Episode 558: Why That "10% OFF" Sale Feels So Irresistible & How To Use The Same Trick On Yourself

There's a cognitive bias that runs more of your decisions than you do. Marketers figured it out a long time ago. The reason it keeps working on you is that nobody's taught you how to use it back. People have been saying it's a willpower problem for years now. And while willpower is part of it, the real reason you keep falling into the same patterns has less to do with discipline and more to do with how your brain is wired. In this episode of Habits and Hustle, I unpack what loss aversion actually is, why marketers have been using it on you for decades, and how to flip it so it works for you instead. Let's dive in! What's Discussed: (1:53) Why your brain feels losing is twice as hard as winning and what that actually means for your daily decisions. (3:13) The exact tweak marketers use to make you act fast without realizing it. (3:45) Why "you'll feel great if you go to the gym" never works, and what does. (4:55) The reason subscription models keep growing and why you're paying for things you don't even use. (6:01) Why FOMO is just loss aversion with a different name. (8:11) The hidden driver behind why you say yes to plans you didn't want to make. (9:17) The "girl math" confession that explains why a 10% Rakuten reward turns into hundreds in unnecessary spending. (12:03) The flip that turns loss aversion from your weakness into your most reliable motivator. Thank You to Our Sponsors! AirDoctor: Head to AirDoctorPro.com http://airdoctorpro.com/ and use promo code HUSTLE to get up to $300 OFF today! AirDoctor comes with a 30-day money back guarantee, plus a 3-year warranty (an $84 value) FREE! Kion: Visit getkion.com/habits http://getkion.com/habits for 20% OFF Momentous: Ready to try supplements that actually do what they claim? Head to livemomentous.com http://livemomentous.com/ and use code JEN for 35% OFF your first subscription. Therasage: Visit Therasage.com http://therasage.com/ and use code JEN to get 15% OFF your order. Your skin deserves this level of care. Magic Mind: Head over to magicmind.com/jen http://www.magicmind.com/jen and use code JEN at checkout. Prolon: Prolon is offering listeners 30% OFF sitewide plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their 5-Day Program! Just visit prolonlife.com/JENNIFERCOHEN https://prolonlife.com/JENNIFERCOHEN and use the code JENNIFERCOHEN to claim your discount and your bonus gift. Rho Nutrition: Go to RhoNutrition.com http://rhonutrition.com/ and try Rho's Liposomal Glutathione. Use code JEN20 for 20% OFF sitewide. Manna Vitality: Try it now by using the code Jennifer20 at mannavitality.com http://mannavitality.com/ Find more from Jen: Website: jennifercohen.com https://jennifercohen.com Instagram: @therealjencohen http://instagram.com/therealjencohen Books: jennifercohen.com/books https://jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagements https://jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagements

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it.

• 0:07Jen Cohen?

  Before we dive into today's episode, I want to thank our sponsor Momentous. When your goal is health span, living better and longer, there are very few non-negotiables. One of them, quality. And when it comes to supplements designed for high performers, nobody does it better than Momentous. Momentus goes all in on NSF certification, which means every single batch is tested for heavy metals, harmful additives, and label accuracy. And that's why they're trusted by all 32 NFL teams and top collegiate sports dietitians across the country. Here's the thing, they don't sell every supplement under the sun,

• 0:50Jen Cohen?

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• 1:32Jen Cohen?

  Hi, everybody, and welcome to another solo of Habits and Hustle with my foil, Shawnee.

• 1:40Speaker 02

  Hello, everyone.

• 1:41Jen Cohen?

  So nice to see you.

• 1:42Speaker 02

  I know it is. You know what Sydney said?

• 1:43Jen Cohen?

  What?

• 1:44Speaker 02

  She goes, "I haven't seen you in so long."

• 1:45Jen Cohen?

  Well, she hasn't. You've been very busy trying to save the world.

• 1:48Speaker 02

  I am. I'm on a mission, you guys.

• 1:49Jen Cohen?

