Customer Science
Building on decades of research in psychology, behavioral economics, and marketing, the Customer Science podcast explores the forces that shape customer behavior. Based on The Customer Science Handbook by Alexander Chernev, the podcast offers a systematic, comprehensive, and practical approach to creating transformative customer experiences.
Episodes
This episode introduces a science-based approach to managing customer experience, contrasting it with traditional reliance on intuition and personal judgment. It outlines the seven stages of the customer experience—from need activation to repurchase—and presents a strategic framework for addressing each stage. Emphasizing the role of behavioral science, the episode highlights how insights into customer b...
The episode outlines the “involvement gap” between highly engaged managers and largely indifferent consumers, who make most decisions using quick, intuitive thinking. It emphasizes the importance of designing simple, user-friendly offerings and communication that resonates with low-involvement customers. Examples like the Sony Walkman and ineffective contrast-based ads show how to avoid common marketing pitfalls in a world of limit...
This episode dives into how mental associations shape beliefs and influence decision-making via two primary routes: central (analytical) and peripheral (automatic). It explains how marketers can create effective associations using colors, influencers, product placement, and top-of-mind positioning. The discussion also addresses strategies to manage attention and reduce resistance to persuasion.
This episode examines how what we focus on shapes our perceptions of importance, attractiveness, and truth. It covers the focusing illusion, primacy effects, and processing fluency, showing how even subtle cues like presentation order or ease of reading influence preferences and credibility. Through studies and examples, it highlights the subconscious power of attention and repetition in forming beliefs.
The episode discusses how attention—our selective gateway to perception—determines which information is processed and remembered. It breaks down the physical and psychological triggers that attract attention, such as visual contrast, emotional relevance, and curiosity. Listeners also learn how attention influences memory encoding and how heuristics like availability and affect shape decision-making.
This episode explores the dual-system theory of human cognition, distinguishing between the fast, intuitive System 1 and the slower, analytical System 2. It highlights how most decisions are subconsciously shaped by System 1, often leading to cognitive shortcuts and biases. The episode reveals how the two systems interact in shaping perception, attention, and behavior, with real-world examples like the bat-and-ball problem and wine...
Identity triggers focus on consumers’ need for self-expression, status, and personal values, making them the most personally relevant of all triggers. This episode explores status-based triggers like luxury goods and class signaling, alongside personality-based triggers that reflect beliefs and individuality. Through cases like King Frederick’s potato strategy and Betty Crocker’s cake mix, it highlights how aligning with self-ident...
This episode explores how brands use emotional triggers to tap into consumers' desire for pleasure, excitement, and security—or to provoke fear and anxiety to drive action. Positive triggers such as enjoyment, love, nostalgia, and peace of mind are contrasted with negative triggers like fear of rejection or missing out. With examples from Coca-Cola to Listerine, the episode shows how emotions can shape perception, drive behavior, a...
Focused on practical needs, this episode discusses how utilitarian triggers motivate behavior by emphasizing functionality and financial value. It contrasts functional triggers (like those used by TiVo and Ginsu knives) with monetary triggers (like those used by Dollar Shave Club) to show how activating a dormant need can spark consumer demand. Listeners will gain insight into how saving time, money, or effort can be just as motiva...
This episode examines how triggers—both internal and external—activate dormant customer needs and drive action. It distinguishes between physiological and psychological triggers, as well as situational and marketing cues, to show how companies can strategically initiate behavior change. Highlighting examples like Pepsodent and New Year’s resolutions, it underscores the importance of choosing the right need to trigger for ...
This episode explores the foundational role of unmet needs in driving customer behavior and decision-making. It introduces a hierarchy of customer needs—utilitarian, emotional, and identity—and explains how each type shapes consumer choices. Listeners will learn how active need states like discomfort and problems motivate behavior, while states like delight and indifference often result in inertia.
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