Margherita Patrone
October 29, 2026
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Marketers pay close attention to the small things that influence a purchase. An extra step at checkout can cost a sale. A familiar option can become the default. Seeing what other people do can make a choice feel normal. We spend far less time examining how those same forces operate in our own lives.
On this episode, Margherita Petrone, enterprise account director at Zappi, joins me to discuss how we can turn that knowledge on ourselves. Margherita works with global brands to translate consumer insights into decisions, and writes about applying what she knows about behavior to her own life.
Our conversation covers:
What does your behavior say about your priorities? Calendars and spending patterns can reveal a gap between what we say we value and what we repeatedly do. Interpretation matters, too: a coffee purchase might buy caffeine, but it might also be part of a valued friendship or daily connection.
Where would a little friction help? Brands remove obstacles to purchasing. We can remove obstacles to exercise or add a pause to shopping. Putting running shoes beside the bed and making an impulse purchase less convenient apply the same principle in different directions.
Which defaults have you chosen? A recurring grocery order can make a preferred eating routine easier to maintain. A move or another life change can disrupt familiar defaults and create an opportunity to reconsider them.
Whose behavior makes something feel normal? Social influence affects more than what we buy. We discuss belonging, career expectations, and mugugno, the Genoese tradition of grumbling, as examples of how the people around us shape our expectations and habits.
When has planning done enough? Margherita describes bringing a procurement mindset to a home renovation. We discuss the point at which preparation starts serving our desire for control, and how setting limits in advance can help.
Does a streak still serve its purpose? Visible progress can motivate us to continue. A defined trial period and a proper review give us a chance to decide whether a routine remains useful, enjoyable, or worth changing.
Margherita’s suggestion for getting started is small: remove one barrier to something you want to do. The conversation invites us to give our own daily choices the attention we already give a customer’s journey.
Margherita Patrone is an Enterprise Account Director at Zappi, where she partners with global brands to help them make better decisions through consumer insight, advertising testing and innovation research. Her work sits at the intersection of brands, behavioural science and technology, with a particular interest in how human behaviour shapes the way people choose, create and change.
Alongside her role at Zappi, Margherita writes Notes from Liguria, a newsletter exploring behavioural science, culture, brands and intentional living. Originally from Italy, she has lived in Cape Town and London, and is now based in Liguria. Her writing often reflects this mix of places, exploring the small observations and psychological patterns that shape everyday life.
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