  One Israeli at a time.

• 1:52Speaker 02

  If I, if it's the last thing I do, peace in the Middle East will come.

• 1:55Jen Cohen?

  Yes. I mean, that's what we all want, but that's where you've been. I haven't seen you for so long.

• 2:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:00Jen Cohen?

  All right. So I want to talk to you guys today about something that I, I kind of was doing some work on something, I guess a week or so ago, and I wrote a little note to myself. I jotted a note down because I really wanted to have a podcast talking about something.

• 2:16Speaker 02

  Wait, a physical written note with a pen?

• 2:18Jen Cohen?

  Yeah, like I was in a meeting and I was talking about this whole concept. And then I'm like, you know, this would make a really interesting podcast episode. I want to talk about it and I want to bring it, bring it up with you. And what the topic is and what it is, it's a psychological marketing technique and it's the loss aversion technique. Have you ever heard of this?

• 2:39Speaker 02

  I have heard of this.

• 2:41Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 2:41Speaker 02

  I have heard of this years ago.

• 2:43Jen Cohen?

  Okay.

• 2:43Speaker 02

  Interesting concept.

• 2:44Jen Cohen?

  It's a great concept and.

• 2:45Speaker 02

  I think I subconsciously use it a lot, but I don't know the depths of it too well.

• 2:49Jen Cohen?

  Okay. Well, this is what it's basically, what it basically is. And I wrote down some notes. Basically, as human beings, people are twice as sensitive to loss than they are to gains. So if I give you a hundred dollars, you'll be happy. But if you had to lose a hundred dollars, you'd be twice as unhappy.

• 3:12Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 3:12Jen Cohen?

  Right?

• 3:13Speaker 02

  That makes sense, actually.

• 3:14Jen Cohen?

  It's, it's crazy. So like what marketing people do when they're creating a campaign or what salespeople do is that they want you to know basically what, what you will lose.

• 3:25Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 3:25Jen Cohen?

  If you don't do something versus what you will gain. Because that psychologically, what, what the loss in your head is so much more severe than whatever, whatever that gain is. So like now that we're in 2024 and we are all talking about New Year's resolutions and what to do, you know, all these things we want to like, we want to accomplish and do. If you really want to get someone to do, do what you want, if you want to try to persuade somebody to do something that you want them to do, you would tweak your technique based on this idea of loss aversion.

• 4:06Jen Cohen?

  So for example, if I said to you, Shawnee, come to the gym, you're going to get really fit. Actually, it would be way more persuasive if I said to you, Shawnee, come to the gym or else you're going to get really fat.

• 4:21Speaker 02

  That would get me to the gym so much faster.

• 4:24Jen Cohen?

  Right. If I said to you, Shawnee, come to the gym because or else you're going to get really fat by not doing this thing. That psychologically will make you do that thing so much easier and quicker than me talking about, oh Shawnee, if you come to the gym, you're going to get really strong, you're going to get really fit, you know, and you are going to feel great. Yeah, okay. Yeah, you like that. You may, you may go, but you won't go as consistently and as quickly. If I told you of all this stuff, like if I said, well, you're going to get fat, you're not going to look as good.

• 4:59Speaker 02

  Skin's going to get bad.

• 5:00Jen Cohen?

  You're going to get bad. You're not, your mood, you're going to have, you're going to get, you're going to get depressed. You're not going to have a great mood. I, if I focus on all those things, you'll go way quicker.

• 5:08Speaker 02

  You'll be alone forever.

• 5:10Jen Cohen?

  You'll be alone for, I didn't say that, but.

• 5:12Speaker 02

  That would get me there fast.

• 5:13Jen Cohen?

  Like, okay, and that's why, that I was going through all these like negotiation techniques, like it says here, like in negotiation, individuals may be more motivated to make concessions to avoid perceived losses rather than gain something. So when negotiating, emphasizing what the other party may lose by not agreeing to the terms can be a much more powerful persuasion. Or customer retention. That's why subscription models crush. Do you see how everybody now are now doing subscription, every company, every business are basically creating their businesses around these subscription models. And this is for the same reason, because they basically employ loss aversion by offering discounted rates for continued membership

• 5:56Jen Cohen?

  or reminding customers about the benefits they'll lose if they cancel.

