AI imageReading path · 1 article
“People visit, but they don’t get in touch.”
- What should you measure before the sale?
- Why visitors don’t convert
- Is your page asking too much of people?
- More traffic. Still no enquiries from the right companies.
See it differently
Ideas for smarter marketing.
Fresh perspectives on people and marketing.
With something useful to take into your work.
Start from your situation
Not sure which topic fits? Start from what is happening.
Reading path · 4 articles
“We need people to trust what we say.”
- What makes expertise believable?
- Why other people’s choices matter
- Why familiarity can make a message easier to trust
- Make evidence part of your marketing
Reading path · 4 articles
“Customers buy, then have second thoughts.”
- When a decision and a doubt collide
- The purchase is made. What happens next?
- Why earlier choices pull on the next one
- Why making it yours can change its value
Consumer psychology
View allBefore anyone compares options, something has to matter to them.
An ordinary mug, a lot of meaning.AI imageIn development
What does a product mean to the person who buys it?
Needs, identity and the meaning people attach to what they own.
The job behind a purchase often starts on a list.AI imageIn development
What progress is your customer trying to make?
Use jobs to be done to see the situation behind a purchase.
Then people make sense of what they see — often with shortcuts.
Three good options, one quick judgement.AI imageThe shortcuts behind customer judgement
An author-proposed map of eight processes — and what they can explain.
The same price reads differently next to another.AI imageIn development
Is the price the problem — or how people compare it?
Look at reference points, packages and perceived value before changing the price list.
They weigh value, risk and doubt before committing.
Comparing, weighing, deciding.AI image15 principles behind customer choice
What shapes comparison, perceived value and the decision to buy.
AI imageSeeing the benefits isn’t the same as being sure.In development
They see the benefits. Why are they still hesitating?
Map the uncertainty a customer needs to resolve before committing.
After buying, doubt and ownership shape how good the choice feels.
Right after the choice, the doubts arrive.AI imageWhen a decision and a doubt collide
Cognitive dissonance before and after a purchase, and what can ease it.
What we look after starts to feel like ours.AI imageWhy making it yours can change its value
Participation, ownership and the experience of using a digital product.
Then habit and the effort already spent shape whether they stay or switch.
Hours of set-up already. Hard to walk away.AI imageIn development
Why past effort makes it harder to change
Sunk costs, and why time already spent can keep people in a choice that no longer suits them.
The usual order, one tap away.AI imageIn development
Why customers go back to the old way
Habit, context and what pulls people back from something new.
Culture & social influence
View all
AI imageWhy other people’s choices matter
AI imageWhy familiarity can make a message easier to trust
Happy customers. Few recommendations.
Explore when people have a reason to mention a brand — and what recommending it puts at stake.
Same words. A different meaning in a new market.
Find the cultural assumptions that a correct translation can leave untouched.
Messaging & communication
View all
AI imageIn development
Your website and sales team tell different stories
Build a shared message, then adapt the evidence to each role and touchpoint.
AI imageIn development
When a stronger message makes people push back
Investigate whether the pressure, the promise or the offer itself is causing resistance.
AI imageIn development
A good promise. Still an empty phrase?
Why benefit language can end up saying very little — and how to make a promise specific.
AI imageIn development
Same facts. A different frame.
How the way an option is presented can change the choice people make.
User experience (UX)
View allFirst look
In development It looks easy. Is it easy to use?
The aesthetic-usability effect, and why a polished page can hide a hard task.
Finding the way
In development Is your page asking too much of people?
Find what makes a page harder to understand than it needs to be.
In development What colour does in an interface
Function, legibility and the states that tell people what just happened.
Converting
In development Why visitors don’t convert
Diagnose the barriers before adding more prompts to the page.
In development How each visit adds up to a decision
The sequence of pages and contacts that moves someone towards a yes.
Getting started
In development New accounts, but no first useful result
Trace the barriers between signing up and doing the job the user came for.
Leaving
In development What happens when a customer tries to cancel?
Assess the clarity, control and consequences of leaving a subscription.
Customer experience
View allRight after buying
The purchase is made. What happens next?
Reassurance, clearer guidance — or a different product? Start by finding out what is behind the customer’s doubt.
The high point
In developmentWhat people remember about an experience
Peaks, endings and why the last moment can colour the whole purchase.
When something goes wrong
In developmentWhen something goes wrong, what wins trust back?
Complaints, a sense of fairness and what a good recovery looks like.
Coming back
In developmentLoyal customers — or just a habit?
Separate real preference from routine and the cost of switching.
A bus stop, a moment, a message.AI imageFeatured
When a place becomes part of the message
Outdoor campaigns that turn passing attention into an experience.
Attention & perception
View all
AI imageOn its own, nothing competes for the eye.In development
Why the one that stands out is the one we remember
The isolation effect, and what a single clear difference can do for recall.
A pattern people look at twice.AI imageIn development
How does an advert earn attention?
What draws the eye, and what can a brief moment of attention achieve?
Taste, smell and texture carry the brand too.AI imageIn development
What a brand says through sight, sound and touch
Sensory cues and what they add to how people experience a brand.
Marketing research
View all
AI imageIn development
What customers say — and what it means for your marketing
AI imageIn development
Is your survey suggesting the answer?
App reviews
In development
Reading app reviews as research
AI imageMake evidence part of your marketing
Marketing analytics
View all
AI imageWhat should you measure before the sale?
