Blog — SUE Behavioural Design

The world looks different when you understand how behaviour works

Welcome to our blog, where you’ll find hundreds of articles, each offering a new lens on how people actually make decisions, how preferences and behaviour come to be, and how you can shape them. Always grounded in behavioural science, always made practical. You can browse articles by subject or by theme. Happy reading!

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SUE News

Gamechangers shortlisted for Management Book of the Year 2026

Tom de Bruyne's book Gamechangers has been shortlisted for the Dutch Management Book of the Year 2026. On chain reactions of positive change.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
News

Webinar: From AI Tools to AI Advantage

Watch the webinar where Tom de Bruyne explains why AI adoption is a behavioural challenge and why craftsmanship is the new coding.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
AI & Behavioural Design

AI for persuasive copy: behavioural principles as the secret ingredient

AI writes quickly but rarely persuades on its own. Learn how to build behavioural science into your prompts to create copy that genuinely moves people.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Behavioural Design

Decision Making: Why We Get It Wrong (and How to Get It Right)

Around 95% of our decisions are made by System 1. The five cognitive biases that sabotage decision making and proven approaches for better decisions.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behavioural Design

Why Behavioural Interventions Fail (and What You Can Learn From It)

Most interventions fail not because behavioural science doesn't work. They fail because the implementation is wrong. Five root causes and what actually works.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Change Management

Change Management: The Complete Guide to Lasting Organisational Change

Why does 70% of all change fail? The behavioural science approach that addresses the comforts and anxieties that actually drive behaviour.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

Persuasion: The Science of Influence

Arguments don’t persuade. People decide via System 1 and justify afterwards. The behavioural science behind effective influence without manipulation.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behaviour Change: Why It’s So Hard (and How to Make It Work)

70% of behaviour change programmes fail. Not because of lack of motivation, but because the behavioural layer is missing. The science behind lasting behaviour change.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Leadership

Leadership: Everything You Need to Know

Effective leadership isn’t about charisma — it’s about designing context. What behavioural science teaches you about motivation, ownership and behaviour change as a leader.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Nudging: The Complete Guide

What is nudging, why does it work psychologically, and how do you apply it? The complete guide to nudge theory, libertarian paternalism and choice architecture.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
AI & Behaviour

AI adoption in organisations: why behavioural science makes the difference

88% of employees use AI - 6% see measurable results. AI adoption fails because of the behavioural layer, not the technology. How to actually make it work.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Change Management

Culture change with behavioural science: from awareness to behaviour

Most culture programmes change what people think, not what they do. Behavioural science bridges the gap from intention to consistent, visible behaviour.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Customer Experience

Customer-centric transformation: how employee behaviour shapes customer experience

Customer-centricity doesn’t start with customers - it starts with employees. Why customer-centric transformations fail without behavioural design.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Change Management

Change management with behavioural design: the approach that works

70% of change initiatives fail. Not because of poor plans, but because they were not designed around how people actually make decisions and change behaviour.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Leadership

Ownership in organisations: design it, don’t demand it

Ownership cannot be demanded or trained into people - it has to be designed. How managers use behavioural insights to create genuine autonomy and engagement.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Work Happiness

Work happiness in organisations: three levels of design

Work happiness doesn’t just happen - it’s designed. How to create structural conditions for work happiness at the task, team and organisational level.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
AI & Behaviour

AI and behavioural insights: how to combine both for better decisions

AI generates patterns at scale, behavioural science explains why people act the way they do. How to combine both disciplines into a more powerful approach.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

The anchoring effect at work: how the first number frames everything

Anchoring is one of the most powerful and least visible cognitive biases in organisations. How to use it deliberately - and how to protect yourself from it.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Cialdini’s principles of persuasion explained: the six levers of influence

Robert Cialdini identified six universal principles that drive human compliance. How each principle works and how to apply them ethically in your organisation.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Conversion optimisation with Behavioural Design: beyond A/B testing

Most conversion optimisation focuses on surface-level tweaks. Behavioural Design addresses the real reason people don’t convert: psychological friction and missing motivation.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Work Happiness

Self-Determination Theory explained: the three needs behind intrinsic motivation

Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory explains why people engage deeply with some tasks and disengage from others. The three universal psychological needs every manager should understand.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
AI & Behaviour

