Breaking the Routine: How to Help Customers Form New Habits
The Intuitive Customer - Helping You Improve Your Customer Experience To Gain Growth
Release Date: 01/18/2025
How Your Customers Judge You Before You Even Open Your Mouth
The Intuitive Customer - Helping You Improve Your Customer Experience To Gain Growth
First impressions aren’t just important—they’re everything. Research shows that customers, clients, and even your colleagues are forming opinions about you, your brand, and your business in mere seconds—often before you even get a chance to introduce yourself! In this episode, Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton dive deep into the psychology of first impressions, exploring the fascinating (and slightly terrifying) science behind snap judgments. How fast do customers decide whether they like or trust you? Why do first impressions stick so stubbornly? And most importantly—how can...
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10 Proven Ways Guaranteed To Build Trust In Your Customers!
The Intuitive Customer - Helping You Improve Your Customer Experience To Gain Growth
Trust: it’s the glue that holds relationships together—both personal and professional. Yet, so many businesses get it wrong. In this special milestone episode (yes, 400 episodes!), Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton break down why trust is the foundation of every great customer experience and, more importantly, how you can earn it, keep it, and leverage it to drive growth. From sneaky fees that erode confidence to honesty that wins lifelong loyalty, we’re covering ten essential actions that will guarantee your customers trust you—and keep coming back. Plus, we share some...
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Why Short-Form Content & Thinking is Destroying Your Customer Experience And Your Career.
The Intuitive Customer - Helping You Improve Your Customer Experience To Gain Growth
Are we thinking less in the age of information overload? In this episode of The Intuitive Customer, Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton discuss the hidden dangers of short-term thinking in customer experience. Businesses are obsessed with quick fixes, but is this addiction to fast results actually damaging long-term success? Join us as we explore why short-form content gives the illusion of learning, why deep understanding requires more than a 30-second soundbite, and how behavioral science can transform your customer experience for the long haul. From the pitfalls of Net Promoter Score...
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Tiny Tweaks That Can Have a BIG Effect (And Why They Sometimes Don’t)
The Intuitive Customer - Helping You Improve Your Customer Experience To Gain Growth
🔹 Ever wonder why you always end up choosing the medium popcorn, even when you weren’t hungry? Or why some websites magically guide you toward the “best” deal? That’s not luck—it’s behavioral science in action. In this episode of The Intuitive Customer, Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton reveal the power of nudging—tiny tweaks that subtly influence decisions without forcing them. But here’s the catch: sometimes nudges don’t work at all. So, what separates a genius nudge from a total flop? That’s exactly what we’re unpacking today. 🔥 Best Quote from the Episode:...
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The Psychology Of Discounts: Are You Inadvertently Training Your Customers?
The Intuitive Customer - Helping You Improve Your Customer Experience To Gain Growth
Discounting—it feels like a surefire way to attract customers, right? Everyone loves a good bargain. But what happens when discounts stop being a tool and start becoming an expectation? In this episode, Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton dive into the dangerous addiction of price discounting—how it lures in customers, why businesses struggle to stop, and the long-term damage it can do to your brand and bottom line. You'll hear painful stories of businesses that have trained their customers never to pay full price, the psychology behind why discounts are so irresistible, and why, if...
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7 Ways To Break Organizational Silos; The Silent Killer Of Customer Experience
The Intuitive Customer - Helping You Improve Your Customer Experience To Gain Growth
🚀 Are your departments working together or just co-existing in polite chaos? Organizational silos are the silent killer of customer experience. Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, IT, Finance, HR—they all have their own priorities, their own goals, and their own version of success. But do those priorities align? More often than not, they don’t, and the result is a disjointed, frustrating experience for customers (and let’s be honest, for employees too). If you’ve ever tried to resolve a simple issue with a company only to be bounced between departments like a human pinball, you’ve...
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Psychological Pricing: 7 Practical Tips You Can Use Today to Boost Sales
The Intuitive Customer - Helping You Improve Your Customer Experience To Gain Growth
Pricing. It’s one of the most critical decisions your business will ever make, yet most people approach it like a finger-in-the-air guessing game. But what if you could tap into psychological principles to not just set prices, but make your customers feel they’re getting a great deal? That’s what this episode of The Intuitive Customer is all about. Join Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton as they break down the fascinating—and sometimes hilarious—world of psychological pricing. From late-night infomercials and $400 bath towels to popcorn buckets and outrageous anchoring...
