Psychology of Selling and Marketing
Do small gestures on a restaurant check boost tips in Turkey the way they do in America?
Three field experiments in Istanbul tested whether classic American tipping tricks, like writing "thank you" or drawing a smiley on a check, work in a non-WEIRD setting. They did, but Turkish tips ran far smaller overall.
Packing products tightly on shelves makes shoppers grab more flavors
Four experiments find shoppers pick a wider mix of products when items sit close together on display. The pattern traces back to how spacing shapes visual attention.
How AI is rewriting the marketer’s playbook, according to a wide-ranging literature review
A literature review of more than 200 publications maps how AI is being woven into marketing, from programmatic advertising to churn prediction, and where adoption still stalls.
The Goldilocks zone of sales pressure: Why a little urgency helps and too much hurts
New research across two retail field studies finds that moderate time pressure boosts sales performance while excessive pressure drags it down, with managerial feedback, mentoring, and meetings softening the damage.
What women really want from “girl power” ads: Six ingredients that make femvertising work
New research identifies six distinct qualities women use to judge gender-equitable advertising, and shows how those perceptions translate into loyalty and advocacy.
The seductive allure of neuroscience: Why brain talk feels so satisfying, even when it explains nothing
A meta-analysis of 60 experiments finds that adding irrelevant neuroscience to explanations reliably boosts how satisfying they feel, but rarely changes what people actually believe.
When two heads aren’t better than one: What research reveals about human-AI teamwork in marketing
A meta-analysis of 132 experiments finds that adding AI to marketing workflows reliably improves human performance, but human-AI teams rarely outperform capable AI systems working alone.
Why a blue background can make a brown sofa look bigger
New research finds that products displayed against high-contrast backgrounds appear larger to shoppers than the same products shown against similar-hued backgrounds, an effect driven by sharper edges and easier visual processing.
Why brand names like “Yum Yum” and “BonBon” taste sweeter to our brains
New research finds that brand names with repeated sounds, like "BonBon" or "Yum Yum," lead consumers to expect sweeter flavors, an effect linked to perceptions of baby-like cuteness.
How the science of persuasion connects to B2B sales success
A review of 32 studies reveals how psychology-based persuasion models and adaptive communication skills are linked to better outcomes in business-to-business sales.