Insights
Notes on offers, distribution and why people buy.
Essays on marketing, running a business, sales, technology and the psychology underneath all of them — by Manish Kumar Singh.
Consumer psychology
Why more options sometimes mean fewer sales
A famous jam study said extra choices kill sales. Later, larger studies found that's true only under specific, nameable conditions.
4 min read
Marketing
Why most A/B tests at a small company can't prove what they promise
A standard sample-size formula, laid out in one testing platform's own field notes, shows why a typical landing page needs months, not weeks, to detect a real lift.
5 min read
Technology
How Apple's tracking prompt changed what it costs to find a customer
Apple's 2021 consent prompt let iPhone owners block ad tracking. Small advertisers, not the platforms, absorbed most of the resulting cost.
4 min read
Sales
How much of a B2B deal closes before a seller ever gets a call
Gartner's buyer surveys show a growing majority of B2B purchases move forward with little or no seller contact, and pinpoint exactly where reps still get pulled in.
5 min read
Running a business
How often new businesses survive, according to the government's own data
Federal data that tracks real business establishments year by year shows a different survival curve than the one usually quoted, and industry matters more than age.
6 min read
Consumer psychology
Why a bad third option can decide which of two you buy
A weak option added to a choice of two rarely gets picked itself, but researchers have repeatedly shown it can decide which of the other two wins.
4 min read
Marketing
Why prices that end in .99 change what people are willing to pay
Charm pricing exploits a measurable bias in how people read numbers, but the same bias can make a premium price look cheap.
5 min read
A weekly letter on how people think, buy and work
One idea every Tuesday on psychology, marketing, sales, productivity and technology, with one thing to try that week.
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