1.5 Minutes on Influence: Boost Personal Happiness and Perfect Your Pricing

1.5 Minutes on Influence: How To Boost Your Happiness and Perfect Your Pricing

Happy 1,5 Minutes on Influence!

Here is your weekly dose of applying the psychology of influence
to positively impact choices and behaviours.

Looking forward to sharing insights with you!

Warm regards,

Astrid

1 MINUTE:
INSIGHT OF THE WEEK

For a few years now, I’ve been fascinated by the idea that behavioural psychology might hold the key to something most of us crave: more happiness.

Although, I have to admit I recently came across a rather disheartening quote: “Trying to be happier is as futile as trying to be taller.”

But I chose to ignore that and dig a bit deeper into what science has to say on the matter. I found some interesting insights that I’d like to share with you today.

After doing my research, I actually think the quote is partly right, but it’s because of the word “be.” You can’t just suddenly “be” happy. It’s like when you’re about to give an important presentation, feeling terribly nervous, and someone tells you, “Just don’t be nervous.” If only life were that simple!

So, are we lost in our endless search for happiness? Because let’s face it, we are looking for it. I typed “happiness” into the book section of Amazon.com and found over 60,000 self-help books on the topic.

The answer is no, we’re not lost. We just have to do more than read a book and wish for happiness.

We need to engage in behaviours that boost our baseline happiness. To understand which behaviours might help, I found some valuable research.

A quick disclaimer: I don’t claim to have all the answers on how to increase your happiness. There’s no one-size-fits-all-in-every-situation solution. But I do believe in experimenting with what research suggests to see what works for me (or not).

One behaviour I’ve been practising lately that has really boosted my mood is savouring.

What is savouring?

In behavioural psychology, savouring means intentionally making good experiences last longer and feel more intense. It involves paying close attention to and enjoying the present moment or a happy memory to fully feel joy, contentment, or satisfaction.

To make it practical, try to really savour an experience, memory, or something you’re seeing or hearing every day. For instance, I like to closely examine all the details in architecture or something in nature. Spend some time on it, at least five minutes. Let it really sink in. Try doing this for a week or two and see how it affects your mood.

Give it a go, and you might find that it makes a difference in how you feel.

Are you a forward-thinker?

We have translated the most groundbreaking insights from the psychology of influence into practical methods and tools. We teach these in our two-day Behavioural Design Fundamentals Course. You can download the brochure here NL and UK. The training is available in both Dutch and English, and can be tailored for teams. But it is especially suited for forward-thinkers.

0,5 MINUTE:
NOT TO BE MISSED THIS WEEK

If The Price Is Right..

In this week’s 0.5 minute, I want to talk about pricing. As you can imagine, pricing can be a powerful driver for sustainable growth without needing to change your product or service.

The key insight for optimising your pricing is understanding your customers’ willingness to pay. There are many ways to conduct a pricing study, but I came across the Van Westendorp method, which I love for its simplicity. It involves asking your potential customers four questions:

1. At what price would you start to question this product’s quality because it’s too low?
2. At what price does this product seem like a bargain?
3. At what price does this product feel expensive but not too expensive?
4. At what price is this product too expensive?

One criticism of this method is that it suffers from hypothetical bias. This means people might say they’ll do something in a survey, but in real life, they might not actually do it. Simply put, when you ask these questions, potential buyers don’t have anything at stake—they don’t actually have to spend money on your product.

However, considering that over 50% of companies have never even done one pricing study, this represents a significant growth opportunity that many are missing out on. And as you know: In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

Until next week,
Astrid Groenewegen

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