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Get Started Free →When the user wants to apply psychological principles, mental models, or behavioral science to marketing. Also use when the user mentions 'psychology,' 'mental models,' 'cognitive bias,' 'persuasion,' 'behavioral science,' 'why people buy,' 'decision-making,' 'consumer behavior,' 'anchoring,' 'social proof,' 'scarcity,' 'loss aversion,' 'framing,' or 'nudge.' Use this whenever someone wants to understand or leverage how people think and make decisions in a marketing context.
.claude/skills/mkurman-marketing-psychology/SKILL.md| Test case | Without → With | Effect | Δ tokens | Δ turns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| case-01 | ✗→✓ | ▲ Improved | 55% | 0% |
| case-22 | ✗→✓ | ▲ Improved | 105% | 0% |
| case-09 | ✓→✗ | ▼ Worse | 129% | 0% |
| case-03 | ✓→✗ | ▼ Worse | 111% | 0% |
| case-13 | ✓→✗ | ▼ Worse | 133% | 0% |
These models explain how customers think, decide, and behave.
People attribute others' behavior to character, not circumstances. "They didn't buy because they're not serious" vs. "The checkout was confusing."
Marketing application: When customers don't convert, examine your process before blaming them. The problem is usually situational, not personal.
People prefer things they've seen before. Familiarity breeds liking.
Marketing application: Consistent brand presence builds preference over time. Repetition across channels creates comfort and trust.
People judge likelihood by how easily examples come to mind. Recent or vivid events seem more common.
Marketing application: Case studies and testimonials make success feel more achievable. Make positive outcomes easy to imagine.
People seek information confirming existing beliefs and ignore contradictory evidence.
Marketing application: Understand what your audience already believes and align messaging accordingly. Fighting beliefs head-on rarely works.
The longer something has survived, the longer it's likely to continue. Old ideas often outlast new ones.
Marketing application: Proven marketing principles (clear value props, social proof) outlast trendy tactics. Don't abandon fundamentals for fads.
People want things because others want them. Desire is socially contagious.
Marketing application: Show that desirable people want your product. Waitlists, exclusivity, and social proof trigger mimetic desire.
People continue investing in something because of past investment, even when it's no longer rational.
Marketing application: Know when to kill underperforming campaigns. Past spend shouldn't justify future spend if results aren't there.
People value things more once they own them.
Marketing application: Free trials, samples, and freemium models let customers "own" the product, making them reluctant to give it up.
People value things more when they've put effort into creating them.
Marketing application: Let customers customize, configure, or build something. Their investment increases perceived value and commitment.
Free isn't just a low price—it's psychologically different. "Free" triggers irrational preference.
Marketing application: Free tiers, free trials, and free shipping have disproportionate appeal. The jump from $1 to $0 is bigger than $2 to $1.
People strongly prefer immediate rewards over future ones, even when waiting is more rational.
Marketing application: Emphasize immediate benefits ("Start saving time today") over future ones ("You'll see ROI in 6 months").
People prefer the current state of affairs. Change requires effort and feels risky.
Marketing application: Reduce friction to switch. Make the transition feel safe and easy. "Import your data in one click."
People tend to accept pre-selected options. Defaults are powerful.
Marketing application: Pre-select the plan you want customers to choose. Opt-out beats opt-in for subscriptions (ethically applied).
Too many options overwhelm and paralyze. Fewer choices often lead to more decisions.
Marketing application: Limit options. Three pricing tiers beat seven. Recommend a single "best for most" option.
People accelerate effort as they approach a goal. Progress visualization motivates action.
Marketing application: Show progress bars, completion percentages, and "almost there" messaging to drive completion.
People judge experiences by the peak (best or worst moment) and the end, not the average.
Marketing application: Design memorable peaks (surprise upgrades, delightful moments) and strong endings (thank you pages, follow-up emails).
Unfinished tasks occupy the mind more than completed ones. Open loops create tension.
Marketing application: "You're 80% done" creates pull to finish. Incomplete profiles, abandoned carts, and cliffhangers leverage this.
Competent people become more likable when they show a small flaw. Perfection is less relatable.
Marketing application: Admitting a weakness ("We're not the cheapest, but...") can increase trust and differentiation.
Once you know something, you can't imagine not knowing it. Experts struggle to explain simply.
Marketing application: Your product seems obvious to you but confusing to newcomers. Test copy with people unfamiliar with your space.
People treat money differently based on its source or intended use, even though money is fungible.
Marketing application: Frame costs in favorable mental accounts. "$3/day" feels different than "$90/month" even though it's the same.
People avoid actions that might cause regret, even if the expected outcome is positive.
Marketing application: Address regret directly. Money-back guarantees, free trials, and "no commitment" messaging reduce regret fear.
People follow what others are doing. Popularity signals quality and safety.
Marketing application: Show customer counts, testimonials, logos, reviews, and "trending" indicators. Numbers create confidence.
These models help you ethically influence customer decisions.
