Octopus Energy went from £0 in revenue to £12 billion in 10 years. 

Today, on Nudge, I chat with their first employee Pete Miller, who explains how they used nudges to grow. 

Hear why they: 

1) Encourage customers to spin a wheel to reward metre readings. 

2) Give away free electricity at 4pm. 

3) Play you the number one song from the year you turned 14. 

4) And gave away 40,000 electric blankets during an energy crisis.

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Today’s sources: 

Shampanier, K., Mazar, N., & Ariely, D. (2007). Zero as a special price: The true value of free products. Marketing Science, 26(6), 742–757.

Shen, L., Fishbach, A., & Hsee, C. K. (2015). The motivating-uncertainty effect: Uncertainty increases resource investment in the process of reward pursuit. Journal of Consumer Research, 41(5), 1301–1315

Skinner, B. F. (1938). The behavior of organisms: An experimental analysis. Appleton-Century-Crofts.

The Enhanced Games, hosted in Las Vegas last Saturday, made a bold claim.

With the use of performance-enhancing drugs, enhanced athletes would break not just personal records but world records. 

And the end goal? To sell those same drugs to the masses. 

It’s arguably the biggest marketing stunt of the year so far, and today on Nudge I reveal the psychology behind it. 

Did the Enhanced Games succeed? Listen to find out. 

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Today’s sources 

Landy, D., & Sigall, H. (1974). Beauty is talent: Task evaluation as a function of the performer's physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29(3), 299–304.

Miller, A. G. (1970). Role of physical attractiveness in impression formation. Psychonomic Science, 19(4), 241–242.

Mujika, I., & Burke, L. M. (2019). Swimming fast when it counts: A 7-year analysis of Olympic and World Championships performance. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance.

Nicolau, J. L., Mellinas, J. P., & Martín-Fuentes, E. (2020). The halo effect: A longitudinal approach. Annals of Tourism Research, 83, 102938.

Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). The halo effect: Evidence for unconscious alteration of judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35(4), 250–256.

In this episode, I chat to Pete Miller, part of the co-founding team at Octopus Energy, who helped design one of the most recognisable new logos in Britain. 

Hear how Octopus used two proven psychological principles to build a logo people remember (and why those same principles are being ignored by most of the industry).

You'll learn:

- Why a distinct logo made one beer taste 5% better

- How a 1933 German study explains why Octopus stands out

- Why brands from McDonald's to KFC give their logos human faces

- And what happened when researchers asked people to turn off a robot 

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Read Aaron’s book: ⁠https://thethingswelove.com/⁠

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Today’s sources: 

Bartneck, C., Van Der Hoek, M., Mubin, O., & Al Mahmud, A. (2007). "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do!": Switching off a robot. Proceedings of the 2nd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, 217–222.

Shotton, R. (2017). The choice factory: 25 behavioural biases that influence what we buy. Harriman House.

Shotton, R. (2023). The illusion of choice: 16½ psychological biases that influence what we buy. Harriman House.

Von Restorff, H. (1933). Über die Wirkung von Bereichsbildung im Spurenfeld. Psychologische Forschung, 18, 299–342.

In Singapore, a group of runners charge 50p per kilometre to run on strangers' Strava accounts. 

That's how far people will go to look fit online. 

This episode explains the psychology behind why being watched changes everything.

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Owain’s book: https://amzn.to/4smVtrP 

Owain’s company CogCo: https://cogco.co/ 

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Today’s sources: 

Gerber, A. S., Green, D. P., & Larimer, C. W. (2008). Social pressure and voter turnout: Evidence from a large-scale field experiment. American Political Science Review, 102(1), 33–48.

Sallis, A., Harper, H., & Sanders, M. (2018). Effect of persuasive messages on National Health Service organ donor registrations: A pragmatic quasi-randomised controlled trial with one million UK road taxpayers. Trials, 19, 513.

Service, O., & Gallagher, R. (2017). Think small: The surprisingly simple ways to reach big goals. Michael O'Mara Books.
Triplett, N. (1898). The dynamogenic factors in pacemaking and competition. American Journal of Psychology, 9, 507–533.

Professor Richard Wiseman searched for the world’s funniest joke. 

He found it. 

But it wasn’t what he expected. 

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Richard’s book Quirkology: https://amzn.to/4shYOJ6 

Richard’s book 59 Seconds: https://amzn.to/3Pf9pWI 

Richard’s SubStack: https://richardwiseman.substack.com/ 

Join 11,934 readers of the Nudge Newsletter: https://www.nudgepodcast.com/mailing-list

Unlock the Nudge Vaults: https://www.nudgepodcast.com/vaults

Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phill-agnew/ 

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Today’s sources: 

Asch, S. E. (1955). Opinions and social pressure. Scientific American, 193(5), 31–35.

Crum, A. J., & Langer, E. J. (2007). Mind-set matters: Exercise and the placebo effect. Psychological Science, 18, 165–171.

Wiseman, R. (2009). 59 seconds: Think a little, change a lot. Knopf.

