Marketing to Mindstates: The Practical Guide to Applying Behavior Design to Research and Marketing

by Will Leach

Your nonconscious mind will filter out more than 99 percent of marketing you “see” today. Traditional marketing simply doesn’t work in today’s complex world. To reach today’s customers and influence their purchases, marketers and market researchers need to understand and harness the power of applied behavior psychology and behavior economics to break through these nonconscious filters and drive purchase behaviors—a process called Behavior Design. In Marketing to Mindstates, Will Leach, founder of TriggerPoint Design, a leading behavior research and design consultancy, demystifies this nonconscious filter and explains how to bypass it, introducing readers to temporary moments of influence called mindstates. Using his Mindstate Behavioral Model, he shows you specifically how to create behaviorally optimized messaging designed to activate these mindstates and trigger real emotional engagement. With this book, researchers and marketers will finally have a practical guide to creating behaviorally designed marketing that psychologically breaks through your customers’ nonconscious to drive new behaviors and topline growth.“Will Leach has done a great job with his first book, Marketing to Mindstates. He's taken what could be a complex topic and really simplified it into an easy-to-read and understandable format. Additionally, he gives great examples of how you can apply his process to your own brands that are very actionable. Definitely worth the read.”—Regan Ebert, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Dr Pepper Snapple Group“Marketing to Mindstates is an amazing secret weapon for any marketer or business leader looking to understand their consumers better or gain an edge in driving actionable insights to transform their strategy. Will has such a gift for taking supercomplex theory and his years of experience and breaking it down into accessible concepts that made it simple to understand and implement in my own business. Highly recommended!"—Michael Messersmith, General Manager, Oatly"Will Leach is a passionate man, a deep thinker, and has a mind that constantly moves at 100 mph. All of this is present in his book, Marketing to Mindstates. Yet, what really comes through is the clarity with which he talks about the behavioral sciences in the context of everyday marketing and how all of us can apply his model in both marketing and research. The book is full of fascinating examples, clear ideas for implementation, and yes, passion for the subject matter. Every marketer and researcher should have this on their bedside table."—Simon Chadwick, Managing Partner, Cambiar Consulting“This book is really engaging and relatable, especially to those of us who have worked in consumer/shopper insights. As a fellow student of behavioral science, I know this stuff can be overwhelming and a challenge to make sense of. Will has done an impressive job of making sense of behavioral design and saving the rest of us from having to go through the effort to get there on our own.” —Phil McGee, President, Decision Breakers, and Host of Shoppernomics Podcast“I highly recommend Marketing to Mindstates to anybody who wants to apply behavioral science to improve their marketing. Not only is Marketing to Mindstates a thorough science-based book, but Leach’s Mindstate Activation Model is communicated in a clear, approachable way, making these concepts very actionable for anybody to use. If the goal of the book is to be a ‘practical guide’ to applying behavior design to research and marketing, that goal has been reached.

Genres: Business, Psychology, Nonfiction

262 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 30, 2018

Reviews

[Leonardo-Mihai Mărincean · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is neither practical nor research based. Reading it is a complete waste of time, do yourself a favour and read Thaler and Kahneman because this book is just a lazy oversimplification of some of the discoveries presented by those 2.

The author starts boldly, telling us how is not ok that marketing has became and arms race where everybody strives to go bigger to make themselves more visible and then proceeds to do the exact same, telling us of their successful case in which they used :) blinking lights to promote some bag of chips.

He goes on with the so called archetypes, 18 to be exact, presenting no basis for them. Maslow's pyramid, although with it's limits, is a better and more sound source of establishing human motivation in marketing than the so called archetypes. Why 18 at the end of the day? Why not 3 or 24? No arguments or research given.

The worst thing about the book is that it continues the trope of baseless marketing get rich quick motivational paragraphs. Nothing even close to a practical model or useful advice on how to better do marketing, just big claims and bold assumptions.

[Laura Lenz]

Read for work. Enjoyed some of the examples and case studies. Would’ve rather read legitimate psychological or behavioral economic analysis tho

[Hildo Maus · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a nice book. This is not an academic narrative, but someone who applied the behavioral science in the retail field and got things done. I liked how the author illustrated some ideas with pictures in a very simple and direct way. Another great thing about this book is the website Will created, where he suggests other books in the area (not only his books), so the readers can have a better understanding on the field. It lacked of scientific background and references at some point in order to better back ideas up, but it is still a great book! Read it in 24 hours.

