Psychology of Selling and Marketing

A survey of 100 consumers in Malaysia finds that communication skills strongly shape trust, satisfaction, and willingness to buy, but 70% report feeling pressured by salespeople.

Consumers who recognize marketing tactics are only about half as protected as you might think. A meta-analysis of 148 studies reveals the real limits of persuasion awareness.

A study of 436 consumers finds that human-sounding AI marketing messages tend to boost willingness to buy by building a sense of social presence and trust, and that disclosing the AI's role softens but does not erase the...

New research finds that self-improvement gifts hurt recipients' feelings, prompting lower star ratings and negative word of mouth. But retailers have options to reduce the damage.

A study of cosmetics shoppers in Tanzania examines how a package's color, images, text, and logo shape whether buyers see a product as authentic, and how that sense of authenticity tends to influence their approval of the brand.

A field study of more than 1,200 grocery shoppers finds that digital ads on smart shopping carts raise total spending by nearly 15 percent, with surprising spillover to products that weren't advertised.

A study of 252 millennials suggests that fun and trust, more than product facts, drive engagement with fashion influencers on Facebook. A felt sense of closeness to the influencer did much of the work.

A new study finds that shoppers who think they know a lot, but actually don't, may be the most likely to fall for too-good-to-be-true deals, and that generous return policies can make the trap worse for beginners.

A large study of U.S. public firms finds that companies with more complex disclosures borrow more, especially when they face tight financial constraints, reshaping how we think about capital structure.

People say they don't trust social media for news, yet viral brand scandals still cause real damage. New research points to a specific trigger that overrides that skepticism.