• 6:01Speaker 02

  That's so interesting.

• 6:01Jen Cohen?

  And it's true. Like if I think about all the subscriptions that I have, that I have, I never use, by the way. I never use any, like I use Netflix. I use, what else do I use? First, what else would I use?

• 6:14Speaker 02

  I don't know what you subscribe to.

• 6:15Jen Cohen?

  Very few do I actually use in subscription, right? But the idea of like me not having it and then I would be missing out on something that they have and then I won't have it. It's like, kind of like FOMO.

• 6:28Speaker 02

  It's FOMO. I was, the entire time you've been talking, I'm thinking like. This is literally Gen Z FOMO marketing. That's the whole idea is like getting people to see that like they might miss out. That's the whole concept.

• 6:38Jen Cohen?

  Because I I see it is. It's what idea it's basically loss aversion technique is equivalent to FOMO. Because a lot of times when I don't go to an event or a party or something that I was invited to or should go to. The reason what makes me go is because of what I would be missing, not based on what I would be gaining. Like I never think, oh, I'll I'll see a lot of people that I haven't seen. I'll I'll I will talk to some great people. I'll socialize, you know, I'll have a couple of non alcoholic drinks because I don't drink. I would think, oh, my God, who would be there that I would not get a chance to meet? Or like, what am I missing? What's gonna happen? What drama will happen?

• 7:22Jen Cohen?

  Or what am I gonna be missing out on versus what I would be gaining? And if you really think about like why you do the things that you do, you notice that that's kind of what why you're doing what you're doing a lot of the times.

• 7:35Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:36Jen Cohen?

  So like the subscription models, like I was going through a bunch of them, like all these like, I don't know, even like supplement companies. I'm like, what if I run out of this thing and I'm not gonna get it? Or I don't want to spend the $4 it's gonna cost me to buy them singularly. I'd rather pay for it all year and save 67 cents on each bottle. Like, that's really what I think.

• 7:58Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to think of like how clothes gets marketed to me because I'm a big shopper when it comes to clothes. By the way, in lieu of our last podcast before, my system, not resolution, is to purchase higher quality items and less cheap items. My way of doing that is limiting myself to like one to two items a month that are actually good quality pieces instead of like a lot of shopping. But I'm thinking when I'm being sold those things, I'm not necessarily buying it because I love the outfit. I'm buying it because I don't not want to look like the person wearing the outfit that I'm seeing wearing. I'm like, I have to, I can't, I can't miss out on looking like that for a for a day. You know what I mean? Or for like a time, like it's just such a, there's like, it's like a thing of, it's crazy.

• 8:36Jen Cohen?

  It's a scarcity.

• 8:38Speaker 02

  So crazy.

• 8:38Jen Cohen?

  It's a scarcity or lack. Of.

• 8:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 8:42Jen Cohen?

  That is basically motivating your behavior versus what you'll gain from that behavior.

• 8:50Speaker 02

  Hundred percent.

• 8:50Jen Cohen?

  Like when a salesperson and I, you know, and that's what that was what the meeting was really about. Like I was saying, like when someone sells me something, a really good salesperson, what they do really well is they embed in me all the things that I will lose or lose out on if I don't do the thing versus play up the positives. And that's when they get me every time, right?

• 9:15Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 9:16Jen Cohen?

  Like, oh, you know, like right now, the membership even at the fitness, you know,

• 9:21Speaker 02

  Oh, I know.

• 9:22Jen Cohen?

  is no initiation fee, let's just say.

• 9:24Speaker 02

  I was looking at this number of like class things that I wanted to like buy. I was like, oh, if I, and the deal and I had to stop myself because I thought, okay, it saved ten or fifteen dollars a month, but if I sign up in four months, like, does that matter fifteen? I sign up now for fifteen, it's like crazy.

