refactor(skills): move marketing-psychology catalogs to references
Keep the decision steps in SKILL.md and move catalogs, examples, and checklists verbatim to references/ to reduce the context cost of loading the skill. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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@@ -23,399 +23,16 @@ Mental models are thinking tools that help you make better decisions, understand
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---
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## Foundational Thinking Models
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## Model Categories
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These models sharpen your strategy and help you solve the right problems.
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Pick the category that matches the challenge, then read only that file for the model explanations and marketing applications:
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### First Principles
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Break problems down to basic truths and build solutions from there. Instead of copying competitors, ask "why" repeatedly to find root causes. Use the 5 Whys technique to tunnel down to what really matters.
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**Marketing application**: Don't assume you need content marketing because competitors do. Ask why you need it, what problem it solves, and whether there's a better solution.
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### Jobs to Be Done
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People don't buy products—they "hire" them to get a job done. Focus on the outcome customers want, not features.
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**Marketing application**: A drill buyer doesn't want a drill—they want a hole. Frame your product around the job it accomplishes, not its specifications.
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### Circle of Competence
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Know what you're good at and stay within it. Venture outside only with proper learning or expert help.
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**Marketing application**: Don't chase every channel. Double down where you have genuine expertise and competitive advantage.
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### Inversion
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Instead of asking "How do I succeed?", ask "What would guarantee failure?" Then avoid those things.
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**Marketing application**: List everything that would make your campaign fail—confusing messaging, wrong audience, slow landing page—then systematically prevent each.
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### Occam's Razor
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The simplest explanation is usually correct. Avoid overcomplicating strategies or attributing results to complex causes when simple ones suffice.
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**Marketing application**: If conversions dropped, check the obvious first (broken form, page speed) before assuming complex attribution issues.
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### Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule)
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Roughly 80% of results come from 20% of efforts. Identify and focus on the vital few.
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**Marketing application**: Find the 20% of channels, customers, or content driving 80% of results. Cut or reduce the rest.
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### Local vs. Global Optima
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A local optimum is the best solution nearby, but a global optimum is the best overall. Don't get stuck optimizing the wrong thing.
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**Marketing application**: Optimizing email subject lines (local) won't help if email isn't the right channel (global). Zoom out before zooming in.
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### Theory of Constraints
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Every system has one bottleneck limiting throughput. Find and fix that constraint before optimizing elsewhere.
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**Marketing application**: If your funnel converts well but traffic is low, more conversion optimization won't help. Fix the traffic bottleneck first.
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### Opportunity Cost
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Every choice has a cost—what you give up by not choosing alternatives. Consider what you're saying no to.
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**Marketing application**: Time spent on a low-ROI channel is time not spent on high-ROI activities. Always compare against alternatives.
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### Law of Diminishing Returns
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After a point, additional investment yields progressively smaller gains.
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**Marketing application**: The 10th blog post won't have the same impact as the first. Know when to diversify rather than double down.
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### Second-Order Thinking
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Consider not just immediate effects, but the effects of those effects.
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**Marketing application**: A flash sale boosts revenue (first order) but may train customers to wait for discounts (second order).
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### Map ≠ Territory
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Models and data represent reality but aren't reality itself. Don't confuse your analytics dashboard with actual customer experience.
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**Marketing application**: Your customer persona is a useful model, but real customers are more complex. Stay in touch with actual users.
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### Probabilistic Thinking
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Think in probabilities, not certainties. Estimate likelihoods and plan for multiple outcomes.
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**Marketing application**: Don't bet everything on one campaign. Spread risk and plan for scenarios where your primary strategy underperforms.
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### Barbell Strategy
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Combine extreme safety with small high-risk/high-reward bets. Avoid the mediocre middle.
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**Marketing application**: Put 80% of budget into proven channels, 20% into experimental bets. Avoid moderate-risk, moderate-reward middle.
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---
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## Understanding Buyers & Human Psychology
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These models explain how customers think, decide, and behave.
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### Fundamental Attribution Error
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People attribute others' behavior to character, not circumstances. "They didn't buy because they're not serious" vs. "The checkout was confusing."
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**Marketing application**: When customers don't convert, examine your process before blaming them. The problem is usually situational, not personal.
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### Mere Exposure Effect
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People prefer things they've seen before. Familiarity breeds liking.
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**Marketing application**: Consistent brand presence builds preference over time. Repetition across channels creates comfort and trust.
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### Availability Heuristic
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People judge likelihood by how easily examples come to mind. Recent or vivid events seem more common.
