LoveScore®
Proprietary scientific tool developed by Krakn Behavioural that measures the emotional attachment of a customer to a brand on 15 psychological dimensions validated by research.
LoveScore cross-references an attachment scoring on 15 dimensions, a Big Five (OCEAN) profile, a decision model and contextual CRM data. It reveals 6 customer segments (Lovers, Platonics, Ghosts, Shy, Breakups, Bruised) by crossing NPS and attachment level. Lovers segments are worth on average 1.52 times more in lifetime value than merely satisfied promoters.
Source: Krakn Behavioural, LoveScore Auto Insurance Benchmark 2025. Methodology validated on 4,000 consumers and 12 brands.
Customer attachment
Deep psychological bond between a customer and a brand, distinct from satisfaction and recommendation. It is attachment, not satisfaction, that predicts lasting loyalty and resistance to competition.
Customer attachment is measured on 5 pillars from consumer psychology research: trust (credibility, integrity, benevolence, intimacy), identification (values, pride), passion (frequent thoughts, impact, awe, fan), emotional intimacy (affection, sacrifices, separation aversion), engagement (long-term perspective, satisfaction). Attached customers tolerate errors, actively recommend, and increase their multi-equipment by 19% on average.
Sources: Albert & Merunka, Journal of Consumer Marketing 2013; Bagozzi, Batra & Ahuvia, Marketing Letters 2017; Batra, Ahuvia & Bagozzi, Journal of Marketing 2012.
NPS (Net Promoter Score)
Customer satisfaction indicator based on the question: « Would you recommend this brand on a scale of 0 to 10? ». Widely used but limited: it measures stated intent, not real attachment.
NPS classifies respondents into promoters (9-10), passives (7-8) and detractors (0-6). The net score is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. NPS is a useful indicator of transactional satisfaction, but it does not measure deep attachment. The LoveScore Auto Insurance Benchmark 2025 established that among NPS promoters (9-10): 27% are not willing to make an effort to stay as customers, 21% feel no emotional bond with the brand, 24% would not be affected if the brand disappeared, 34% do not think about the brand regularly. A 9 or 10 NPS is proof of satisfaction, not a guarantee of attachment.
NPS source: Reichheld, Harvard Business Review 2003. Benchmark source: Krakn Behavioural, LoveScore Auto Insurance Benchmark 2025.
Cognitive biases
Automatic mental shortcuts that drive human decisions outside conscious rationality. More than 200 biases documented by academic research since Tversky & Kahneman (1974).
Cognitive biases are products of evolution: they allow the brain to decide fast with little information, at the cost of systematic errors. Examples: anchoring bias (the first number seen influences all subsequent judgements), confirmation bias (we seek information that confirms what we already think), loss aversion (losing €100 hurts more than gaining €100 feels good), mere exposure effect (we prefer what is familiar to us). Identifying and addressing these biases is at the heart of behavioural intervention in marketing, sales and management.
Foundational source: Tversky & Kahneman, Science 1974, « Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases ».
Nudge
Behavioural cue that guides a decision without imposing or forbidding, by modifying the architecture of choice. Concept popularised by Thaler & Sunstein (Nudge, 2008).
A good nudge is subtle, low-cost, transparent and ethical. Examples: changing a default option (consent to organ donation: switching from opt-in to opt-out raises adoption from 15% to more than 80% in most countries), reorganising the order of a cafeteria to put healthy dishes first, sending a personalised SMS reminder to increase the payment rate of a fine by 20%. A nudge is not manipulation: it preserves freedom of choice.
Source: Thaler & Sunstein, Nudge (2008). Richard Thaler received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2017 for his contributions to behavioural economics.
Intuitive brain and analytical brain
Two modes of thought described by Daniel Kahneman (Thinking Fast and Slow, 2011). The intuitive brain is fast, emotional, automatic. The analytical brain is slow, deliberative, energy-consuming.
