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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

My lifelong fascination is why people do the things they do and the difference between price and value.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

Consumers can be hugely impressed by trivial details while ignoring significant investments made in other areas.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

Most people try to win arguments rather than solve problems, leading to different mental processes in understanding business and economics.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

Our education system encourages people to find the single right answer, which is different from effective problem-solving.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

Rationality is often overvalued compared to other human faculties like intuition and creativity, which can be more effective in many situations.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

In the real world, the opposite of a good idea can also be another good idea, and sometimes the best solution involves contradictory approaches.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

To encourage more walking, we might need to provide more benches alongside campaigning for better pedestrian access.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

When a product isn't selling well, raising the price can sometimes lead to increased demand, as it may create a perception of higher value.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

Humans often make instinctive decisions and then rationalize them, rather than making decisions based on objective reasoning.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

Anecdotal evidence can be more valuable than big data, as it often highlights important insights that data alone may miss.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

The Titanic had big data suggesting no icebergs were present, but anecdotal evidence of an iceberg was crucial and ultimately more reliable.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

Economists often label irrational behavior when it contradicts their theories, while physicists cannot blame their experiments on external factors.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

We haven't evolved to perceive the world objectively; our perceptions are often predictions based on past experiences.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

The way we perceive prices and value is highly contextual and can vary significantly based on comparison and expectations.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

Changing the context in which decisions are made can be more effective than trying to change people's minds directly.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

James Watt successfully marketed steam engines by focusing on how many horses could be eliminated, creating the concept of horsepower.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

Businesses often succeed not by offering something different, but by changing the context in which purchase decisions are made.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

The introduction of video conferencing has created a spot market for human talent, allowing easier access to expertise, but if you cancel a Zoom call, people are just mildly inconvenienced, whereas if someone travels to meet you and you cancel last minute, they're understandably really upset. The psychological nature of these situations is totally different, and people often compare Zoom meetings to face-to-face meetings, forgetting that many of these meetings wouldn't have happened at all in reality.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

When we judge something, we often look for a frame of comparison, leading to nonsensical conclusions. For example, Olympic swimmers seem fast compared to each other, but in reality, they could be outpaced by a retired person walking at a brisk pace.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

AI could provide huge opportunities for innovators not just by being clever with text, but by creating entirely new interfaces that simplify information access, like an airline where you can request information via a call and receive it instantly via email.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

To address range anxiety in electric cars, we can either increase the range or decrease the anxiety. One way to reduce anxiety is to simplify battery charge displays, showing just '60% plus' instead of exact percentages when above 60%.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

Electric car charging stations are often hidden in obscure locations, leading to infrastructure anxiety. Making chargers more visible and accessible could alleviate this issue.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

Instead of making trains faster, we should focus on making the train journey more enjoyable. If Disney had designed Highspeed 2, they would have prioritized the experience over speed.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

People buy experiences, not just goods. To consumers, price is a feeling, not just a number. This distinction is crucial for marketers to understand.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

The way we perceive discounts can be influenced by how they are presented. A discount exclusive to loyalty program members is perceived as more valuable than a general discount available to everyone.

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Rory Sutherland

04/10/25

@ EPIC Conjoint

The worst mistake in marketing is assuming that a discount doesn't need promotion. How a discount is presented can significantly affect its perceived value and effectiveness.

Rory Sutherland – How human behaviour regularly defies logic and supporting data

Takeaways