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**Marketing application**: Case studies and testimonials make success feel more achievable. Make positive outcomes easy to imagine.
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### Confirmation Bias
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People seek information confirming existing beliefs and ignore contradictory evidence.
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**Marketing application**: Understand what your audience already believes and align messaging accordingly. Fighting beliefs head-on rarely works.
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### The Lindy Effect
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The longer something has survived, the longer it's likely to continue. Old ideas often outlast new ones.
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**Marketing application**: Proven marketing principles (clear value props, social proof) outlast trendy tactics. Don't abandon fundamentals for fads.
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### Mimetic Desire
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People want things because others want them. Desire is socially contagious.
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**Marketing application**: Show that desirable people want your product. Waitlists, exclusivity, and social proof trigger mimetic desire.
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### Sunk Cost Fallacy
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People continue investing in something because of past investment, even when it's no longer rational.
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**Marketing application**: Know when to kill underperforming campaigns. Past spend shouldn't justify future spend if results aren't there.
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### Endowment Effect
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People value things more once they own them.
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**Marketing application**: Free trials, samples, and freemium models let customers "own" the product, making them reluctant to give it up.
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### IKEA Effect
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People value things more when they've put effort into creating them.
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**Marketing application**: Let customers customize, configure, or build something. Their investment increases perceived value and commitment.
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### Zero-Price Effect
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Free isn't just a low price—it's psychologically different. "Free" triggers irrational preference.
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**Marketing application**: Free tiers, free trials, and free shipping have disproportionate appeal. The jump from $1 to $0 is bigger than $2 to $1.
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### Hyperbolic Discounting / Present Bias
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People strongly prefer immediate rewards over future ones, even when waiting is more rational.
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**Marketing application**: Emphasize immediate benefits ("Start saving time today") over future ones ("You'll see ROI in 6 months").
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### Status-Quo Bias
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People prefer the current state of affairs. Change requires effort and feels risky.
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**Marketing application**: Reduce friction to switch. Make the transition feel safe and easy. "Import your data in one click."
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### Default Effect
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People tend to accept pre-selected options. Defaults are powerful.
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**Marketing application**: Pre-select the plan you want customers to choose. Opt-out beats opt-in for subscriptions (ethically applied).
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### Paradox of Choice
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Too many options overwhelm and paralyze. Fewer choices often lead to more decisions.
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**Marketing application**: Limit options. Three pricing tiers beat seven. Recommend a single "best for most" option.
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### Goal-Gradient Effect
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People accelerate effort as they approach a goal. Progress visualization motivates action.
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**Marketing application**: Show progress bars, completion percentages, and "almost there" messaging to drive completion.
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### Peak-End Rule
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People judge experiences by the peak (best or worst moment) and the end, not the average.
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**Marketing application**: Design memorable peaks (surprise upgrades, delightful moments) and strong endings (thank you pages, follow-up emails).
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### Zeigarnik Effect
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Unfinished tasks occupy the mind more than completed ones. Open loops create tension.
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**Marketing application**: "You're 80% done" creates pull to finish. Incomplete profiles, abandoned carts, and cliffhangers leverage this.
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### Pratfall Effect
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Competent people become more likable when they show a small flaw. Perfection is less relatable.
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**Marketing application**: Admitting a weakness ("We're not the cheapest, but...") can increase trust and differentiation.
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### Curse of Knowledge
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Once you know something, you can't imagine not knowing it. Experts struggle to explain simply.
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**Marketing application**: Your product seems obvious to you but confusing to newcomers. Test copy with people unfamiliar with your space.
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### Mental Accounting
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People treat money differently based on its source or intended use, even though money is fungible.
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**Marketing application**: Frame costs in favorable mental accounts. "$3/day" feels different than "$90/month" even though it's the same.
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### Regret Aversion
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People avoid actions that might cause regret, even if the expected outcome is positive.
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**Marketing application**: Address regret directly. Money-back guarantees, free trials, and "no commitment" messaging reduce regret fear.
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### Bandwagon Effect / Social Proof
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People follow what others are doing. Popularity signals quality and safety.
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**Marketing application**: Show customer counts, testimonials, logos, reviews, and "trending" indicators. Numbers create confidence.
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---
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## Influencing Behavior & Persuasion
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These models help you ethically influence customer decisions.
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### Reciprocity Principle
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People feel obligated to return favors. Give first, and people want to give back.
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**Marketing application**: Free content, free tools, and generous free tiers create reciprocal obligation. Give value before asking for anything.
