A selection of articles and essays on consumer behaviour, research, and decision-making.
While no longer updated regularly, this archive reflects some of the themes and thinking behind Philip’s work.
Are You Keeping It Simple?
When it comes to marketing, one thing is sure; you will never see your product or service in the same way that one of your consumers will. This is, unfortunately, inevitable. Pretty much everything you do for your business is a deliberate a…
The Cost of Making Your Customers Wait
Recently I was reading some research about how people respond differently depending on timescales. Researchers at Princeton gauged people’s reactions when they were offered a choice between receiving a $15 Amazon voucher today, or a $20 one…
Opinion Polls – Why We Should Be Wary
As a consumer behaviour expert I’m very wary of consumer research and that includes opinion polls. I can see that a huge amount of human behaviour is unconsciously driven and just because we can come up with reasons for our past or intended…
The Visual Consumer
Before you go any further, please take a look at this colour changing card trick from Richard Wiseman. This video is another demonstration of inattentional blindness – you’re probably aware of the video with the gorilla dancing …
Can a Small Discount be Big Discount?
Car manufacturers are always trying to solve a conundrum; how do you make a small car feel less small? Everyone knows that big cars are associated with all the positive stuff; power, comfort, luxury, status, indulgence. Small cars are assoc…
Does Colour Matter?
Whilst I was listening to the final of the Australian Open on the radio a brief debate emerged between the two commentators, Jonathan Overend and Pat Cash. Overend, who does extraordinarily well keeping the listener in touch with what’s hap…
Why Bad Service is Remembered
A nice bloke called Jamie has just installed a heating system in our house and he’s done a wonderful job too. It’s particularly impressive given the scale of the task: he was replacing three separate heating systems, none of which worked ve…
What House MD Wants Us to Know About Consumer Research
“I don’t ask why patients lie, I just assume they all do.” Gregory House (MD) I’m a big fan of the Fox Television series House. There’s something about the way that Hugh Laurie’s character navigates his way through life th…
Your Money or Your Time: Which Message Will Sell More?
Ok, perhaps it’s not up there with the great phrase used by highwaymen “Your money or your life” but, given the lack of portable time measuring devices at the time, watch-theft wasn’t likely to be a lucrative pastime. Nowadays, in the compe…