People feel obligated to return favors. Give first, and people want to give back.
Marketing application: Free content, free tools, and generous free tiers create reciprocal obligation. Give value before asking for anything.
Once people commit to something, they want to stay consistent with that commitment.
Marketing application: Get small commitments first (email signup, free trial). People who've taken one step are more likely to take the next.
People defer to experts and authority figures. Credentials and expertise create trust.
Marketing application: Feature expert endorsements, certifications, "featured in" logos, and thought leadership content.
People say yes to those they like and those similar to themselves.
Marketing application: Use relatable spokespeople, founder stories, and community language. "Built by marketers for marketers" signals similarity.
Shared identity drives influence. "One of us" is powerful.
Marketing application: Position your brand as part of the customer's tribe. Use insider language and shared values.
Limited availability increases perceived value. Scarcity signals desirability.
Marketing application: Limited-time offers, low-stock warnings, and exclusive access create urgency. Only use when genuine.
Start with a small request, then escalate. Compliance with small requests leads to compliance with larger ones.
Marketing application: Free trial → paid plan → annual plan → enterprise. Each step builds on the last.
Start with an unreasonably large request, then retreat to what you actually want. The contrast makes the second request seem reasonable.
Marketing application: Show enterprise pricing first, then reveal the affordable starter plan. The contrast makes it feel like a deal.
Losses feel roughly twice as painful as equivalent gains feel good. People will work harder to avoid losing than to gain.
Marketing application: Frame in terms of what they'll lose by not acting. "Don't miss out" beats "You could gain."
The first number people see heavily influences subsequent judgments.
Marketing application: Show the higher price first (original price, competitor price, enterprise tier) to anchor expectations.
Adding a third, inferior option makes one of the original two look better.
Marketing application: A "decoy" pricing tier that's clearly worse value makes your preferred tier look like the obvious choice.
How something is presented changes how it's perceived. Same facts, different frames.
Marketing application: "90% success rate" vs. "10% failure rate" are identical but feel different. Frame positively.
Things seem different depending on what they're compared to.
Marketing application: Show the "before" state clearly. The contrast with your "after" makes improvements vivid.
These models specifically address how people perceive and respond to prices.
Prices ending in 9 seem significantly lower than the next round number. $99 feels much cheaper than $100.
Marketing application: Use .99 or .95 endings for value-focused products. The left digit dominates perception.
Round numbers feel premium and are easier to process. $100 signals quality; $99 signals value.
Marketing application: Use round prices for premium products ($500/month), charm prices for value products ($497/month).
For prices under $100, percentage discounts seem larger ("20% off"). For prices over $100, absolute discounts seem larger ("$50 off").
Marketing application: $80 product: "20% off" beats "$16 off." $500 product: "$100 off" beats "20% off."
People judge prices relative to options presented. A middle tier seems reasonable between cheap and expensive.
Marketing application: Three tiers where the middle is your target. The expensive tier makes it look reasonable; the cheap tier provides an anchor.
Framing the same price differently changes perception.
Marketing application: "$1/day" feels cheaper than "$30/month." "Less than your morning coffee" reframes the expense.
These models help you design effective marketing systems.
Decision time increases with the number and complexity of choices. More options = slower decisions = more abandonment.
Marketing application: Simplify choices. One clear CTA beats three. Fewer form fields beat more.
Attention → Interest → Desire → Action. The classic customer journey model.
Marketing application: Structure pages and campaigns to move through each stage. Capture attention before building desire.
Prospects need roughly 7 touchpoints before converting. One ad rarely converts; sustained presence does.
Marketing application: Build multi-touch campaigns across channels. Retargeting, email sequences, and consistent presence compound.
Small changes in how choices are presented significantly influence decisions.
Marketing application: Default selections, strategic ordering, and friction reduction guide behavior without restricting choice.
Behavior = Motivation × Ability × Prompt. All three must be present for action.
Marketing application: High motivation but hard to do = won't happen. Easy to do but no prompt = won't happen. Design for all three.
Make desired behaviors: Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely.
Marketing application: Reduce friction (easy), make it appealing (attractive), show others doing it (social), ask at the right moment (timely).
Behavior requires: Capability, Opportunity, Motivation.
Marketing application: Can they do it (capability)? Is the path clear (opportunity)? Do they want to (motivation)? Address all three.
The initial energy required to start something. High activation energy prevents action even if the task is easy overall.
Marketing application: Reduce starting friction. Pre-fill forms, offer templates, show quick wins. Make the first step trivially easy.
One metric that best captures the value you deliver to customers. Focus creates alignment.
Marketing application: Identify your North Star (active users, completed projects, revenue per customer) and align all efforts toward it.
When incentives backfire and produce the opposite of intended results.
Marketing application: Test incentive structures. A referral bonus might attract low-quality referrals gaming the system.
These models explain how marketing compounds and scales.
Output becomes input, creating cycles. Positive loops accelerate growth; negative loops create decline.
Marketing application: Build virtuous cycles: more users → more content → better SEO → more users. Identify and strengthen positive loops.