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### Commitment & Consistency
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Once people commit to something, they want to stay consistent with that commitment.
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**Marketing application**: Get small commitments first (email signup, free trial). People who've taken one step are more likely to take the next.
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### Authority Bias
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People defer to experts and authority figures. Credentials and expertise create trust.
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**Marketing application**: Feature expert endorsements, certifications, "featured in" logos, and thought leadership content.
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### Liking / Similarity Bias
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People say yes to those they like and those similar to themselves.
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**Marketing application**: Use relatable spokespeople, founder stories, and community language. "Built by marketers for marketers" signals similarity.
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### Unity Principle
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Shared identity drives influence. "One of us" is powerful.
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**Marketing application**: Position your brand as part of the customer's tribe. Use insider language and shared values.
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### Scarcity / Urgency Heuristic
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Limited availability increases perceived value. Scarcity signals desirability.
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**Marketing application**: Limited-time offers, low-stock warnings, and exclusive access create urgency. Only use when genuine.
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### Foot-in-the-Door Technique
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Start with a small request, then escalate. Compliance with small requests leads to compliance with larger ones.
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**Marketing application**: Free trial → paid plan → annual plan → enterprise. Each step builds on the last.
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### Door-in-the-Face Technique
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Start with an unreasonably large request, then retreat to what you actually want. The contrast makes the second request seem reasonable.
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**Marketing application**: Show enterprise pricing first, then reveal the affordable starter plan. The contrast makes it feel like a deal.
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### Loss Aversion / Prospect Theory
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Losses feel roughly twice as painful as equivalent gains feel good. People will work harder to avoid losing than to gain.
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**Marketing application**: Frame in terms of what they'll lose by not acting. "Don't miss out" beats "You could gain."
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### Anchoring Effect
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The first number people see heavily influences subsequent judgments.
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**Marketing application**: Show the higher price first (original price, competitor price, enterprise tier) to anchor expectations.
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### Decoy Effect
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Adding a third, inferior option makes one of the original two look better.
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**Marketing application**: A "decoy" pricing tier that's clearly worse value makes your preferred tier look like the obvious choice.
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### Framing Effect
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How something is presented changes how it's perceived. Same facts, different frames.
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**Marketing application**: "90% success rate" vs. "10% failure rate" are identical but feel different. Frame positively.
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### Contrast Effect
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Things seem different depending on what they're compared to.
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**Marketing application**: Show the "before" state clearly. The contrast with your "after" makes improvements vivid.
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---
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## Pricing Psychology
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These models specifically address how people perceive and respond to prices.
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### Charm Pricing / Left-Digit Effect
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Prices ending in 9 seem significantly lower than the next round number. $99 feels much cheaper than $100.
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**Marketing application**: Use .99 or .95 endings for value-focused products. The left digit dominates perception.
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### Rounded-Price (Fluency) Effect
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Round numbers feel premium and are easier to process. $100 signals quality; $99 signals value.
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**Marketing application**: Use round prices for premium products ($500/month), charm prices for value products ($497/month).
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### Rule of 100
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For prices under $100, percentage discounts seem larger ("20% off"). For prices over $100, absolute discounts seem larger ("$50 off").
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**Marketing application**: $80 product: "20% off" beats "$16 off." $500 product: "$100 off" beats "20% off."
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### Price Relativity / Good-Better-Best
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People judge prices relative to options presented. A middle tier seems reasonable between cheap and expensive.
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**Marketing application**: Three tiers where the middle is your target. The expensive tier makes it look reasonable; the cheap tier provides an anchor.
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### Mental Accounting (Pricing)
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Framing the same price differently changes perception.
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**Marketing application**: "$1/day" feels cheaper than "$30/month." "Less than your morning coffee" reframes the expense.
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---
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## Design & Delivery Models
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These models help you design effective marketing systems.
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### Hick's Law
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Decision time increases with the number and complexity of choices. More options = slower decisions = more abandonment.
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**Marketing application**: Simplify choices. One clear CTA beats three. Fewer form fields beat more.
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### AIDA Funnel
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Attention → Interest → Desire → Action. The classic customer journey model.
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**Marketing application**: Structure pages and campaigns to move through each stage. Capture attention before building desire.
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### Rule of 7
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Prospects need roughly 7 touchpoints before converting. One ad rarely converts; sustained presence does.
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**Marketing application**: Build multi-touch campaigns across channels. Retargeting, email sequences, and consistent presence compound.
