You may have seen it a hundred times.

It’s part of the cultural landscape. A meme, even.

But what does a TV test pattern actually mean?

I’d never even thought about this until I saw it revealed.

What looked random to me is actually intentional. Nearly every pixel in that pattern has meaning. 

It’s purposeful. Predictable. Testable.

Now imagine having that same discovery about behaviour.

The hardest thing about doing standup a few years ago wasn’t coming up with ideas.

It wasn’t having an audience.

It was having to be precise about words.

To build and land a joke you need to be very careful about what you say, when.

To get the best result, you need to understand what works and what doesn’t.

It’s no different at work.

While we’re usually chasing a sale rather than a laugh, being precise about what we say, when, can dramatically change the...

Are we eating the wrong part of the cauliflower?

Hang on, what?

There’s a wrong part of the cauliflower?

A great way to get attention is with a surprising or provocative question, which is exactly what zero-waste chef Vojtech Vegh did in his post about cauliflower.

He goes on to explain that there are….

“4 parts of a cauliflower.

One of those parts is more nutritious than the others.

And it’s not the florets.”

When communicating with your audience,...

Digital marketer Neil Patel shared stats on which length of email got the highest clicks. 

In his words, the “perfect length for email conversions”.

• The best length? 100-249 (>3.5% clicks)
• The worst? 500+ (<1%)

We can surmise that not saying much and forcing people to click through means more of them will.

Explaining yourself more fully reduces their interest in clicking.

Or does it?

Without knowing WHAT these emails communicated and WHAT the call-to-action...

Spend $70 to get $13,000. Sounds good, right?

But that’s not what property owners are doing.

In a study of the real estate market, researchers compared results from sellers who ran a free listing on a property site to those who upgraded to a paid listing for $70.

Overwhelmingly, 95% of sellers preferred the free listing service.

However:

“the premium service increased the chance of selling the property by 10% to 18% daily, increased the number of clicks on the ad by 117% to...

Imagine speeding down a motorway in Germany, doing speeds that would put you in jail in Australia.

It’s time for a rest stop, so you pull into a petrol station to refuel and use the toilets.

On your way out of the bathroom, you diligently leave some money as thanks, vowing once you’re back in your home country to never take a free toilet for granted again. 

So, what influenced you to pay? If no one was standing witness, why bother?

It was because you’re an honest...

How to hold someone's attention?

We keep hearing attention spans are getting smaller.

So in an email, presentation or social media post, how do you keep them curious long enough to do what you want them to do?

The good news is that people will stay interested if they stay curious, and to do that, there are four ingredients.

It needs to be something they don't already know but WANT to know.

And…

They need to be certain they'll get an answer but UNCERTAIN about what the answer...

Rounded buttons generate between 17-55% more clicks than angular buttons.

Across 8 experiments, researchers found buttons with curved or rounded edges generated significantly higher clicks than sharp edges.

Why? Rounded shapes are associated with friendliness and harmony, where sharp edges signify threats and strength.

To reduce your customer's fear of proceeding, round your buttons.

And for more ways to improve the results you get in your business, Just Do This.

Ref:...

“Introverts don’t feel they know enough about a subject until they know almost everything.”

This hit me between the eyes. 

Marti Olsen Laney, author of The Introvert Advantage, goes on to explain that introverts:

• Can imagine the vastness of any subject;
• Have experienced brain-lock, so over prepare to avoid going blank, and
• Don’t talk about what they are thinking, so don’t receive feedback and perspective on how much they already know. 

If you...

Did you know where people sit can have an impact on whether they’ll agree with you?

If you want to improve the chances of consensus, arrange chairs in a circular formation.

If you instead want people to retain their independence, set the chairs in an angular formation.

The difference is how the environment cues decision-making.

According to 2017 research, in a circular formation, our need for belonging is cued, so we’re more likely to be consensus driven.

In an angular...