Your biggest competitor isn’t another business. It’s your buyer’s default behavior.

Defaults are the silent-decision makers that guide much of our behavior.

These are pre-set choices that take effect if you do nothing. 

We see, but often don’t notice, defaults every day…

Maybe you’ve been automatically enrolled into your company’s 401k or pension plan. 

(Studies show automatic enrollment increases participation in retirement plans by 40%)

Maybe you keep going to the same coffee shop, not because you like it but because it’s on your way to the office. 

Or maybe you never change the default settings on your phone apps, so you’re constantly overwhelmed by notifications crowding your home screen…

Defaults aren’t about doing something. 

They’re about doing nothing and just letting life happen.  

That’s why your biggest competitor isn’t another business. 

It’s your buyer’s default behavior:

✅ Nike's biggest competitor is the couch.

✅ Spotify’s biggest competitor is silence.

✅ Netflix's biggest competitor is sleep.

Like most “irrational” behaviors, we rely on defaults for a good reason: 

Life takes up a lot of time and mental energy. 

We can’t interrogate every single thing we do, or we’d never get out of the door in the morning.

So we rely on mental shortcuts like Defaults. 

So if you’re a business, how can you get your buyers to break their defaults?

Here are a few ways:

Grab their attention with something unexpected, like Louis Vuitton.

Speak to identities, rewards, and self-interest, like Nike.

Remind them to use your product with unexpected language, like Duolingo. 

If you want to figure out how to break through your buyer’s default behaviors, I show you how in my Choice Hacking Academy courses. 

To celebrate the time change next week (finally!), I’m putting Lifetime Unlimited Course Access on sale - but only for 24 hours. 

So you can get access to all of my current and future courses plus my most popular workshops, and use psychology and behavioral science to 2x your marketing effectiveness (and grow your sales and profit faster). 

The flash sale starts Monday and ends Tuesday.

And just for this sale, I’m adding in something that I’ve never done before: 

When you sign up for Lifetime Unlimited Course Access, I’ll throw in a one-on-one session with me to help you action what you learn in the courses. 

Just buy during the sale and redeem the session whenever you’re ready.

Due to a packed schedule, I can only offer these one-on-one sessions to the first 3 people who sign up, so keep your eyes peeled for the Flash Sale announcement on Monday.

Until next time,
Jen