Smaller customer actions can reveal progress and points of friction.
AI imageIn development
A funnel shows where people leave. Does it tell you why?
Use drop-off as the start of an investigation, rather than its conclusion.
AI imageIn development
Why three channels claim the same sale
Compare attribution windows and models before adding platform conversions together.
AI imageIn development
Did conversions fall — or did the tracking break?
Check the quality of your GA4 data before diagnosing customer behaviour.
Podcast
All episodes on SpotifyDeep Dive: Marketing Unpacked
Cialdini’s 7 Principles: A Marketer’s Guide to Influence
Beyond Gut Feeling: The Power of Evidence-Based Marketing
With the article Make evidence part of your marketing
The IKEA Effect in SaaS: A Guide to Building Customer Loyalty
With the article Why making it yours can change its value
Is That Great Deal Really a Deal? Unmasking the Low-Ball Technique
With the article When the price changes after the yes
How to Turn Visitors into Paying Customers Thanks to Micro-Conversions
With the article What should you measure before the sale?
Commitment and Consistency: Unpacking the Psychology of Cialdini’s Powerful Principle
With the article Why earlier choices pull on the next one
Marketing strategy
View all
AI image01Customers
What cognitive marketing actually looks at
Attention, meaning and the decisions that follow.
AI image02Market
In development
Take your offer to the right market
Choose a segment, a proposition and a route to your first customers.
AI image03Priorities
In development
Busy marketing. Unclear priorities.
Turn the diagnosis into choices about the customers, channels and work to invest in.
AI image04Channels
In development
A full content calendar. No clear direction.
Give the blog, social channels and distribution a defined role in the customer’s decision.
Branding
View all
AI imageWould customers recognise you without the logo?
Assess which colours, shapes, words and sounds people actually connect with your brand.
Rebranding without becoming unrecognisable
Decide what to retain, what to test and how to introduce the change.
Does your brand need a redesign?
How an audit can separate the symptoms from the changes worth investigating.
Web design & development
View allIn development
What does your next website need to make possible?
Start with the visitor’s task, then work through content, design and implementation.
AI imageAI imageIn development
What evidence justifies a website redesign?
In development
Two website quotes. Two very different scopes.
In development
An Astro website: who updates it after launch?
Design preview · An illustrative website and page editor, not a client project.
AI & personalisation
View allDesign preview · An illustrative conversation, not a real assistant.
AI imageIn development
What helps people trust an AI system?
Which explanations help a user understand and assess the output?
AI imageIn development
Your AI assistant sounds certain. Is the advice reliable?
Test how people assess a recommendation, spot a mistake and correct the system.
AI imageIn development
Personalised to do what, exactly?
Start with the customer’s task, then decide what information would make a useful difference.
SEO & organic growth
View allCognitigencehttps://www.cognitigence.com › blog › seo
More traffic. Still no enquiries from the right companies.
In development — Build B2B content around the questions people ask when comparing suppliers.
Cognitigencehttps://www.cognitigence.com › blog › seo
Find the need behind the search query
In development — Keyword research that starts with what someone is trying to do.
AI imageCognitigencehttps://www.cognitigence.com › blog › seo
What should your SEO help the business win?
In development — Choose organic priorities around the customers and enquiries you want to attract.
Design preview · Illustrative search results, not a live Google page.
Dictionary
The ideas behind the articles, in plain English
17 terms, each explained in a line, 12 of them linked to the article that goes deeper.
Aesthetic-usability effect
We tend to see attractive designs as easier to use, whether or not they are.
In developmentIt looks easy. Is it easy to use?Authority principle
People give more weight to advice from sources that seem credible and expert.
Article: What makes expertise believable?Buyer’s remorse
Regret or doubt that can follow a purchase.
Article: The purchase is made. What happens next?Cognitive dissonance
The discomfort of holding two ideas that don’t fit, such as a choice and a doubt about it.
Article: When a decision and a doubt collideCommitment and consistency
The pull to act in line with what we have already said or done.
Article: Why earlier choices pull on the next oneEvidence-based marketing
Decisions informed by research, observation and testing, not by instinct alone.
Article: Make evidence part of your marketingFraming effect
The same facts, presented differently, can lead to a different choice.
In developmentSame facts. A different frame.Heuristics
Mental shortcuts that speed up judgement, and can also bias it.
Article: The shortcuts behind customer judgementIKEA effect
We value things more when we have helped to make or shape them.
Article: Why making it yours can change its valueIsolation effect
The item that stands out from a group is the one we are more likely to remember.
In developmentWhy the one that stands out is the one we rememberJobs to be done
The progress a customer is trying to make in a particular situation.
In developmentWhat progress is your customer trying to make?Liking principle
We are more open to people we like, or who seem similar to us.
Article: Why familiarity can make a message easier to trustLow-ball technique
Securing a yes, then changing the terms once people have committed.
Article: When the price changes after the yesMicro-conversions
Small actions that show someone moving towards a purchase.
Article: What should you measure before the sale?Peak-end rule
We judge an experience largely by its most intense moment and by how it ends.
In developmentWhat people remember about an experienceReciprocity
The urge to give something back after receiving something.
Article: Why receiving something makes people want to give backSocial proof
Using what other people do as a guide to what we should do.
Article: Why other people’s choices matter
No term matches “” yet.
From reading to doing
Recognise your situation in one of these questions?
Tell us what you are working on — a message, a website or a product launch — and we will look at it from your customer’s side.