How to Apply Behavioural Science for Better Results in Business-to-Business

At Capuchin, our behavioural science approach has delivered a $3.88m uplift for a global B2B consultancy, driven 2.7× higher B2B conversion for an app, and drive $2.49m in B2B2C sales to large institutions.

The psychology of business

Would you pay £120,000 a year for a platform your team barely logs into?

Plenty of businesses do. One enterprise brand signed off a six-figure software deal — then discovered less than 20% of its licences were being used.

And they renewed it.

Why? Because once we’ve committed, we justify the decision — even when it’s no longer working. That’s sunk cost fallacy. Add in status signalling (“It’s what the big players use”) and a little authority bias (“It came recommended by our consultants”), and you’ve got a behavioural cocktail powerful enough to override common sense.

It’s much more irrational than you think — whether you’re talking to SMEs, multinationals, or B2B2C brands.

Even when the job’s on the line, people often throw out their checklist the moment something “feels right.” That gut feeling? It’s not always insight. Often, it’s a shortcut.

Take price negotiation. If you open with a bold figure — say, £250,000 for a 12-month pilot — even if you land lower, you’ll typically land higher than if you started conservatively. That’s anchoring bias at work. And it’s just as powerful in boardrooms as it is in bazaars.

It was behavioural insight that helped one B2B app make a x2.7 improvement to its conversion rate, and deliver £3.88m uplift for a global B2B consultancy.

Behavioural science isn’t a “nice to have” in B2B anymore. It’s a competitive edge. Without it, you risk losing to brands who understand what really drives behaviour.

Because the truth is: your buyers are human. And like all humans, they’re cognitive misers — with limited attention and even less appetite for complexity. One estimate suggests we’re consciously aware of just 0.0004% of what our brains process in any given moment.

So no, most people aren’t analysing your proposal with clinical precision. They’re skimming, shortcutting, and scanning for signals.

Even in six- or seven-figure decisions, irrational drivers win. One study showed that procurement teams consistently over-select well-known suppliers — not because they’re better, but because they’re more familiar. That’s the mere exposure effect — and it’s powerful.

With the right behavioural nudges, you don’t just win attention. You win decisions.

Get Past the Brain’s Bouncer

Which slide grabs your attention first — a projected CAGR chart, or a red warning that says “Revenue at risk”?

Probably the warning. That’s your brain’s bouncer at work — filtering what gets past the velvet rope of conscious awareness.

Your prospects are bombarded daily with sales emails, pitch decks, Slack pings and pressure from all sides. But attention is finite. And the brain prioritises what feels urgent, emotional, or personally relevant.

That’s why even carefully crafted proposals often get ignored — and why behavioural science is so powerful in B2B. When you understand what gets in, you can design for it.

Here are five cues that consistently make the VIP list:

⚠️ Threat Framing – “You’re losing margin” beats “We can improve efficiency.”
🧠 Cognitive Dissonance – Contradictions like “Too much loyalty is hurting growth” spark curiosity.
🎯 Hyper-Relevance – Messages tailored to role, sector, or challenge boost cut-through.
🧩 Visual Contrast – Simple layouts with one bold insight stand out in a sea of sameness.
✍️ Fluency – Clear, de-jargoned copy earns trust — and attention.

Your audience’s attention span isn’t getting longer. But with the right behavioural cues, you can still earn your place past the bouncer.

How does it work?

Whatever the challenge, we’ve probably faced it — or something close.

From startups pitching to enterprises, to global brands needing to resonate with institutional buyers. From fintech to SaaS, and professional services to healthcare.

Whether your audience is CFOs, procurement teams, technical stakeholders, or board-level decision-makers.

Whether the goal is improving pitch conversion, increasing lifetime value, accelerating onboarding, or changing internal behaviours...

Wherever your business needs to go — chances are, we’ve helped a brand like yours get there.

Example 1 - Reveal new opportunities

We show you the real traits, motivations and triggers that drive your market. We quantify the value of commercial opportunities, then precisely detail the best ways to address them based on their psychological makeup – even down to specific ideas, words, language, images and colours that will be most persuasive.

We used this approach to drive $2.49 million in B2B2C sales by decoding institutional decision-making.

Example 2 - Be more persuasive

We create greater appeal for what you offer, based on how your audiences consider and mentally process decisions in your category. We do this using bespoke psychological research techniques like psychodynamic qualitative interviews or implicit testing.

We used this approach to get x2.7 higher conversion rates for a B2B app.

Example 3 - Shift behaviour

We identify psychological motivations and triggers at the most crucial points in the customer journey. We use our understanding of cognitive biases to create behavioural “nudges” to shift your audience’s behaviour.

We used this approach to help deliver a $3.88 million uplift for a global B2B consultancy.

Ready to Nudge?

Wherever there’s a decision to influence, we can help.

Whether you’re trying to win more pitches, drive adoption, improve retention, or shift internal behaviour — behavioural science gives you a sharper edge.

Share your challenge, and we’ll show you an agile, effective way you can start applying behavioural science.

Find out how you can start scientifically improving results 👇

Still more questions? Just ask.