Every year, Q3 signals the unofficial start of pre-planning season – the period when smart organizations begin gathering market intelligence to inform their Q4 planning efforts. During this critical runway, insights teams work hard to uncover what truly drives their consumers' behavior. But standard market research or surface-level data often isn’t enough. That’s where behavioral science comes in.

Behavioral science, when applied to research strategy, helps brands go beyond what consumers say to understand what they actually do – and why. But for those insights to be useful and actionable, your research must start with a brief that’s structured for behavioral thinking. A well-written behavioral science brief lays the foundation for analyzing cognitive biases, mapping friction points, and identifying opportunities to drive behavior change across key moments in the shopper journey.

Why is this brief so important for planning?

During planning season, organizations make high-stakes decisions about investment, innovation, and brand strategy. Without a strong understanding of consumer decision-making, those plans can be built on assumptions or incomplete data. A behavioral insights brief ensures you get targeted, intentional research that connects business goals with human behavior – helping you prioritize what truly matters.

Here are a few ways it supports better planning:

• Clarifies Objectives: A behavioral science brief forces teams to articulate the behavior they want to understand or change, which sharpens the research focus.
• Improves Insight Quality: It sets the stage for uncovering deep, often hidden drivers of consumer behavior that traditional tools might overlook.
• Enables Collaboration: A clear behavioral science brief makes it easier for in-house teams, market research partners, or behavioral experts (like SIVO’s On Demand Talent professionals) to align on what success looks like.
• Supports Planning Readiness: Insights gathered through this lens equip strategy teams with concrete behavioral data to influence decisions before the planning process even begins.

Think of the behavioral science brief as your roadmap. Without it, you risk missing the turns that truly matter. With it, you have a tool that translates behavioral science into smart, timely business actions.

If you're wondering how to write a behavioral science brief or what should be in an insights brief, you're not alone. Many brand and marketing teams struggle with translating business questions into something behavioral experts can act on. The good news? An effective behavioral insights brief doesn’t have to be overly technical – but it does need to be thoughtful and strategic.

To get meaningful results from behavioral science in market research, your brief should clearly define your goals, audience, and the behavioral outcomes you're targeting. Whether you're working with internal partners or calling on seasoned professionals from a firm like SIVO Insights — or leveraging experts from our On Demand Talent network — clarity is key. A strong brief ensures your team can explore the cognitive biases and decision-making patterns that influence your consumers in real life.

Here are the key components of a behavioral science brief:

1. Business Challenge and Behavioral Objective

Start by framing the real-world business issue you’re facing. What decision is upcoming, and why does consumer behavior matter here? Then, define the behavioral objective – what action do you want to influence or understand? This could be anything from increasing trial purchases to reducing drop-off rates in digital funnels.

2. Target Audience Details

Behavioral science is grounded in real contexts. Provide context on the audience segment you're exploring – not just demographics, but situations, environments, and any known behavior patterns. Are these loyal customers, new users, or lapsed buyers? What moments or environments are most relevant (in-store, online, usage moments)?

3. Known Friction Points and Cognitive Barriers

If you already suspect certain hesitations, obstacles, or mental shortcuts (aka cognitive biases) your consumers are facing, include them here. These clues help behavioral experts map the context and look deeper. Even observed behavior, such as ‘abandoning cart during checkout,’ offers a helpful data point.

4. Desired Research Outcomes

What does success look like? Spell out the types of behavioral insights you're hoping to gain – such as understanding shopper friction points, uncovering emotional triggers, or developing behavior change strategies for your brand. You don’t need all the answers upfront, but guidance helps align expectations.

5. Scope and Timeline

Define your budget, timing, and whether the project is standalone or part of broader research. This ensures the right approach and resources are matched to your needs. For fast-moving projects or temporary needs, many teams benefit from tapping On Demand Talent to accelerate timelines without long hiring processes.

Each of these sections doesn’t need to be lengthy, but it should be focused. The goal is to empower your insights team or behavioral professionals with context that helps them do what they do best – decode human behavior and deliver insights that support actionable, confident decisions. A well-crafted behavioral science brief ensures your investment in market research leads to real impact during planning season – and beyond.

One of the unique strengths of behavioral science in market research is its ability to uncover hidden mental shortcuts and barriers that influence consumer behavior. Behavioral science experts bring specialized methods to identify where decisions are being guided – or blocked – by cognitive biases and friction points. These insights are often the key to unlocking behavior change strategies for brands.

What Are Cognitive Biases and Friction Points?

Cognitive biases are subconscious patterns that affect how consumers make decisions. These include common tendencies like confirmation bias (favoring information that aligns with existing beliefs) or loss aversion (preferring to avoid losses rather than gain equivalent rewards).