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How to Evoke Emotions That Make Customers Come Back for More
The Intuitive Customer - Helping You Improve Your Customer Experience To Gain Growth
Episode Summary: Are you evoking the right emotions in your customers, or are you unknowingly driving them away? In this episode, Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton dive deep into the fascinating (and often overlooked) world of customer emotions. Emotions are at the heart of every customer experience—from frustration and neglect to trust and happiness, and they’re driving your bottom line. Colin shares a story about his wife Lorraine’s coat-return drama and unpacks the emotional disaster it caused (hint: she’s not buying from that brand again). Meanwhile, Ryan explains why...
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Silence Is Killing Your Business: The Innovation Cost of Quiet Teams
The Intuitive Customer - Helping You Improve Your Customer Experience To Gain Growth
Episode Summary: How can you create an environment where your team feels safe to speak their minds without fear of judgment or reprisal? In this episode, Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton are joined by Gary Keogh, an expert in psychological safety and a former corporate leader turned coach. Together, they dive into why fostering openness in teams is more than just a buzzword—it’s the secret sauce for innovation, collaboration, and performance. Gary shares eye-opening stories, practical examples, and proven methods to build trust within teams. Learn how even small behaviors like...
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10 Career Lessons You Need to Thrive in 2025
The Intuitive Customer - Helping You Improve Your Customer Experience To Gain Growth
Episode Summary How do you set yourself apart in an ever-evolving professional landscape? In this episode of The Intuitive Customer, Colin Shaw and Ryan Hamilton dive deep into the career lessons they’ve learned over decades of navigating the twists and turns of professional life. This isn’t just another list of career tips—it's a roadmap for thriving in 2025 and beyond. From mastering long-term planning to embracing the disruptive power of technology, Colin and Ryan unpack the strategies that make all the difference in building a fulfilling, forward-looking career. Plus, they share...
info_outlineEpisode Summary
In this episode of The Intuitive Customer, Colin Shaw and Professor Ryan Hamilton delve into the fascinating world of customer habits. Colin shares his recent experiences shopping at Publix, Aldi, and Whole Foods, uncovering how deeply ingrained habits shape our decisions as customers. The discussion explores the psychology behind habit formation, the challenges businesses face when trying to change customer routines, and the critical role of segmentation in addressing diverse customer needs. From grocery stores to TSA lines and even Apple’s onboarding strategy, this episode highlights actionable insights for businesses looking to influence customer behavior effectively.
Quote of the Episode
"Habits aren't unbreakable chains; they're shortcuts our brains take to save effort. If businesses want customers to change, they need to guide them gently and reward the new behavior."
Key Takeaways
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The Habit Loop
Habits consist of three components: cue, routine, and reward. Businesses need to understand these elements to create or change customer habits effectively. -
Transition Requires Support
Customers resist change when new experiences are disorienting or unclear. Offering onboarding tools, clear signage, or guidance (like Apple’s tutorials or TSA’s segmented lines) can ease the transition. -
Segment Rewards
Customers value different rewards. Some prioritize savings, while others value time or convenience. Understanding and tailoring offerings to these preferences can make all the difference. -
Habits vs. Exploration
While habits streamline decision-making, they can inhibit discovery. Striking a balance—like Amazon’s recommendation engine—allows businesses to support habitual purchases while encouraging new ones. -
The Power of Familiarity
Familiarity offers comfort and efficiency, making it a strong motivator for customers. Businesses need to weigh the risks of disrupting established habits against the potential benefits of change.
About the Hosts:
Colin Shaw is a LinkedIn 'Top Voice' with a massive 284,000 followers and 86,000 subscribers to his 'Why Customers Buy' newsletter. Shaw is named one of the world's 'Top 150 Business Influencers' by LinkedIn. His company, Beyond Philosophy LLC, has been selected four times by the Financial Times as a top management consultancy. Shaw is co-host of the top 1.5% podcast 'The Intuitive Customer'—with over 600,000 downloads—and author of eight best-sellers on customer experience, Shaw is a sought-after keynote speaker. Follow Colin on LinkedIn.
Ryan Hamilton is a Professor of Marketing at Emory University's Goizueta Business School and co-author of 'The Intuitive Customer' book. An award-winning teacher and researcher in consumer psychology, he has been named one of Poets & Quants' "World’s Best 40 B-School Profs Under 40." His research focuses on how brands, prices, and choice architecture influence shopper decision-making, and his findings have been published in top academic journals and covered by major media outlets like The New York Times and CNN. His work highlights how psychology can help firms better understand and serve their customers. Ryan has a new book launch in June 2025 called “The Growth Dilemma: Managing Your Brand When Different Customers Want Different Things” Harvard Business Press Follow Ryan on LinkedIn.
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