The Illusion of Choice: 16 ½ psychological biases that influence what we buy

As an entrepreneur, it can be extremely challenging to balance all of my responsibilities while giving due attention to marketing. My current mentor has convinced me that it is actually the most important thing to do. So, putting Richard Sutton's well-demonstrated insight to work in my marketing will help me make it really count!

I loved Richard’s first book The Choice Factory. It’s required reading in my marketing capstone class.This outstanding new book is the perfect follow up to his behavioral science & branding classic as he teaches 16.5 psychological biases that influence buying.Every day people make hundreds of choices. We know that. These choices might appear to be freely made, but psychologists have shown that subtle changes in the way products are positioned, promoted and marketed can radically alter how customers behave.The Illusion of Choice identifies the 16½ most important psychological biases that everyone in business needs to be aware of today – and shows how any business can take advantage of these quirks to win customers, retain customers and sell more.Like The Choice Factory, this book draws on academic research, previous ad campaigns and his own original field studies to create a fascinating and highly practical guide that focuses on the point where marketing meets the mind of the customer.You’ll learn to take advantage of the peak end rule, the power of precision, the wisdom of wit – and much, much more.A must for all serious marketers looking to be more effective in their work.

This is a well-researched and clearly-communicated book designed for marketers and business owners. All readers will find the behavioral science interesting. The book is good for consumers, too, because the reader can consider his or her own purchasing habits while learning about these methods and reading about the studies referenced.

I have decided to purchase another book from this author. It is a fun, interesting read that takes off on other books, like “Influence””Social Cognition”, “Consumer Behavior”. At a time in history, where the skills and abilities of persuasive speakers, writers and marketers seem to be challenged by ChatGPT and the like, this book helps remind us that AI has a long way to go and that the “human touch”, takes into account the many biases, motivations and foibles that human beings have. Just a very nice way to enjoy a book that doesn’t mention any of today’s jargon, buzzwords or AI.

I've had a 30 year career in marketing with some well known brands. This is a fantastic book I'd highly recommend to anyone with a career in marketing, product design, human resources, entrepreneurship, or who aspires to have one. It's a fun, fast, fascinating read with well documented research to support each behavioral science principle he discusses.

It’s been 1 week and so far 10 chapters in and plenty of great takeaways. Rich’s writing style makes it easy to understand each bias with previous examples and action steps of how to use them. We forget that studies have been done and published - this makes it clear that behavior can be changed by applying 80/20 principles. Illusions and choice factory are great to have on hand. Thanks Rich!

This is a thoughtful book that makes behavioral science easy to understand from a marketing perspective. Shotton writes about 16 1/2 psychological biases that marketers can use to influence buyer behavior. Adding any one of these biases into your marketing can help make your messaging that much more compelling.

reading this book with a coworker as it applied to direct response marketing - as the book calls out, sometimes marketing doesn't have to be 'high brow', the basic tactics can be really what tip the scale for consumers.

I really enjoyed this book from start to finish.Read it in a couple of days and found the findings really thought provoking and can see with further effort that they can be implemented and will improve my businesses marketing.I think this book would be interesting not only to marketers and business owners, but anyone with an interest in human behavioural sciences.Great book. Have ordered the choice factory and two other books from the recommendations at the back.

Actionable behavioral sciences. Put Behavioral Sciences to work with easy to understand fundamentals!

A real page turner and a must for anyone in the game of influence. I can’t wait to read Choice factory next!

Richard Shotton has done it again. His first book, 'The Choice Factory' demystified the vaunted but often misunderstood field of behavioural science and how it could be applied to marketing challenges. This new tome goes one further by setting out very easy steps to follow to help optimise efforts of marketing teams everywhere. Taking robust and well-tested ideas from psychology is something all marketers will benefit from.

I couldn't recommend this book enough for anyone working within the marketing industry. Not only does it give you a bunch of insights into the sometimes weird ways that humans behave that can then directly be applied to your own marketing and advertising initiatives, it also made me better understand some of my own behaviours and those of people around me.