Marketing Psychology with Fexingo: Behavioral Triggers, Persuasion, and Consumer Behavior

In this episode of Marketing Psychology, Lucas and Luna explore the IKEA effect — why consumers place a higher value on products they have partially assembled or created themselves. Using real-world examples like Build-A-Bear and IKEA's own Billy bookcase, they unpack the psychological drivers behind this bias: effort justification, ownership, and competence signaling. The discussion also touches...

This episode of Marketing Psychology with Fexingo explores the Choice Overload Effect, a well-researched psychological phenomenon where too many options lead to decision paralysis and lower satisfaction. Through the lens of a specific real-world case—a 2023 jam study by Columbia researchers that showed consumers were 10 times more likely to buy when presented with 6 jams versus 24—Lucas and Luna u...

Lucas and Luna unpack the curiosity gap — the psychological trigger that makes clickbait work. They break down why titles like 'The reason your brain clicks' pull us in, how Gapminder uses it in data storytelling, and why marketers who overuse it lose audience trust. Learn the difference between a tease and a promise, and how to close the gap without burning your reader. #CuriosityGap #MarketingPs...

In this episode of Marketing Psychology with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna unpack the Zeigarnik Effect—why unfinished tasks, open loops, and cliffhangers command our attention more than completed ones. They trace the psychology back to Soviet psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik's 1927 observation that waiters remembered unpaid orders better than paid ones. Then they bring it into modern marketing: how Netflix...

In this episode of Marketing Psychology, Lucas and Luna explore the contrast principle—the cognitive bias that makes us judge options based on what came before. Using a real-world example from a luxury watch brand, they show how marketers use contrast to anchor prices, frame deals, and nudge decisions. You'll learn why a $5,000 watch seems reasonable after a $10,000 one, and how the same tactic sh...

Why do we demand more to sell something than we'd pay to buy it? In this episode, Lucas and Luna break down the endowment effect — the behavioral bias that makes ownership inflate perceived value. Using real-world examples like the classic mug experiment, eBay pricing strategies, and how car dealerships exploit test drives, they explain why this bias matters for marketers. They also discuss how fr...

This episode of Marketing Psychology with Fexingo explores the anchoring effect — the cognitive bias that makes the first number you see influence every subsequent decision. Lucas and Luna break down how a simple $399 price tag on a Williams-Sonoma bread maker changed the entire home appliance market, why luxury brands show you the $12,000 handbag first, and how retailers use 'was $80, now $40' si...

Why does a $50 bottle of wine feel reasonable at one restaurant but outrageous at another? In this episode of Marketing Psychology, Lucas and Luna unpack the comparison trap — the cognitive bias that makes consumers evaluate prices and products relative to what's nearby, not against absolute value. They examine how a luxury watch brand used a deliberately overpriced 'decoy' model to push customers...

In Episode 46 of Marketing Psychology with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna break down the scarcity principle — why limited availability makes products more desirable. They explore the 1975 classic study by Worchel, Lee, and Adewole, where consumers valued cookies more from a nearly empty jar than a full one. They discuss how Booking.com uses real-time scarcity cues like 'Only 2 rooms left' to nudge bookin...

This episode of Marketing Psychology with Fexingo explores the aesthetic-usability effect — the powerful cognitive bias that makes users perceive attractive products as easier to use, even when they aren't. Lucas and Luna dissect two foundational studies: Masaaki Kurosu and Kaori Kashimura's 1995 ATM study in Japan, which found that aesthetic appeal predicted perceived usability better than actual...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna unpack the decoy effect — a pricing strategy that nudges you toward a specific choice by making one option seem ridiculous. Using popcorn pricing at movie theaters, subscription plans from The Economist, and a famous experiment by Dan Ariely, they show how adding a decoy option changes what you choose. Lucas explains the math: when you add a $13 digital-only subscri...

In this episode of Marketing Psychology with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore the reciprocity principle in marketing, using the example of Dropbox's free storage offer that boosted sign-ups by 60 percent. They discuss how giving something valuable first creates a psychological obligation to give back, and why this works better than aggressive selling. The hosts also touch on how brands like HubSpot...