Wolff, H. A., Smith, C. E., & Murray, H. A. (1934). The psychology of humor: I. A study of responses to race-disparagement jokes. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 28, 345–365.

Three thousand years ago, Odysseus tied himself to a mast to resist the Sirens. 

He didn't trust his willpower, so he removed the choice entirely. 

Today, Owain Service, co-founder of the Behavioural Insights Team and CEO at CogCo, calls that a commitment device. 

And modern evidence shows it works for everything from saving money to staying married.

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Owain’s book: https://amzn.to/4smVtrP 

Owain’s company CogCo: https://cogco.co/ 

Unlock the Nudge Vaults: ⁠https://www.nudgepodcast.com/vaults⁠

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Today’s sources: 

Asch, S. E. (1951). Effects of group pressure upon the modification and distortion of judgment. In H. Guetzkow (Ed.), Groups, leadership and men (pp. 177–190). Carnegie Press.

Ashraf, N., Karlan, D., & Yin, W. (2006). Tying Odysseus to the mast: Evidence from a commitment savings product in the Philippines. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 121(2), 635–672.

Behavioural Insights Team. (2013). New BIT trial results: helping people back into work. https://www.bi.team/blogs/new-bit-trial-results-helping-people-back-into-work/

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Brandstätter, V. (1997). Implementation intentions and effective goal pursuit. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(1), 186–199.

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69–119.

Milkman, K. (2021). How to change: The science of getting from where you are to where you want to be. Portfolio/Penguin.

Olson, R. (2014, October 10). What makes for a stable marriage. http://www.randalolson.com/2014/10/10/what-makes-for-a-stable-marriage/

Read, D., Loewenstein, G., & Kalyanaraman, S. (1999). Mixing virtue and vice: Combining the immediacy effect and the diversification heuristic. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 12(4), 257–273.

Service, O., & Gallagher, R. (2017). Think small: The surprisingly simple ways to reach big goals. Michael O'Mara Books.

Warning, you’ll hear a lie in this episode. 

You won’t be told it's a lie. 

And 29% of those who listen probably won’t spot the lie. But if you listen till the end, you’ll learn the proven tips to spot lies like these. 

Today on Nudge, Professor Richard Wiseman explains: 

1) How to spot a liar 

2) What makes someone lucky 

3) If we’re really separated by six connections 

4) And why enlarged pupils made men buy books

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Richard’s book Quirkology: https://amzn.to/4shYOJ6 

Richard’s book 59 Seconds: https://amzn.to/3Pf9pWI 

Richard’s SubStack: https://richardwiseman.substack.com/ 

Join 11,934 readers of the Nudge Newsletter: https://www.nudgepodcast.com/mailing-list

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Today’s sources: 

DePaulo, B. M., & Morris, W. L. (2004). Discerning lies from truths: Behavioural cues to deception and the indirect pathway of intuition. In P. A. Granhag & L. A. Strömwall (Eds.), The detection of deception in forensic contexts (pp. 15–40). Cambridge University Press.

The Global Deception Research Team. (2006). A world of lies. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37(1), 60–74.

Milgram, S. (1967). The small-world problem. Psychology Today, 1, 61–67.

Stewart, J. E., II. (1980). Defendant’s attractiveness as a factor in the outcome of criminal trials: An observational study. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 10(4), 348–361.

Vrij, A. (2000). Detecting lies and deceit: The psychology of lying and the implications for professional practice. John Wiley & Sons.

Wiseman, R. (1995). The Megalab truth test. Nature, 373, 391.

Wiseman, R. (2003, June 4). It really is a small world that we live in. The Daily Telegraph, p. 16.

There's a pill on Amazon called Fukitol. 

It contains nothing. And yet people buy it, swear by it, and give it five stars. 

Today, Nir Eyal explains the remarkable science behind why placebos work.

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Listen to the bonus episode: https://nudge.kit.com/40414a1b44

Nir’s book Beyond Belief: geni.us/beyondbelief

Nir’s free belief change guide: nirandfar.com/belief-change

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Today’s sources: 

Ariel, G., & Saville, W. (1972). Anabolic steroids: The physiological effects of placebos. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 4(2), 124–126.

Branthwaite, A., & Cooper, P. (1981). Analgesic effects of branding in treatment of headaches. British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Ed.), 282(6276), 1576–1578.

Dawkins, L., Shahzad, F. Z., Ahmed, S. S., & Edmonds, C. J. (2011). Expectation of having consumed caffeine can improve performance and mood. Appetite, 57(3), 597–600.

Draganich, C., & Erdal, K. (2014). Placebo sleep affects cognitive functioning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(3), 857–864.

Kaptchuk, T. J. (2018). Open-label placebo: Reflections on a research agenda. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 61(3), 311–334.

Lee, C., Linkenauger, S. A., Bakdash, J. Z., Joy-Gaba, J. A., & Profitt, D. R. (2011). Putting like a pro: The role of positive contagion in golf performance and perception. PLoS One, 6(10), e26016.

Plassmann, H., O'Doherty, J., Shiv, B., & Rangel, A. (2008). Marketing actions can modulate neural representations of experienced pleasantness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(3), 1050–1054.