Friction points are moments in the customer journey that slow down, confuse, or discourage decision-making. These could be things like too many choices on a product page, unclear messaging, or a time-consuming checkout process.

How Experts Spot These Hidden Influences

Skilled behavioral scientists use a combination of qualitative tools, observational research, and behavioral frameworks to pinpoint the psychological factors affecting consumer decision-making. Some of the methods include:

• Ethnographic studies or shop-alongs to observe real-time behavior
• Journey mapping to reveal drop-offs or moments of disengagement
• Behavioral interviews that go beyond “what happened” to uncover “why”
• Heuristic audits to evaluate where mental shortcuts might be at play

An Example in Action

Let’s say a (fictional) consumer electronics company notices a high rate of cart abandonment for a new product. A behavioral science expert from SIVO’s On Demand Talent network might conduct a decision barrier analysis. They discover that customers hesitate because the product description uses tech-heavy language, triggering confusion and delaying purchases – a clear friction point. Additionally, confirmation bias may be causing shoppers to favor more familiar brands.

With this knowledge, the brand team can simplify copy and highlight relatable product benefits earlier in the journey – reducing hesitation and supporting faster decisions.

When built into a strong insights brief, these types of discoveries provide rich context that goes beyond traditional metrics and surveys. They allow insight teams to design interventions that align with how consumers actually think and behave, not just how we expect them to.

Understanding what people do is only part of the puzzle – behavioral science digs into the why behind consumer decisions. Once cognitive biases and friction points are identified, the next step is translating those insights into meaningful business action.

Turning Insights into Growth Opportunities

When behavioral insights are built into your strategy early – especially in pre-planning season – they can reshape your path forward. From innovation and messaging to pricing and placement, behavioral inputs provide the evidence teams need to pivot confidently.

For example:

• Brand teams can refine positioning strategies by understanding how consumers compare options and perceive risk.
• Product teams can reduce decision friction by eliminating overwhelming features or choices.
• Marketing teams can craft campaigns that appeal to emotional heuristics, not just rational benefits.

These insights directly contribute to more effective planning, stronger customer relationships, and ultimately better ROI from go-to-market initiatives.

From Insight to Impact: A Practical Example

Imagine a (fictional) food company preparing to relaunch a classic snack. With research showing that nostalgia influences buying decisions, behavioral insights revealed that consumers were more likely to purchase when they saw retro packaging – a nod to loss aversion and the desire for stability in uncertain times.

The company used these behavioral drivers to structure product messaging and shelf displays. The result? A smarter, evidence-backed strategy grounded in consumer psychology – not personal opinion or guesswork.

Why Strategic Planners Benefit From Behavioral Thinking

A behavioral science brief isn’t just a research document. It becomes a foundational tool for cross-functional teams to build smarter product roadmaps, anticipate shopper behavior, and uncover ways to guide consumers from intent to action. When decisions are supported by credible, human-centric insights, teams can make bold bets with greater confidence – especially during the make-or-break moments of the planning season.

If you’re heading into planning season, now is the ideal time to consider adding behavioral science expertise to your insights team. Why? Because the upfront phase of pre-planning is where foundational learning happens – and bringing in specialized professionals early can make a major difference in how insights are identified, shared, and applied.

The Value of Outside Behavioral Experts

While many marketing and strategy teams have internal research capabilities, behavioral science often requires unique training and experience. SIVO’s On Demand Talent network connects companies with seasoned behavioral experts who know how to tailor proven behavioral frameworks to business goals. These aren’t freelancers or generalist consultants – they are highly skilled professionals who work alongside your team (short-term or long-term) to deliver real impact quickly.

Signs Your Team Could Benefit

Here are a few signs it may be time to bring in behavioral insights professionals during pre-planning:

• You’re facing a high-stakes launch or brand repositioning with unclear consumer motivations
• Traditional research has failed to explain “why” behavior isn’t matching survey responses
• Your internal team is stretched thin and needs fast-turn, plug-in support
• You want to reduce bias in concept testing, messaging, or shopper journey research
• You need help mapping friction points within a new category or retail experience

What sets On Demand Talent apart is that our professionals can hit the ground running – no hand-holding or steep onboarding curve required. You get behavioral science expertise that’s tailored to your company culture and current priorities, helping your brand move faster and smarter as annual plans take shape.

Why Pre-Planning Season Is the Right Moment

Pre-planning season – often in Q3 – is when strategic organizations do their deepest listening. It’s a window to run exploratory research, test early hypotheses, and pressure-test assumptions about consumer behavior. Bringing in behavioral experts now ensures your brief guides the right questions from the start and sets up your business for data-backed decisions when it matters most.

Whether you’re building a new insights brief or refining an existing one, the earlier you introduce behavioral science to your process, the greater the returns – not only in strategy but also in execution.