Most tech marketing still runs on an unexamined assumption that people choose things because those things are objectively good. Better throughput, better uptime, better price-per-seat. Get the spec sheet right, stack up the proof points, and the sale follows.

Rory Sutherland has spent thirty years inside advertising watching that assumption fail, over and over, in extremely profitable ways. His book, Alchemy: The Magic of Original Thinking in a World of Mind-Numbing Conformity, is our pick for this quarter’s Book Club. It’s a highly entertaining, hard-headed argument that perceived value and emotional impact routinely outweigh purely rational product or service benefits, which makes it a pointed read for any company whose go-to-market still leans almost entirely on features, specifications, and proof points.

Alchemy’s central claim is simple and slightly uncomfortable: human decision-making is irrational, and trying to market to the rational version of a person that doesn’t exist is a losing game. The smarter move is to design for how people actually feel, not just what they can be shown on paper.

The book is full of small, telling examples. Countdown boards on train platforms don’t reduce delays by a single second, but they make the wait feel shorter, because uncertainty is often more painful than the delay itself. Red Bull tastes, by most accounts, pretty bad, and sells anyway, because the product was never really about the taste. Sutherland’s point is that logic alone consistently under explains why people do what they do, and the businesses that notice the gap are the ones that win.

Why this matters for tech marketing specifically

Tech has a particular weakness for the rational pitch. Benchmarks, integrations, uptime guarantees, feature comparisons against the last three competitors. All defensible, all easy to justify in a deck, and all routinely outperformed by a competitor who simply made the buyer feel something first.

This is the direct bridge into brand experience and to the sequence a buyer or user moves through: the demo, the onboarding, the first error message, the support reply. Every one of those moments is either designed on purpose or left to chance. This book is a useful lens for anyone building a product page, an onboarding flow, or a pitch deck, and a slightly uncomfortable one for anyone who’s been taught that a well-made rational argument should be enough on its own.

RSVP

Join our book club, confirm your spot, and let us know you’ll be joining. And yes, come whether you’ve finished the book, started it, or just got curious.