Richter, C. P. (1957). On the phenomenon of sudden death in animals and man. Psychosomatic Medicine, 19(3), 191–198.

Rozenkrantz, L., Mayo, A. E., Ilan, T., Hart, Y., Noy, L., & Alon, U. (2017). Placebo can enhance creativity. PLoS One, 12, e0182466.

Wager, T. D., Rilling, J. K., Smith, E. E., Sokolik, A., Casey, K. L., Davidson, R. J., et al. (2004). Placebo-induced changes in fMRI in the anticipation and experience of pain. Science, 303(5661), 1162–1167.

Professor Richard Wiseman wanted to discover the world’s #1 chat-up line. 

But in doing so, he discovered several secrets behind human psychology. 

On today’s Nudge he covers: 

1) Why councils shouldn’t pay people to sweep litter 

2) How a saleswoman doubled her likeability 

3) The picture Richard uses to never lose his wallet 

4) And the #1 chat-up line 

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Richard’s book Quirkology: https://amzn.to/4shYOJ6 

Richard’s book 59 Seconds: https://amzn.to/3Pf9pWI 

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Aronson, E., Willerman, B., & Floyd, J. (1966). The effect of a pratfall on increasing interpersonal attractiveness. Psychonomic Science, 4, 227–228.

Hornstein, H. A., Fisch, E., & Holmes, M. (1968). Influence of a model’s feeling about his behavior and his relevance as a comparison on other observers’ helping behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 10(3), 222–226.

Kohn, A. (1993). Punished by rewards: The trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, A’s, praise, and other bribes. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Lepper, M. R., Greene, D., & Nisbett, R. E. (1973). Undermining children’s intrinsic interest with extrinsic reward: A test of the “overjustification” hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28, 129–137.

I get a lot of questions about pricing. 

Should I start with our most expensive item first?

Should I use precise prices instead of rounded ones when negotiating?

Should I name competitors when comparing prices?

Today, with pricing expert Dr Markus Husemann-Kopetzky we work through eight different psychological pricing tips in just 24 minutes.

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Listen to the bonus episode: https://nudge.kit.com/a737588e58 

Markus’ book: https://amzn.to/46Hetcg 

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Today’s sources:

Bertini, M., & Wathieu, L. (2008). Research note—Attention arousal through price partitioning. Marketing Science, 27(2), 236–246.

Bolton, L. E., Warlop, L., & Alba, J. W. (2003). Consumer perceptions of price (un)fairness. Journal of Consumer Research, 29(4), 474–491.

Janiszewski, C., & Uy, D. (2008). Precision of the anchor influences the amount of adjustment. Psychological Science, 19(2), 121–127.

Kim, H. M., & Kramer, T. (2006). The moderating effects of need for cognition and cognitive effort on responses to multi‐dimensional prices. Journal of Marketing Research.

Krishnan, B. C., Biswas, A., & Netemeyer, R. G. (2006). Semantic cues in reference price advertisements: The moderating role of cue concreteness. Journal of Retailing, 82(2), 95–104.

Suk, K., Lee, J., & Lichtenstein, D. R. (2012). The influence of price presentation order on consumer choice. Journal of Marketing Research, 49(5), 708–717.

Thomas, M., Simon, D. H., & Kadiyali, V. (2010). The price precision effect: Evidence from laboratory and market data. Marketing Science, 29(1), 175–190.

Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1974). Judgment under uncertainty: Heuristics and biases. Science, 185(4157), 1124–1131.

Wansink, B., Kent, R. J., & Hoch, S. J. (1998). An anchoring and adjustment model of purchase quantity decisions. Journal of Marketing Research, 35(1), 71–81.

Most restaurants have a major problem. 

Paying the bill. 

Give the bill too early, and the customer feels rushed. Too late, and they feel ignored. 

To solve this problem (and many more), Will Guidara turned to behavioural science. 

And his solution helped his restaurant become the world’s best.

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Listen to the bonus episode: ⁠https://nudge.kit.com/aeea58886f⁠ 

Will’s book Unreasonable Hospitality: ⁠https://amzn.to/4tPrMl8⁠ 

Will’s new book The Field Guide: ⁠https://amzn.to/3Orq1u0⁠ 

Will’s newsletter, Pre-Meal: ⁠https://www.unreasonablehospitality.com/premeal⁠

Unlock the Nudge Vaults: ⁠https://www.nudgepodcast.com/vaults⁠

Join 10,728 readers of my newsletter: ⁠https://www.nudgepodcast.com/mailing-list ⁠

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Today’s sources:

Kahneman, D., Fredrickson, B. L., Schreiber, C. A., & Redelmeier, D. A. (1993). When more pain is preferred to less: Adding a better end. Psychological Science, 4(6), 401–405. 

Shotton, R. (2023). The illusion of choice: 16½ psychological biases that influence what we buy. Harriman House.

Strohmetz, D. B., Rind, B., Fisher, R., & Lynn, M. (2002). Sweetening the till: The use of candy to increase restaurant tipping. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32(2), 300–309.