AI for persuasive copywriting: how to use it without losing your edge

AI can produce copy fast. But persuasive copy requires behavioural science, not just fluency. How to combine AI tools with the principles that actually change behaviour.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
AI & Behaviour

ChatGPT prompts for communication professionals

The quality of AI output depends entirely on the quality of your prompts. A practical guide to prompting for communication professionals who want behavioural results, not just readable text.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

The Happiness Code: Astrid Groenewegen’s new book on designing well-being

After years of research into what makes people flourish, Astrid Groenewegen presents The Happiness Code - a practical framework for designing well-being in organisations and daily life.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Work Happiness

Intrinsic motivation at work: how to design for it (not force it)

Bonuses and KPIs motivate in the short term. Intrinsic motivation sustains performance over years. What the science says about designing work environments where people genuinely want to perform.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Customer journey optimisation with behavioural insights

Every drop-off point in a customer journey is a behavioural problem in disguise. How to use the SUE Influence Framework to identify hidden friction and design journeys people actually complete.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Negativity bias at work: how negative experiences hijack your decisions

Why does one complaint weigh more than ten compliments? The negativity bias explains why teams get stuck in problems and how to break through it.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Hindsight bias at work: why you always think you knew it all along

“I saw that coming.” No, you didn’t. The hindsight bias distorts evaluations, undermines innovation and protects poor decision-makers.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

The curse of knowledge at work: why experts are bad at explaining

The more you know, the worse you communicate. The curse of knowledge explains why brilliant experts fail to transfer their knowledge.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Change Management

Engaging employees in change: five behavioural principles for ownership

Change programmes fail not because of bad plans, but because people don’t feel ownership. Five principles from behavioural science that do work.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Change Management

Reducing resistance to change: a behavioural science approach

Resistance to change is not irrational. It’s a predictable response to loss, uncertainty and threatened autonomy. Here’s how to work with it, not against it.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Change Management

Building support for change: how to design buy-in with behavioural science

Buy-in isn’t something you get through better arguments. It’s something you design. The Influence Framework shows you how.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

A call-to-action that works: the behavioural science behind it

Most CTAs fail. Not because the copy is bad, but because they ignore how people actually make decisions. Five behavioural principles that fix this.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

Persuasive communication: how behavioural science makes your message land

Persuasion has a bad reputation. But ethical persuasion is about removing barriers and making the right choice easier. Here’s how.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

Nudging in communication: how to apply it

Nudging is one of the most powerful tools for communication professionals. How to apply choice architecture concretely in your communication strategy.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

Writing persuasive emails with behavioural science

Email is the most widely used communication tool, yet the most ignored. How framing, loss aversion and social proof make your emails actually lead to action.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

Changing behaviour through communication

Informing is not the same as influencing. Why your messages are read but don’t change behaviour, and what you can do about it.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

AI for communication professionals: behavioural science as your secret weapon

AI writes fast. But fast isn’t persuasive. How to combine AI tools with behavioural science to create communication that actually changes behaviour.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

Persuasive copywriting: how to write texts that change behaviour

Most copy informs but doesn’t persuade. Three common pitfalls and six behavioural science principles for writing that actually moves people to action.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

The framing effect: examples of how word choice changes decisions

The same information, framed differently, leads to completely different decisions. Five framing techniques you can apply immediately.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

Why informing people doesn’t work (and what does)

Information alone never changes behaviour. The knowledge-behaviour gap explained - and four principles from behavioural science that actually work.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

Change communication that works: five behavioural principles

Most change communication fails because it explains why change is needed. Five principles from behavioural science for communication that actually drives adoption.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Work Happiness

Employee happiness: what it is and how to design it

Why employee satisfaction surveys don’t improve wellbeing - and how to design the four happiness contexts that actually do.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Work Happiness

The three misconceptions about employee happiness (and what actually works)

Fruit baskets, yoga sessions, mindfulness apps - why most wellbeing programmes backfire. The three misconceptions you need to know.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Work Happiness

Flow at work: how to design it (not force it)

It takes 23 minutes to regain deep focus after an interruption. How to design a work environment where deep work is the norm.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Thinking Fast and Slow: what Kahneman discovered about our brain

Daniel Kahneman proved that 96% of our thinking is automatic and unconscious. Learn how System 1, System 2 and cognitive biases apply to behavioural design and everyday decisions.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behavioural Design for Healthcare

