In this episode, I sit down with Phill Agnew, host of Nudge—the UK's #1 marketing podcast—to explore the psychology behind what actually makes people click, buy, and engage. Phill spent over a decade in product marketing at Brandwatch, Hotjar, and Buffer before going full-time on his podcast in 2024. What makes this conversation special is Phill's obsession with behavioral science: he doesn't just talk about psychological principles, he tests them—sometimes by walking 61 kilometers to a conference or running his own replication studies to debunk priming myths.
Throughout our conversation, Phill breaks down the heuristics that marketers consistently underestimate or misuse: loss aversion, social proof, the effort heuristic, and specificity. He explains why showing effort matters more than ever in the age of AI, how to use social proof beyond grayscale logos, and why the most powerful marketing messages are the ones that match the exact language your customers already use.
One of Phill's biggest insights: losses feel twice as painful as equivalent gains. Research shows that when insulation companies told homeowners "you're losing 75 cents every day" instead of "you could save 75 cents a day," conversions doubled. Amazon uses this when you try to cancel Prime—they don't list benefits, they tell you exactly what you'll lose in savings.
Phill also shares how Buffer replaced generic logo carousels with specific customer outcomes like "I grew my LinkedIn following by 200%" and saw significant conversion improvements. He breaks down Cialdini's research showing that telling hotel guests "people in this specific room reuse their towels" was more effective than "most people in this hotel reuse their towels"—even though fewer people had stayed in that room. Specificity creates believability.