The One Thing McDonald’s Knows About Decision-Making That Most B2Bs Don’t
- Vivien
- Nov 12
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 20
Have you noticed how when you're about 10 minutes (500m) away from a McDonald's, you'll start seeing more of their ads?
-Bus stops
-Train stations
-Motorway billboards
You’re not being convinced — you’re being nudged.
What Is Nudging?
Nudging is a concept rooted in behavioral science, introduced by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein in their book Nudge.
They defined it as a way to influence people’s decisions in a predictable way without restricting their freedom of choice.
In simpler terms: it’s about making the desired action the easiest, most natural, most frictionless thing to do.
A Nudge Strategy leads to higher conversion rates and speeds up the sales process because it sits at the customer's trigger points and targets people who are already aware of the problem and are actively looking for a solution.
McDonald’s doesn’t need to convince you to eat.
They just need to show up at the moment of choice — when your brain’s already halfway to “yes.”
It influences your buyer’s decision by making their choice seem natural, intuitive, and effortless.
And while anyone who works in B2B may look at this example and think "that's nice, but it won't work for me."
I know your ideal buyer isn't a few 100m away. It's more like a committee of decision makers behind their screens.
Nudge messaging works extremely well for B2B, because your potential buyers do a whole load of research before they consider you.
But here's where most B2Bs go wrong - they go full on foghorn with their constant Pick Me - Pick Me messaging, which turns off your buyers and gets your messaging stuck.
It requires a different approach and a change in your mindset.
The Tetanus Experiment: Why Small Nudges Matter
In the 1960s, Howard Leventhal, a social psychologist at Yale University, undertook an experiment to see if he could change students’ behaviours.
At the time, the University Health Centre was supplying free tetanus vaccinations. Leventhal wondered how he could influence senior students to get the vaccination.
He handed out brochures to people about getting a tetanus shot. Both booklets contained the same information about the vaccination, but one was a low-fear version and the other a high-fear version.
The high-fear version had dramatic descriptions of the ramifications of not getting a vaccination with detailed, logical, and filled with reasons why vaccination was important, describing the risks of contracting tetanus and vividly frightening images to show what it did to people.
The students filled in a questionnaire after reading the booklet. They all had a good understanding of what tetanus is, but the real test was whether they would get vaccinated.
After one month, only 3% of participating students were vaccinated.
He used the same booklets but made one small change.
He added a simple map with a map of the campus and a circle around the health centre showing where to go and clearly listed the times the centre provided the free tetanus shots.
A month later, 28% of participating students had received their tetanus vaccination
While Leventhal was looking to see whether fear influenced behaviour change. Ultimately, he found that it wasn’t the facts that changed people’s behavior — it was the clarity of the next step.
That’s the power of a nudge. Our campaigns should not only highlight the challenges or pain points that our target audience faces but also provide actionable steps or solutions to overcome these challenges.
Effective marketing extends beyond merely identifying and echoing the fears or challenges faced by potential customers. It necessitates providing a clear, actionable pathway to address these challenges
Just like McDonald's sending directions to help their hungry customers find them, your content should nudge your prospects to see how your solution works for them as they get closer to the point of sale.
So here's what you can do:
They need mental ease — small cues that make the process of saying “yes” feel natural, not forced.
Your job isn’t to convince everyone in the room.It’s to make it easy for your message to move through the room.
Because in a buying committee, the person who reads your message first probably won’t be the one who makes the final call.But they will be the one who decides whether your message gets passed on.
So give them something simple, clear, and repeatable — something they can forward without needing to explain.
5 Ways to Apply Nudge Messaging in B2B
Identify your “trigger moments.”Find out when your buyers are most likely to need what you offer — then show up there.
Make the next step ridiculously clear.Whether it’s a demo link, a checklist, or a story — guide them gently toward what to do next.
Design for repeatability.Write messages that are easy to forward, quote, or summarize in one sentence.
Speak to micro-decisions, not the final one.Don’t try to close in the first touchpoint. Help your buyer take the next small step.
Stay consistent, not constant.You don’t need to post more. You need to post with timing and relevance.
Copywriting that makes the Next Step Easy:
Give them an instant win.
What's a quick problem you can help solve right now?
Most B2B companies confuse their leads by mismatching the next step.
Be clear about what you want your reader to do next.
Do you want them to engage with a comment or download a guide? Remember to stick to just one CTA.
The brands that win aren’t the loudest — they’re the ones that nudge with precision.
They show up at the right moment.
They make action easy.
And they let their message move naturally through the committee.
Because the best messaging doesn’t persuade harder —it nudges smarter.
If your messaging is getting stuck, I can help you build one that creates movement.
🎯 Hi, I'm Vivien,
I work with Heads of Communications, CMOs, and B2B internal and external comms teams who desperately need messaging that:
Sticks
Travels accurately
Gets repeated and remembered
Ticks internal alignment
Creates momentum in buying committees
And moves decisions forward