50% of patients don’t follow treatment plans. The problem isn’t information. It’s behaviour. How to redesign patient journeys to work with human psychology.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behavioural Design for Financial Services

Customers know they should save more. They don’t. How loss aversion, present bias and status quo bias shape financial behaviour more than any product.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behavioural Design for the Public Sector

Policies designed for rational citizens fail. How behavioural design transforms citizen participation, energy transition and public service delivery.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behavioural Design for Retail

70% of online carts are abandoned. Loyalty programmes reward but don’t retain. How to design retail experiences that change what customers actually do.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behavioural Design for Education

Training completion is high. Behaviour transfer is near zero. Why knowledge doesn’t change behaviour and how environment design does.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behavioural Design for Tech

Users sign up, explore for a week, and quietly disappear. Feature adoption stalls. The gap between product value and user action.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behavioural Design for Insurance

Customers underinsure their most valuable assets and churn at renewal. The product is fine. How people perceive risk is the problem.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behavioural Design for Telecom

Customers who rate you 8 out of 10 switch to a competitor next month. Churn is not a pricing problem. It is a behavioural one.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behavioural Design for FMCG

Your product wins blind taste tests. Market share does not move. Habit and shelf-level defaults beat product quality every time.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behavioural Design for Fintech

Users sign up for your savings app enthusiastically. Three months later, 70% of accounts have a balance of zero. The intent-action gap in fintech.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Leadership

Why Employee Engagement Fails: The Behavioural Science Explanation

23% of employees worldwide are engaged. Billions spent on surveys and programmes. The scores barely move. The missing layer is always the same.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Change Management

Why Software Adoption Fails: The Behavioural Science Explanation

70% of software rollouts fail to deliver ROI. Only 49% of features are used. The problem is not the software, it is the old workflow living in System 1.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Peak-End Rule at Work: why the ending determines everything

People judge experiences by the most intense moment and the ending. How that shapes onboarding, meetings, and feedback conversations.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

Decoy Effect at Work: how an irrelevant option steers your choice

A third option nobody picks that systematically strengthens your preference for another. How it works in pricing, hiring, and strategy.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Present Bias at Work: why short-term always wins

You know you should write that strategy, but you answer your email first. Present bias sabotages long-term goals in every organisation.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

Reciprocity Principle at Work: the power of give and take

The urge to return favours drives teams, negotiations, and collaborations. How to use reciprocity ethically in organisations.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Endowment Effect at Work: why ownership distorts judgement

Once something is yours, it becomes more valuable. This effect sabotages reorganisations, feedback, and innovation.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Optimism Bias at Work: why timelines are always too optimistic

Every project takes longer than planned. Not because of bad planning, but because of a systematic overestimation of chances.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

Scarcity Principle at Work: when limited availability distorts value

Limited availability increases perceived value. How scarcity influences hiring, urgency, and strategic choices.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Decision Fatigue at Work: why you make worse choices after 3pm

The quality of your decisions measurably drops after a day full of choices. How to redesign decision environments.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Bandwagon Effect at Work: why everyone picks the same direction

Teams choose the same direction en masse, not because it's best, but because everyone else is doing it.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Availability Heuristic at Work: when recent events distort your priorities

What you experienced recently disproportionately shapes your risk assessment and priorities at work.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Change Management

Status Quo Bias at Work: why change is so hard

Teams cling to existing processes, even when better alternatives are available. The bias that sabotages every change initiative.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

Framing Effect at Work: same data, different decision

The same information leads to opposite decisions depending on how you present it. How to design better frames.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

Anchoring Bias at Work: the first number always wins

The first number in any negotiation, salary discussion, or estimate shapes every subsequent judgement.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Persuasion & Influence

Social Proof at Work: how colleagues shape your choices

From meeting dynamics to willingness to innovate: social proof determines what teams do.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Halo Effect at Work: one trait colours everything

A good first impression colours your entire judgement of a candidate, colleague, or idea.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Loss Aversion at Work: fear of loss drives your strategy

The fear of losing weighs twice as heavy as the joy of winning. How loss aversion shapes every organisational decision.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Sunk Cost Fallacy at Work: why stopping feels impossible

Organisations keep investing in failing projects because stopping feels like waste. The most expensive thinking error in business.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Dunning-Kruger Effect at Work: overconfidence that costs you