• 9:38Jen Cohen?

  I'm gonna give you a great example.

• 9:39Speaker 02

  I actually fought that. I fought that one, but they worked hard.

• 9:41Jen Cohen?

  Oh, I'm telling you. This is a really good example and Noah, my husband, makes fun of me all the time about this. He says it's, it's girl math.

• 9:52Speaker 02

  Yeah, oh, yeah, girl math is the best and I use it all the time, all the time.

• 9:56Jen Cohen?

  For an example, Rakuten, Rakuten, I think it's called Rakuten, right? Like it's that app that, you know, you get back a percentage of money for every dollar you spend, okay? So like, and it changes all the time based on the day, right? So like for an example, if I'm going to Bloomingdale's or if I'm shopping online at Bloomingdale's, you know, one day I could save two percent on Rakuten or I get, or I get two percent of my money back or I'll get some days ten percent. Something in my brain must be like flashing when I see the number going to ten percent or twelve percent. I think three, I'm like, oh, my God, I'm gonna be making so much money.

• 10:36Jen Cohen?

  So I'll buy a bunch of stuff that I don't even need, like spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on crap I don't need because I'm saving technically, even though I'm not saving, I'm making back ten percent. When really, I'm not making. Damn thing back. I'm just spending a lot of money and then I'll get a check in the mail for like 10% with it. It's just like so ridiculous. And that's why those companies are so good and they get you every time.

• 11:02Speaker 02

  They really do.

• 11:03Jen Cohen?

  Yeah.

• 11:03Speaker 02

  Their, their marketing, I always knew marketing did wonders on me, but even as a kid, my dad had an ad agency. He, I grew up learning about marketing tactics and not to be sold. And yet here I am, sitting, buying everything. I'm like, oh, that's, that's great. That's nice. That works, you know?

• 11:20Jen Cohen?

  A hundred percent.

• 11:21Speaker 02

  He's having seven touchpoints with me. You could just get me on like one, one ad.

• 11:24Jen Cohen?

  No, it's a hun- no, it's a hundred percent. Like people who are amazing marketers are really good at understanding human psychology and what makes a brain tick. So to me, like those to me, like marketers are the best psychologists in the world, bar none, because they know how to get your brain to act, to react, what you're going to react to. They know what you're going to do 20 steps before you even do it.

• 11:50Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 11:51Jen Cohen?

  And so, I, you know, I just want, I guess the purpose of me talking about this is number one, if you are a marketer or if you are someone starting a business, understand what this loss aversion technique is. I think it's really helpful when you're trying to acquire customers. And if you're a customer and not someone who's starting a business, be mindful and cognizant that this is a really brilliant technique of what works and what you should be very aware of. So you don't make, you know, silly decisions and choices. That's it.

• 12:22Speaker 02

  A hundred percent. And also use this as motivation. Underst- like if you're not motivating yourself with the positives that you're going to get from something, then motivate yourself with the negatives you're not going to get by not doing that thing. Or you're going to get by not doing that thing. So if getting to, if being fit doesn't get you to the gym, but potentially getting out of shape gets you to the gym, then use that, use that fuel. If it's not making the money that gets you to your job or like inspires you, then maybe it's not having any money that gets you motivated, you know?

• 12:51Jen Cohen?

  Well, I think everything is about that, right? It's about thinking of what will happen if you don't do it. Versus what happens if you do it. I think that's all, that- It motivates, it works for me every time. Obviously, it works on you, works on a lot of people. Just keep that idea in your head, that technique in your head. And let us know, comment, let, you know what? That's a great thing. Like, if you guys, whoever's watching this, listening to this, give me in comments some examples of where this actually, this tactic worked on you. Or where you have used this tactic to help in your situation. I think I'm always fascinated by this stuff. This, to me, is super fascinating. So let me know, leave a comment, and let me know.