at the End: How to Build Products that Create Change is my guest. One of my favorite quotes from Matt is one that shows how we are kindred spirits. He says, “If behavior is your ...
11.20.2020 127. Good Habits, Bad Habits: An Interview with Wendy Wood I am so excited to introduce you to Dr. Wendy Wood. Her fantastic new book Good Habits Bad Habits (which I mentioned last week was voted book of the year in the Habit Weekly Awards) is just one of the ...
11.13.2020 126. The Most Important Step in Applying Behavioral Economics: Understanding the Problem While researching for my book (which will be coming out in May 2021!) I had the joy of speaking with several dozen amazing people working in applied behavioral science and behavioral economics. People from around the world doing such cool ...
11.06.2020 125. How to Approach and Implement Behavioral Insights, an Interview with Michael Hallsworth I’m excited to introduce you to Dr. Michael Hallsworth, managing director at Behavioral Insights Team North America and co-author of the new book, Behavioral Insights.
10.30.2020 124. Unleash Your Primal Brain, An Interview with Tim Ash Today I am so excited to introduce you to Tim Ash, his new book Unleash Your Primal Brain is currently available on presale, to officially launch in April 2021, but everyone listening now can order it direct from Tim using ...
10.23.2020 123. Get Your D.O.S.E. of Brain Chemicals, a Behavioral Economics Foundations Episode You’ve heard me mention all four on the show over the years, but I’ve definitely talked about dopamine the most. Today, I will tell you even more about dopamine while also digging in on the three others
10.16.2020 122. Decoding the Why with Nate Andorsky, CEO of Creative Science In today’s episode, I’m excited to introduce you to Nate Andorsky, CEO of Creative Science and author of Decoding the Why. Nate’s book is all about how to apply behavioral economics into consumer-facing software products and websites. It’s about experience, ...

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