Behavioral Grooves Podcast - [INTERVIEW] Smart Behavioral Economics Secrets Every Marketer Needs with Melina Palmer

[INTERVIEW] Smart Behavioral Economics Secrets Every Marketer Needs with Melina Palmer

07/25/21 • 38 min

2 Listeners

What does your customer want but can’t tell you? What effective marketing techniques use behavioral economics? If only you had a way of understanding how your customer’s brain made decisions. Well our guest, Melina Palmer sits down to discuss exactly that.

Melina Palmer is the founder of The Brainy Business, which provides behavioral economics consulting to businesses of all sizes from around the world. She also hosts a podcast, The Brainy Business, and has recently published her first book What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You: Unlocking Consumer Decisions with the Science of Behavioral Economics: https://amzn.to/36Rm88I.

What You Will Learn From Melina Palmer

(6:23) Melina explains her book “What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You”

(13:30) Why should we care about dopamine?

(16:26) The effectiveness of using a lottery draw

(20:43) Why is priming so important in marketing?

(27:41) How Melina helps you to apply her insight

(30:59) What sparked Melina’s interest in Behavioral Economics?

(32:24) What is the biggest secret that customers can’t tell you?

(33:54) Is the marketing industry still sexist?

(34:40) The music Melina would take to survive on a desert island

If you are a regular listener to Behavioral Grooves, please consider donating to our work through Patreon https://www.patreon.com/behavioralgrooves. We also love reading your reviews on the podcast, which gives other listeners social proof that we’re worth listening to!

Links

Melina Palmer, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You: Unlocking Consumer Decisions with the Science of Behavioral Economics: https://amzn.to/36Rm88I

Episode 109: Melina Palmer: Using Behavioral Economics to Help Businesses: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/melina-palmer-using-behavioral-economics-to-help-businesses/

The Brainy Business: https://thebrainybusiness.com/

The Brainy Business Podcast: https://thebrainybusiness.com/podcast/

Melina Palmer, INC: https://www.inc.com/author/melina-palmer

Melina Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebrainybiz/

Melina Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebrainybiz/

Melina YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thebrainybusiness

Melina Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebrainybiz

Melina LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melina-palmer-36ab8712/

The Brainy Buiness LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-brainy-business/

BE Thoughtful Revolution: https://be-thoughtful-revolution.mn.co/share/Wwg4nTN8qVp21XB3?utm_source=manual

Episode 232: Katy Milkman: How to Make Healthy Habits that Actually Last: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/katy-milkman-habits-that-last/

Episode 226: The Power Of Unity: Robert Cialdini Expands His Best Selling Book Influence: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/cialdini-unity-in-influence/

McDonald’s Monopoly: A Masterclass in Promotions: https://www.talon.one/blog/mcdonalds-monopoly-a-masterclass-in-promotions

Human Behavior Lab, Certificate Program: https://hbl.tamu.edu/certificate-program/

Musical Links

Paul McCartney “Find My Way”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oSmP3GtOBk

Lady Gaga “Stupid Love”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L6xyaeiV58

John Mayer “Last Train Home”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66Ne5dVDfLM

Melina’s Pandora station: https://pandora.app.link/UrWQ28B6l3

What You Will Learn From Melina Palmer

(6:23) Melina explains her book “What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You”

(13:30) Why should we care about dopamine?

(16:26) The effectiveness of using a lottery draw

(20:43) Why is priming so important in marketing?

(27:41) How Melina helps you to apply her insight

(30:59) What sparked Melina’s interest in Behavioral Economics?

(32:24) What is the biggest secret that customers can’t tell you?

(33:54) Is the marketing industry still sexist?

(34:40) The music Melina would take to survive on a desert island

Links

Melina Palmer, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You: Unlocking Consumer Decisions with the Science of Behavioral Economics: https://amzn.to/36Rm88I

Episode 109: Melina Palmer: Using Behavioral Economics to Help Businesses: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/melina-palmer-using-behavioral-economics-to-help-businesses/

The Brainy Business: https://thebrainybusiness.com/

The Brainy Business Podcast: https://thebrainybusiness.com/podcast/

Melina Palmer, INC: https://www.inc.com/author/melina-palmer

Melina Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebrainybiz/

Melina Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebrainybiz/

Melina YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/thebrainybusiness

Melina Twitter: https://twitter.com/thebrainybiz

Melina LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melina-palmer-36ab8712/