Episode 42 of Marketing Psychology with Fexingo uncovers the hidden power of processing fluency — why your brain prefers information that's easy to digest, and how brands like Apple and TurboTax use simplicity, symmetry, and familiarity to boost conversions. Lucas and Luna break down a 2011 University of Michigan study showing that stocks with pronounceable ticker symbols outperformed unpronouncea...

Why do we keep buying from the same brands even when cheaper or better options exist? This episode of Marketing Psychology with Fexingo unpacks the Consistency Principle — the psychological drive to align future actions with past commitments. Lucas and Luna walk through a real-world example: how a small coffee shop chain used a simple punch-card program to turn casual customers into loyal regulars...

Episode 40 of Marketing Psychology explores the principle of social proof — why humans look to others when making choices, and how brands like Amazon, Booking.com, and Duolingo use it to drive behavior. Lucas and Luna discuss Robert Cialdini's research, including the 1979 canned laughter study, and break down real-world examples: Amazon's 'X people bought this' feature, Duolingo's competitive stre...

In this episode of Marketing Psychology, Lucas and Luna explore the Pratfall Effect — the counterintuitive finding that admitting a small flaw can make a brand more trustworthy and human. They trace the 1966 experiment by Elliot Aronson, where a competent person who spilled coffee was rated higher than a flawless one, and apply it to modern marketing. Lucas uses Domino's Pizza's 2009 'Pizza Turnar...

Episode 38 of Marketing Psychology breaks down the Halo Effect — the cognitive bias where one positive attribute of a product or brand influences your overall perception of everything else about it. Lucas and Luna explore how Apple leveraged the iPod's sleek design to make consumers believe its computers were equally innovative, citing specific sales data from 2004 to 2006. They also dissect a 201...

Episode 37 of Marketing Psychology with Fexingo unpacks the framing effect—how the way a choice is presented changes what we decide. Lucas and Luna walk through the classic Asian disease problem by Tversky and Kahneman, then apply it to real-world marketing. They look at how a grocery chain framed ground beef as 95% lean vs. 5% fat, and how a SaaS company reframed a $100/month subscription as less...

In this episode of Marketing Psychology with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore the labelling effect: how the words we use to describe consumers can actually change their behavior. They unpack a landmark 1975 study where children labelled as 'good at arithmetic' performed better, and connect it to modern marketing tactics like 'sustainable shopper' tags on e-commerce sites. The hosts discuss how bran...

Episode 35 of Marketing Psychology with Fexingo unpacks the Peak-End Rule: the psychological shortcut that makes us judge experiences not by their total quality, but by the peak moment and the ending. Hosts Lucas and Luna walk through real-world examples from a 2026 study on coffee shop experiences, showing how a single great taste or a warm goodbye can outweigh minutes of mediocrity. They explore...

In this episode of Marketing Psychology, Lucas and Luna explore the Mere Exposure Effect, a psychological principle where repeated exposure to something increases our liking of it. They break down how brands like Coca-Cola, McDonald's, and Spotify use this effect to build trust and familiarity. Using the example of Coca-Cola's 'Hilltop' commercial and the mere-exposure study by Robert Zajonc, they...

Ever wondered why that IKEA Billy bookcase you assembled yourself feels more valuable than a pre-built one from a furniture store? In this episode, Lucas and Luna unpack the IKEA Effect — a cognitive bias where people place disproportionately high value on products they partially created. They trace the bias back to a 2011 study by Michael Norton, Daniel Mochon, and Dan Ariely at Harvard, who foun...

What if a single design element could make your ad 40% more memorable without increasing spend? That's the promise of the Von Restorff effect: a quirk of memory that causes standout items to be recalled far better than their surroundings. In this episode of Marketing Psychology with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore how brands like Cadbury, Apple, and a small insurance startup used isolation and con...

Lucas and Luna explore the Ben Franklin Effect — the counterintuitive psychological principle that doing a favour for someone makes you like them more, not less. They trace its origin to a 1700s political rivalry and show how modern brands from IKEA to Duolingo use the same mechanism to turn casual users into loyal advocates. Learn why asking customers for small commitments can be more powerful th...

In episode 30 of Marketing Psychology, Lucas and Luna explore the Zeigarnik Effect, the psychological principle that unfinished tasks stick in our memory better than completed ones. They trace its origin to a 1920s Berlin dinner party where a Russian psychologist noticed waiters could remember complex orders only until the bill was paid. The hosts reveal how streaming services like Netflix use cli...