[Tanya Coghlan · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a marketer, I really recommended this book. It’s not that classic book of Marketing, you learned important concepts and insights in fields such as psychology, behavioral and neuroscience.
I enjoy reading this book, personally I think it gives useful tools and information for people who wants to acquire more knowledge in behavioral design.

[Robmgooch · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is a short synopsis of Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman condensed for a marketing audience. If you are unfamiliar with Behavioral Economics, this would be a great starter. I like the way the author connects B.E. to the marketing world, but I found it a bit repetitive after reading Thinking Fast and Slow.

[Jack Maguire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the book was stuff I already knew from behavioral economics, consumer psychology, and neuroscience, but what really grabbed me was when the author talked about his time in market research at Frito-Lay. He went into how they simulated grocery store tests to see what changes would impact consumer behavior, how people bought stuff, what they did, and that was fascinating. I just wish he had dug deeper into their findings, but I guess a lot of that is probably proprietary.

Another interesting part was his system for bucketing consumers into different "mind states" based on their goals and behaviors. It seemed like something he kind of made up on his own, not really backed by data or stats, but more of a methodology for understanding and communicating with consumers. He’d then use this to tailor the language and visuals in advertising, which was a solid takeaway. That said, I’m not totally sold on his system with its 25 different marketing mind states. It feels like he spent a lot of time listing all these different buckets just to fit them into the book.

In reality, it might be better to just understand the consumer's concerns and speak directly to those rather than trying to fit everything into some predefined system. There’s good stuff in the book, but the system isn’t the end-all-be-all, it’s more like a way to package his ideas.

[Nora · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an aspiring behavioral scientist, "Marketing to Mindstates" was an extremely educational and enjoyable read. Inspired by the principles I learned in this book, I decided to conduct my own behavioral science research project.

With the goal of increasing engagement and interest in my college dance company, I redesigned our informational poster to target my consumer’s mindstate: Optimistic Belonging. We highlighted family-like community and belongingness — a higher-order motivation of new students trying to fit in and find a college community — through photos, stories, and interactions. We also emphasized our company’s decades of history and unique dance style to create a sense of home. After applying this strategy, we saw a 35% increase in audition attendance. It was so rewarding to see tangible results from a small behavioral science project.

The "Marketing to Mindstates" framework is incredibly powerful, and I’m excited to continue applying what I’ve learned from this book to future projects. I highly recommend "Marketing to Mindstates" to anyone interested in the cognitive mechanisms behind human decision-making — it offers valuable insights to the motivators behind human behavior.

[Karen Tam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned about this book after listening to a Brainy Business Podcast where Will Leach was interviewed. I first learned of Behavioural Economics about 10 years ago after reading Dan Ariely's Predictably Irrational book. I work in Marketing where understanding consumer behaviour is critically important. I found the advice in this book very practical and relevant to what I do now as a Strategist for a Global advertising agency. The framework is very easy to understand and the 18 mindstates can be applied to any future creative briefs I have to write because now I have a way to categorize consumers and uncover the relevant consumer insight that could apply to any brand.

[W · Rating 2 out of 5]

Is this a good book? No.
Is it a quick and easy way to familiarize yourself with basic behavioral marketing considerations? Sure.

In a world without marketing, would we be free to make our own decisions? Or would we be faced with the tyranny of having to make constant, marginal decisions?

If Coca-Cola wants to hack my brain so that I buy Doritos instead of Pringles, then so be it. Humans aren’t mindless animals, but we are lazy as hell. 🤷‍♂️

[Natraj K patham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that essentially can be read quick. It lays a roadmap using behavioral science but seems to have rushed in the end. It slightly questions oneself if all motivations are covered, any overlaps or what a mindstate without a practical example. Consider this book to build high-level framework without its punchy details!

[Jason Alleger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I work in consumer insights and have been looking for a book like this. Very practical and gave me very real examples and a framework to use. It’s the first book I’ve read in the last few years where I found myself taking notes. Would highly recommend.

[Rachel Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't wait to start implementing some of the behavioral design strategies at my new job with US Patriot!

[Marykgarrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed the way I think about persona development and messaging strategy for marketing. Highly recommend.

[Andrei · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just one takeaway from this book is that in addition to all types of targeting options available out there, you should throw in marketing to the state of mind someone might be in.

[Riley T]

Hmm evil

[Brian Halpin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book, one of my favs in 2025.

[Jessica Crouse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from Goodreads Giveaways. I really enjoyed the background on human behavior, and loved the examples of brands that use different strategies to connect with customers. I did have liked to see more examples on the actual marketing to mind states section, but appreciate that the author has made some additional resources available online for free. Overall, this was an interesting book.