Summary: Will Leach, the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Mindstates-Practical-Applying-Behavior-ebook/dp/B07J2CTX34/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marketing to Mindstates</a>, is an expert in the realm of marketing. He is the founder of TriggerPoint Design and he’s worked with fortune 50 companies to solve their most important behavior challenges.<br> Will is actually known as one of the top experts in America in applying behavioral science to marketing, and in this episode, he explains exactly how he applies these behavior design principles to marketing for these huge companies.<br> It’s really powerful. So if you’re a marketer who loves books by Robert Cialdini or Dan Arielli or Seth Godin, this is the episode for you. It’s pretty mind-blowing.<br> <br> <br> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Mindstates-Practical-Applying-Behavior-ebook/dp/B07J2CTX34/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"></a>Get Will’s new book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Marketing-Mindstates-Practical-Applying-Behavior-ebook/dp/B07J2CTX34/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Marketing to Mindstates</a> on Amazon.<br> Find out more at <a href="http://marketingtomindstates.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MarketingMindstates.com</a>.<br> <br> <br> Will Leach: It’s funny because a lot of people think that subtle changes and packaging will show this massive behavioral change. Frankly, there’s so many different factors that influence people shopping behavior. We try to do much bigger packaging changes, just test really, if something significant was going to make a significant lift in sales.<br> The whole genesis of behavioral design—and my journey—was in a moment. It was a study that I was running in this laboratory for Frito-Lay, and I pre-recruited 75 people. I was running shopper insights, and we had 75 people shop our laboratory. Then, I was expecting to have new packaging come in later on that afternoon. I was going to then switch out the old packaging with our newly redesigned packaging, and then the next day, have 75 more people come through and just see if the packaging made any significant lift.<br> Well, 4:00 came, no packaging. 5:00 came, no new packaging. So by 6:00, I’m thinking, I don’t have any new packaging to test for tomorrow.<br> We found out that the agency was running late. We weren’t going to get that packaging, but I had already pre-recruited 75 people to come in and shop the next day. So I just said, you know what? Keep the same environment. We’re not going to make a change. I’ll just get a sample size of 150 people.<br> Next day, another 75 people come in, they shop the environment, and then they leave, great. We actually looked at the data. Just merged the data. And in doing that, actually, a really scary thing happens because between one day and the next, the data changed dramatically.<br> <br> Imagine in my world, I had the exact same variables. I had the same planagram, the same packaging, the same pricing, the same flow, but yet, very different shopping behavior.<br> That as a researcher is a very big deal. Because now, what’s right? What’s the reality—is it the first day or the second day?<br> Well, just so happens, a VP over in a shopper marketing, basically said, “Hey Will, you need to figure this out, because if you can’t tell me which reality is true, is it day one or day two…we’re spending a lot of money each year running these tests.”<br> I thought I was going to lose my job or, certainly, this entire laboratory and all the employees we had—about eight employees. We’re all going to lose our jobs.<br> Also, it’s kind of two stories merging.<br> I went to a conference from the Institute for the Future, and it’s kind of a think tank if you will. I just so happen to get invited. This is where I was introduced to this idea around marketing to the non-conscious. It was around persuasion.<br>