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### Nudge Theory / Choice Architecture
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Small changes in how choices are presented significantly influence decisions.
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**Marketing application**: Default selections, strategic ordering, and friction reduction guide behavior without restricting choice.
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### BJ Fogg Behavior Model
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Behavior = Motivation × Ability × Prompt. All three must be present for action.
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**Marketing application**: High motivation but hard to do = won't happen. Easy to do but no prompt = won't happen. Design for all three.
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### EAST Framework
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Make desired behaviors: Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely.
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**Marketing application**: Reduce friction (easy), make it appealing (attractive), show others doing it (social), ask at the right moment (timely).
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### COM-B Model
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Behavior requires: Capability, Opportunity, Motivation.
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**Marketing application**: Can they do it (capability)? Is the path clear (opportunity)? Do they want to (motivation)? Address all three.
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### Activation Energy
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The initial energy required to start something. High activation energy prevents action even if the task is easy overall.
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**Marketing application**: Reduce starting friction. Pre-fill forms, offer templates, show quick wins. Make the first step trivially easy.
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### North Star Metric
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One metric that best captures the value you deliver to customers. Focus creates alignment.
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**Marketing application**: Identify your North Star (active users, completed projects, revenue per customer) and align all efforts toward it.
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### The Cobra Effect
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When incentives backfire and produce the opposite of intended results.
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**Marketing application**: Test incentive structures. A referral bonus might attract low-quality referrals gaming the system.
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---
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## Growth & Scaling Models
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These models explain how marketing compounds and scales.
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### Feedback Loops
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Output becomes input, creating cycles. Positive loops accelerate growth; negative loops create decline.
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**Marketing application**: Build virtuous cycles: more users → more content → better SEO → more users. Identify and strengthen positive loops.
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### Compounding
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Small, consistent gains accumulate into large results over time. Early gains matter most.
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**Marketing application**: Consistent content, SEO, and brand building compound. Start early; benefits accumulate exponentially.
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### Network Effects
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A product becomes more valuable as more people use it.
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**Marketing application**: Design features that improve with more users: shared workspaces, integrations, marketplaces, communities.
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### Flywheel Effect
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Sustained effort creates momentum that eventually maintains itself. Hard to start, easy to maintain.
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**Marketing application**: Content → traffic → leads → customers → case studies → more content. Each element powers the next.
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### Switching Costs
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The price (time, money, effort, data) of changing to a competitor. High switching costs create retention.
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**Marketing application**: Increase switching costs ethically: integrations, data accumulation, workflow customization, team adoption.
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### Exploration vs. Exploitation
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Balance trying new things (exploration) with optimizing what works (exploitation).
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**Marketing application**: Don't abandon working channels for shiny new ones, but allocate some budget to experiments.
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### Critical Mass / Tipping Point
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The threshold after which growth becomes self-sustaining.
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**Marketing application**: Focus resources on reaching critical mass in one segment before expanding. Depth before breadth.
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### Survivorship Bias
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Focusing on successes while ignoring failures that aren't visible.
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**Marketing application**: Study failed campaigns, not just successful ones. The viral hit you're copying had 99 failures you didn't see.
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- [Foundational Thinking Models](references/thinking-models.md): read for strategy, prioritization, or diagnosing the real problem (First Principles, Inversion, Pareto, Theory of Constraints, Second-Order Thinking, Barbell Strategy, and more).
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- [Understanding Buyers & Human Psychology](references/buyer-psychology.md): read for explaining how customers think, decide, and resist change (biases, heuristics, Endowment, Default Effect, Paradox of Choice, Peak-End, Social Proof, and more).
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- [Influencing Behavior & Persuasion](references/persuasion.md): read for ethically influencing a decision (Reciprocity, Commitment, Authority, Scarcity, Loss Aversion, Anchoring, Decoy, Framing, and more).
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- [Pricing Psychology](references/pricing-psychology.md): read for price presentation, discounts, and tiers (Charm Pricing, Rounded Prices, Rule of 100, Good-Better-Best, Mental Accounting).
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- [Design & Delivery Models](references/design-delivery.md): read for designing pages, flows, CTAs, and incentive systems (Hick's Law, AIDA, Fogg, EAST, COM-B, Activation Energy, North Star, Cobra Effect, and more).
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- [Growth & Scaling Models](references/growth-scaling.md): read for compounding, retention, and scaling (Feedback Loops, Flywheel, Network Effects, Switching Costs, Critical Mass, Survivorship Bias, and more).
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---
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