Where the Work Shows Up
30 years of consumer psychology research. Dozens of outlets. One consistent argument:
Your customers are not behaving irrationally — you just have the wrong map.
Here you’ll find the articles, podcast conversations, and newsletter issues where I make the case. Some of it will challenge what you think you know about why customers buy. That’s the point.
The Algorithm Isn’t Neutral: How Chris Gray Is Rewriting the Science of Why We Buy
Most marketers treat the algorithm like a distribution tool. It isn’t. It’s a behavioral system that rewards sameness, punishes deviation, and quietly decides what your customers get to want. IBTimes on why that distinction matters.
Gray's work sits at the intersection of psychology, ethics, and technology. At a moment when algorithms decide what we see, what we are offered, and increasingly what we desire, he has become a leading voice asking an uncomfortable question: What happens to human decision making when optimization replaces understanding?
Articles & Press
Pieces I’ve written or been profiled in. The goal is always the same: make the psychology useful, not just interesting.
The Science of Why People Buy: Inside The Buycologist’s Approach to Marketing That Works
Many CPG brand managers call their category a “drive-by aisle” and move on. That’s not a market insight — that’s giving up. This Chicago Tribune feature is built around the research that proved them wrong, and what changed when a brand decided to take its customers seriously.
Most teams think “customer-centric” means knowing the data. The Shopper Passport exercise in this CEO Weekly piece reveals what it actually means — and why one baby food executive couldn’t find his own product on the shelf.
There’s a difference between knowing your customer and understanding them. This Daily Scanner piece unpacks the Empathy Gap — the space between what brands assume and what customers actually feel when they buy.
Plenty of speakers borrow the language of psychology. Few have 30 years of actual research behind it. Tech Times on what ethical persuasion looks like in practice — and why manipulation is a short-term strategy that eats itself.
He led in-depth consumer research for Coca-Cola and Walmart. Won 16 Effie awards. Then left because he continued seeing the marketing world use behavioral science as a weapon instead of a useful strategic approach. Digital Journal on the origin story behind The Buycologist.
Podcast Appearances
Conversations where I get to go deeper than a blog post allows. Some of these run long. Worth it.
podcast
Business Growth Podcast // Madison Paige
Episode 448: How to Get Customers To Buy with The Buycologist
Our host, Madison, asked what I wish people knew about consumer behavior. The honest answer: your customers aren’t irrational — you just have the wrong model. 41 minutes on what actually drives buying, why emotional connection and manipulation aren’t synonyms, and how AI is already changing the calculus without most brands noticing.
“No” is rarely about your offer. It’s about psychological friction your customer couldn’t name — and you weren’t seeing.
A sales meeting that went completely sideways. What came out of it: the Shopper Passport, multimillion-dollar partnerships, and a lesson in customer empathy that still runs the work.
Our host, ASG, quizzed me on Nike, Apple, and Tesla. Why do we buy brands when better options exist? “Better product” is almost never the real answer.
Most brands enter the room convinced they already know what the customer wants. Curiosity is what you practice instead. 30 years of proof that it changes everything.
Walmart, Coca-Cola, Adidas. What the brands that actually cracked shopper behavior know — and what everyone else is still guessing at.
Substack Articles
The channel where I go unfiltered. Consumer psychology applied to the decisions your team makes every week.
AI made information cheap. Wisdom stayed expensive. This issue is about the judgment gap — why your team's biggest AI risk isn't hallucinations, it's the overconfidence that comes from polished-sounding nonsense delivered at speed.
Omotenashi and the Kind of Influence That Works Better Because It Cares Better
The myth that influence is about persuasion technique. What a Japanese philosophy of radical care reveals about what actually earns customer trust.
Your Customer Isn't Stalling. They're Managing Risk.
What looks like a stalled deal is usually a risk calculation your team isn’t seeing. Five types of purchase risk that quietly kill conversion — and how to reduce them.
Six Reasons Customers Reject Your Help (Even When They Need It)
"Adding value” is the phrase teams hide behind when they’re not actually solving the right problem. Six psychological reasons your help gets rejected anyway.
12 Surefire Ways to Kill a Focus Group: A Field Guide for Avoiding Meaningful Insight
Most focus groups are designed to confirm what you already believe. A field guide to bad research — so you stop running it.
Don’t wait for the archive. Get the next one when it drops.
Every issue, one consumer psychology insight — explained clearly, applied directly. No filler. No “thought leadership theater.”
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