top of page


The Customer Hasn’t Paid. The Product Already Feels Like Theirs.
Touch can create psychological ownership before checkout. Research reveals what haptic marketing changes in stores, packaging, product video and digital commerce.

OrionPilot
Oct 224 min read


A Dress Rose From $34 to $39—and Demand Climbed One-Third.
A famous catalog experiment found that a $39 dress outsold the same dress at $34. The result reveals how price endings work as signals—and where they fail.

OrionPilot
Sep 303 min read


Twenty-Four Jams Drew the Crowd. Six Made the Sale.
The famous jam experiment shows why more options can win attention while a clearer choice architecture wins commitment—and why the effect has important limits.

OrionPilot
Sep 283 min read


A Default Choice Lifted Participation From 49% to 86%
A famous 401(k) study reveals why a preselected choice can outperform persuasion—and when that powerful nudge begins to damage customer trust.

OrionPilot
Sep 213 min read


Domino’s Put Its Worst Reviews in the Ad. Then Sales Rose 14.3%
Domino’s turnaround shows why admitting a weakness can strengthen marketing—when the business makes a visible, verifiable change behind the message.

OrionPilot
Sep 203 min read


Every Discount Teaches the Customer a Price. Most Brands Never Choose the Lesson.
Repeated promotions can lift today’s sales while training customers to distrust the regular price. Here is how to discount without weakening value.

OrionPilot
Sep 193 min read


The Third Option Changes the Sale. Just Not as Much as Marketing Folklore Says.
Why the decoy effect still matters—and why real-world evidence says marketers should treat it as a measurable nudge, not a magic conversion trick.

OrionPilot
Sep 134 min read


The Focus Group Loved It. None of the Customers Existed.
A campaign can now clear its first focus group before anyone has booked a room, opened a sample or tasted the product. Hundreds of synthetic respondents can compare a message, rank a package and explain what they would buy. They answer instantly. They never get tired. Not one of them has a pulse. This is the new temptation inside marketing research: large language models are being shaped into artificial consumers, sometimes with demographic profiles and purchase histories, th

OrionPilot
Aug 303 min read


Seven Pricing Options Can Make the Premium Choice Feel Ordinary.
New consumer research shows how the number and arrangement of choices can change whether premium offers feel extreme or normal.

OrionPilot
Aug 244 min read


Dear After Hours: Should the Playlist Change When the Room Fills Up?
Should music change as a café, shop, or restaurant fills up? A reader letter examines tempo, musical fit, staff noise, and what to measure.

OrionPilot
Aug 164 min read


Tropicana Changed the Carton—and Shoppers Lost the Brand
Tropicana’s 2009 packaging redesign erased familiar visual cues and triggered a severe sales decline. The case reveals how to identify, test, and protect distinctive brand assets before a rebrand.

OrionPilot
Aug 164 min read


People Paid 63% More for a Box They Built Themselves
The IKEA effect explains why well-designed customer participation can increase value—and why effort without successful completion becomes friction.

OrionPilot
Aug 144 min read


AI Search Is Changing How Customers Discover Small Businesses
AI answers are expanding the customer journey beyond a page of links. Small businesses now need coordinated facts, original evidence, and content worth retrieving.

OrionPilot
Aug 134 min read


Google Is Labeling AI-Made Ads. A 700-Person Study Reveals the Hidden Cost.
Google and Meta are making AI production visible inside ads. A three-experiment study of 700 people reveals why disclosure can weaken loyalty—and how marketers can preserve the human effort customers value.

OrionPilot
Aug 124 min read
OrionPilot Hub
bottom of page