How overestimation of competence distorts hiring, performance conversations, and decisions at every level.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Cognitive Dissonance at Work: why people defend bad decisions

Employees defend choices that don't work because course-correcting hurts too much. How to design a safe environment for change.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

System 1 and System 2 Explained: fast thinking vs. slow thinking

Kahneman's two thinking systems form the foundation of all cognitive biases. What each system does and why it matters.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

What is Nudging? Theory, examples, and application

Everything about nudging: from Thaler and Sunstein's theory to practical applications in organisations.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

What is Sludge? How unnecessary friction blocks desired behaviour

Sludge is the opposite of a nudge: unnecessary friction that prevents people from doing what's good for them.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Implementation Intentions: the if-then strategy that changes behaviour

Peter Gollwitzer's simple technique bridges the gap between intention and action.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Libertarian Paternalism: preserving choice, designing better outcomes

The philosophy behind nudging: how to encourage better choices without restricting freedom.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Choice Architecture: how the presentation of choices steers decisions

Every choice has a designer. Choice architecture shows how context determines the outcome of decisions.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Dark Patterns: how deceptive design manipulates you

From hidden unsubscribe buttons to misleading cookie banners. The dark side of behavioural design.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Defaults: the power of the pre-selected option

Most people choose what's already ticked. Defaults are the most powerful nudge there is.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Friction in Behavioural Design: when resistance helps

Sometimes you remove friction, sometimes you add it. The difference determines whether your intervention works.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Social Norms: how others' behaviour steers your choices

Cialdini's research on descriptive and injunctive norms. The most powerful lever for behaviour change at scale.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Commitment Devices: binding yourself to future behaviour

From Odysseus at the mast to modern savings programmes. How to design upfront commitment that holds.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behavioural Economics Explained: where psychology meets economics

From Kahneman to Thaler: the field that proves people don't decide rationally, and what you can do about it.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Decision Science: how people actually decide

From Herbert Simon to Gary Klein: the science studying how real-world decisions are actually made.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behavioural Design vs Design Thinking: what's the difference?

Both methods are human-centred, but they solve fundamentally different problems. When do you use which?

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behavioural Design vs Change Management: what's the difference?

Change management focuses on processes, Behavioural Design on the behaviour those processes need to carry.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behavioural Design vs UX Research: what's the difference?

UX Research discovers what users want. Behavioural Design designs for why they don't do it.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Behavioural Economics vs Psychology: what's the difference?

Behavioural economics focuses on economic decisions, psychology on all human behaviour. Where do they overlap?

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Nudging vs Gamification: what works when?

Nudging preserves freedom of choice, gamification motivates through game mechanics. Two approaches, different situations.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Cognitive Biases at Work: The Complete Guide

55 cognitive biases are systematically distorting your hiring, strategy, and team decisions. The complete guide to understanding them - and how to design around them.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Change Management

Why Change Initiatives Fail: The Behavioural Science Explanation

AI adoption, change management, digital transformation: 70% fail. The reason is always the same missing layer - the behavioural layer that standard change management ignores.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
AI & Behaviour

Why AI adoption fails: the behavioural science explanation

88% of organisations use AI. 6% see results. The technology isn’t the problem - the missing behavioural layer is. The SUE Influence Framework diagnoses the real blockers.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Change Management

Why change management fails: the behavioural science explanation

70% of change initiatives fail - not because of poor planning, but because the behavioural layer is always missing. The SUE Influence Framework reveals what is actually blocking change.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
Leadership

Why digital transformation fails: the behavioural science explanation

Only 16% of digital transformations fully succeed. The failure isn’t in the technology or budget - it’s in the missing behavioural layer every roadmap leaves out.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

Confirmation bias at work: why your team always agrees with you

Confirmation bias sabotages your hiring, strategy and team decisions. Discover how it works - and how to redesign decision-making processes that protect you.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

The SUE Influence Framework: understanding and changing behaviour

The step-by-step method SUE uses to analyse and change behaviour. From identifying barriers to designing effective interventions.

Tom de Bruyne Read more →
Behaviour & Nudging

What is Behavioural Design? The complete guide

Everything about the discipline that combines behavioural science and design thinking to understand and change human behaviour.

Astrid Groenewegen Read more →
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