I use customer research and behavioural science to help businesses understand and influence customer behaviour more effectively.

During my time at Shift and Kantar, I worked with some of the world’s biggest consumer brands, including Guinness, Sprite and Nurofen, advising on strategy and innovation through a mix of customer research and consultancy.

But I saw a problem: too much research fails to account for the reality of human behaviour, treating participants as if they are rational, consistent and fully self-aware.

We forget that taking part in research, whether through online surveys, focus groups or one-to-one interviews, is a behaviour in itself, shaped by the same mental shortcuts, biases and post-rationalisations as everyday decisions.

The result is findings that sound useful and intuitive, but do not map to customer behaviour out in the real world.

I set out to change that. My work combines behavioural science with thoughtful research design to create more behaviourally robust research, built around the realities of human psychology rather than the fiction of perfectly rational participants.

Gus Allen, MSc | Founder & Lead Consultant