The Brainy Buiness LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-brainy-business/

BE Thoughtful Revolution: https://be-thoughtful-revolution.mn.co/share/Wwg4nTN8qVp21XB3?utm_source=manual

Episode 232: Katy Milkman: How to Make Healthy Habits that Actually Last: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/katy-milkman-habits-that-last/

Episode 226: The Power Of Unity: Robert Cialdini Expands His Best Selling Book Influence: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/cialdini-unity-in-influence/

McDonald’s Monopoly: A Masterclass in Promotions: https://www.talon.one/blog/mcdonalds-monopoly-a-masterclass-in-promotions

Human Behavior Lab, Certificate Program: https://hbl.tamu.edu/certificate-program/

Musical Links

Paul McCartney “Find My Way”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oSmP3GtOBk

Lady Gaga “Stupid Love”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L6xyaeiV58

John Mayer “Last Train Home”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66Ne5dVDfLM

Melina’s Pandora station: https://pandora.app.link/UrWQ28B6l3

Previous Episode

[GROOVING SESSION] Smart Behavioral Economics Secrets Every Marketer Needs with Melina Palmer

How can your organization improve its marketing messaging using proven behavioral science techniques? As part of our series on Marketing & Employee Engagement this month, we were joined by Melina Palmer on our latest interview episode (#242). Melina Palmer is the founder of The Brainy Business podcast and author of “What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You: Unlocking Consumer Decisions with the Science of Behavioral Economics”: https://amzn.to/36Rm88I. She is an expert on both marketing and behavioral economics and blends techniques from both fields in her writing and podcast.

This follow-up episode is a free-flowing Grooving Session where Tim and Kurt discuss the business applications of their discussion with Melina. This episode is best enjoyed after listening to our interview episode.

What you will learn from this episode:

The science behind dopamine release.
How to use rewards (incentives or lotteries) effectively to motivate employees.
Why priming is one of the most underutilized marketing tools.
And one of our favorite topics; why context matters when communicating a message.

Links

Melina Palmer, What Your Customer Wants and Can’t Tell You: Unlocking Consumer Decisions with the Science of Behavioral Economics: https://amzn.to/36Rm88I

Episode 147: Gary Latham, PhD: Goal Setting, Prompts, Priming, and Skepticism https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/gary-latham-goal-setting-prompts/

Episode 235: Make Choice Rewarding: Behavioral Insights in Marketing with Matthew Willcox https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/marketing-matthew-willcox/

The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal https://www.learningjourneys.net/post/the-willpower-instinct-by-kelly-mcgonigal

Next Episode

[GROOVING SESSION] Does Money Really Make You Happy? The Research with Johannes Haushofer

Kurt and Tim discuss the links between poverty and mental health, how higher income is linked to better well-being, and the idea of a Universal Basic Income. This is a free-flowing discussion delving into the insights from their most recent interview with Johannes Haushofer (episode #244), Assistant Professor of Economics at Stockholm University. While you are welcome to listen to this episode as a stand-alone, we recommend you download our interview with Johannes first before joining us here.

Topics You Will Learn About:

Higher income being related to better well-being.
The effects of poverty on cognitive function, creativity, stress, health and long-term outcome decisions.
Universal Basic Income; the behavior changes it could induce.
The replication crisis of research studies in psychology.
The value of Johannes studying poverty outside of WEIRD countries.

“So there was a pretty strong relationship between income and happiness, both within and across countries. R ich people are happier than poor people within the same country. But also richer countries, on average, are happier than poor countries .” ~ Johannes Haushofer quote from Behavioral Grooves podcast interview.

Links

Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, “Subjective Well-Being and Income: Is There Any Evidence of Satiation?”: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.103.3.598

Episode 155: John Bargh: Dante, Coffee and the Unconscious Mind: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/john-bargh-dante-coffee-and-the-unconscious-mind/

Busara Center for Behavioral Economics in Nairobi, Kenya: https://busaracenter.org

Episode 202: How Chaning Jang Works Around Not Being WEIRD: https://behavioralgrooves.com/episode/how-chaning-jang-works-around-not-being-weird/

Honesty Tea: https://www.honesttea.com/our-story

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz “Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are”: https://amzn.to/32ULlgD

Kurt and Tim mention our interview with Richard Nesbitt, which will be released on 8/29/21!

Behavioral Grooves Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/behavioralgrooves

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