John Fuisz: Tracking Emotional Vectors

John Fuisz is co-founder of Veriphix and a marketer who believes in building great brands. He does so with a sophisticated system that, on the surface, appears simple and direct; however, it’s built on his astute observations of consumer behavior, the clever use of data, and most importantly, it’s related to Annie Duke’s use of bets to measure future behaviors.

We wanted to talk to John because his work tracks the seemingly subtle, yet extremely powerful, ways our buying and voting behaviors can be influenced.

Veriphix connects brands with users with three primary tools: First, by tracking emotional vectors, to understand how we feel about things on a weekly basis by asking them to make bets about what they expect to feel. Second by monitoring the emotional triggers that get us to do the things we do. Lastly, he watches for the implicit delta, the measure of the emotional impact of an issue. And he does so with very strict ethical standards.

John believes that marketers should elevate their messaging to build great brands, not just influence our subconscious decision making. He wants to dilute the impact that nefarious actors have on consumers (and voters) by challenging us to a meaningful first step. He notes, “We want to believe we’re rational humans, but to have an effective defense [against bad actors], we have to admit we’re irrational.”

Please take a moment to rate Behavioral Grooves or leave us a review. Our podcast doesn’t have advertisers; rather, we rely on listeners like to you help us get the word out. Your help is greatly appreciated.

We hope you enjoy our conversation with John Fuisz.

Kurt Nelson, PhD: @WhatMotivates

Tim Houlihan: @THoulihan