Small, consistent gains accumulate into large results over time. Early gains matter most.
Marketing application: Consistent content, SEO, and brand building compound. Start early; benefits accumulate exponentially.
A product becomes more valuable as more people use it.
Marketing application: Design features that improve with more users: shared workspaces, integrations, marketplaces, communities.
Sustained effort creates momentum that eventually maintains itself. Hard to start, easy to maintain.
Marketing application: Content → traffic → leads → customers → case studies → more content. Each element powers the next.
The price (time, money, effort, data) of changing to a competitor. High switching costs create retention.
Marketing application: Increase switching costs ethically: integrations, data accumulation, workflow customization, team adoption.
Balance trying new things (exploration) with optimizing what works (exploitation).
Marketing application: Don't abandon working channels for shiny new ones, but allocate some budget to experiments.
The threshold after which growth becomes self-sustaining.
Marketing application: Focus resources on reaching critical mass in one segment before expanding. Depth before breadth.
Focusing on successes while ignoring failures that aren't visible.
Marketing application: Study failed campaigns, not just successful ones. The viral hit you're copying had 99 failures you didn't see.
When facing a marketing challenge, consider:
| Challenge | Relevant Models | |-----------|-----------------| | Low conversions | Hick's Law, Activation Energy, BJ Fogg, Friction | | Price objections | Anchoring, Framing, Mental Accounting, Loss Aversion | | Building trust | Authority, Social Proof, Reciprocity, Pratfall Effect | | Increasing urgency | Scarcity, Loss Aversion, Zeigarnik Effect | | Retention/churn | Endowment Effect, Switching Costs, Status-Quo Bias | | Growth stalling | Theory of Constraints, Local vs Global Optima, Compounding | | Decision paralysis | Paradox of Choice, Default Effect, Nudge Theory | | Onboarding | Goal-Gradient, IKEA Effect, Commitment & Consistency |
| Case | Status | Duration (ms) | Turns | Tokens | Tool calls | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Without | With | Δ | Without | With | Δ | Without | With | Δ | Without | With | Δ | ||
case-09 | pass→fail | 17,153 | 24,591 | +43% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,457 | 5,628 | +129% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-06 | pass→pass | 17,866 | 16,552 | -7% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,532 | 5,609 | +122% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-07 | pass→pass | 17,528 | 14,582 | -17% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,542 | 5,623 | +121% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-08 | pass→pass | 16,672 | 16,786 | +1% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,557 | 6,025 | +136% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-01 | fail→pass | 39,942 | 26,716 | -33% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 4,754 | 7,372 | +55% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-02 | pass→pass | 18,034 | 15,926 | -12% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,944 | 5,909 | +101% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-03 | pass→fail | 19,391 | 19,891 | +3% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,998 | 6,329 | +111% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-04 | pass→pass | 15,481 | 15,712 | +1% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,518 | 6,014 | +139% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-05 | pass→pass | 10,544 | 10,366 | -2% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 1,714 | 4,865 | +184% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-10 | pass→pass | 28,401 | 17,548 | -38% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,247 | 5,492 | +144% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-11 | pass→pass | 15,784 | 17,268 | +9% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,622 | 5,876 | +124% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-12 | pass→pass | 19,561 | 19,845 | +1% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,970 | 6,229 | +110% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-13 | pass→fail | 16,527 | 15,892 | -4% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,472 | 5,750 | +133% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-14 | pass→pass | 13,624 | 15,695 | +15% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,300 | 5,795 | +152% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-15 | pass→pass | 16,010 | 17,685 | +10% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,224 | 5,738 | +158% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-16 | pass→pass | 16,914 | 18,470 | +9% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,496 | 6,059 | +143% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-17 | pass→pass | 16,773 | 15,829 | -6% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,661 | 5,572 | +109% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-18 | fail→fail | 18,645 | 22,003 | +18% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,600 | 6,251 | +140% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-19 | pass→pass | 15,874 | 17,804 | +12% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,322 | 5,908 | +154% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-20 | pass→pass | 18,295 | 16,607 | -9% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 4,263 | 6,866 | +61% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-21 | pass→pass | 23,524 | 25,384 | +8% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 4,778 | 8,481 | +78% | 0 | 0 | — |
case-22 | fail→pass | 15,969 | 15,206 | -5% | 1 | 1 | 0% | 2,960 | 6,070 | +105% | 0 | 0 | — |
DecimalAI ran this skill against gemini-3.6-flash twice over the same eval suite — once with the skill loaded and once without — and compared the two runs case by case. 22 cases were attempted. The headline lift of -20 percentage points is the difference between those two pass rates over the 22 comparable cases. 3 cases got worse with the skill loaded, and they are included in that figure.
Without the skill loaded, the model failed this case. With it loaded, the same prompt on the same model passed. This is one improved case from the latest verified run; every case, including any that regressed, is in the table above.
Other measured skills in the registry, with their headline benchmark lift.