How Customers Really Decide: Behavioral Science with Nancy Harhut
with Nancy Harhut, Co-Founder, HBT Marketing · Hosted by Alex Chich
The big ideaYour customers don't buy with logic. They buy on gut, then come up with reasons.
We write marketing as if people read every word, weigh the benefits, and decide. They don't. To save energy, the brain leans on fast, instinctive shortcuts. People pick on gut, then look for reasons to back it up. Nancy Harhut has spent decades using behavioral science to trigger those shortcuts, so a message gets noticed, understood, remembered, and acted on.
Nancy is the co-founder of HBT Marketing (Human Behavior Triggers) and the author of Using Behavioral Science in Marketing. She works over 20 proven behavioral tactics into everyday copy, turning how the brain actually decides into messages that convert.
She and Alex get practical: how to find the real reason people don't buy, why a testimonial with a flaw beats a perfect one, the pricing tweaks that make a deal feel bigger, and what changes when you sell a $50 product versus a $20,000 one.
Selected Links From the Episode
In This Episode
- →Why customers decide on gut, not logic, and how to work with it
- →Sell against the "why not": find the real objection and answer it upfront
- →Why a testimonial that admits a doubt beats a flawless 5-star one
- →Why three benefits persuade better than five
- →Pricing that feels like a better deal: a smaller sale-price font, and framing the upgrade as "+$X"
- →Social proof, loss aversion, and giving people a sense of control
- →What changes when you sell expensive or luxury products
People Mentioned
Nancy Harhut
Co-Founder, HBT Marketing
Alex Chich
Host, Beyond the Algorithm