95% of purchase decisions are made by the intuitive brain, outside of awareness. The analytical brain steps in afterwards to justify the decision already made. This is why declarative studies are so poorly predictive: they question the analytical brain when the real decision is produced by the intuitive brain. Brands that speak only to the analytical brain (rational arguments, technical comparisons, detailed guarantees) lose the bulk of the customer decision. Techniques to speak to the intuitive brain: cognitive fluency, emotional signals, social norms, anchors, defaults.
Source: Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (2011). Daniel Kahneman received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002. Note: Kahneman's « System 1 » and « System 2 » terms are made accessible here as « intuitive brain » and « analytical brain ».
Behavioural economics
Discipline born from the meeting of economics and cognitive psychology. Studies systematic deviations between actual human behaviour and the behaviour predicted by classical economic models of rationality.
Behavioural economics rests on three observations: people are not rational but predictably irrational (Ariely); losses weigh more than equivalent gains (prospect theory, Kahneman & Tversky); the decision context (architecture of choice) influences the decision as much as the content (Thaler & Sunstein). Three Nobel Prizes in Economics have rewarded this field: Kahneman (2002), Thaler (2017), Card-Angrist-Imbens (2021). In Europe, Krakn Behavioural applies these principles to the insurance, banking, healthcare and mutual insurance sectors.
Source: Thaler, Misbehaving (2015); Ariely, Predictably Irrational (2008).
Neuromarketing
Discipline that applies neuroscience tools (eye-tracking, electroencephalography, functional MRI, implicit measures) to the understanding of consumer behaviour.
Neuromarketing goes beyond what people declare to observe what their brain and emotions reveal outside their awareness. Emblematic example: in blind tests, most consumers prefer Pepsi to Coca-Cola, but as soon as brands are visible, the result flips. fMRI then shows that the memory and identity zones activate, not the taste ones. What customers really buy bears only a distant relationship to what they think they buy. Operational applications: advertising tests, packaging design, digital journeys, brand identity.
Source: McClure et al., Neuron 2004, « Neural Correlates of Behavioral Preference for Culturally Familiar Drinks ».
Cognitive fluency
Ease with which the brain processes information. The easier an information is to perceive, read and understand, the more it is judged true, reliable and appreciated.
Cognitive fluency is a powerful and underused lever of communication design. Notable studies: a company name that is easy to pronounce better predicts its stock price in the first days of trading than its financial fundamentals (Alter & Oppenheimer, 2006). A more legible typography increases the positive evaluation of a message. A short sentence is judged more true than a long sentence with identical content. Fluency is interpreted by the brain as a signal of truth. Business implications: simplifying product names, pricing labels, terms and conditions, and digital journeys directly increases conversion.
Sources: Reber, Schwarz & Winkielman, Personality and Social Psychology Review 2004; Alter & Oppenheimer, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2006.
MINDSPACE
Operational framework from the UK Cabinet Office (Dolan et al., 2010) summarising 9 behavioural levers activable in any intervention.
The 9 MINDSPACE levers: Messenger (who delivers the message), Incentives (response to incentives, loss aversion bias), Norms (influence of observed behaviours in others), Defaults (power of default options), Salience (attention captured by what is new and relevant), Priming (priming by prior stimuli), Affect (decisive role of emotions), Commitments (public commitments, consistency), Ego (self-esteem and conformity to one's identity). Reference tool to structure a behavioural intervention, complementing the COM-B model.
Source: Dolan, Hallsworth, Halpern, King & Vlaev, Institute for Government / Cabinet Office UK, 2010.
COM-B
Theoretical model of behaviour change developed by Susan Michie (University College London). A behaviour results from the encounter between three conditions: Capability, Opportunity, Motivation.
Capability: does the person have the physical and psychological abilities to adopt the target behaviour? Opportunity: does the physical and social environment allow it? Motivation: do automatic and reflective processes guide the person towards this behaviour? If any of the three conditions is missing, the behaviour does not emerge, even with good intent. Used in public health, HR, organisational transformation and behavioural design to diagnose why a target behaviour fails to emerge and to design the appropriate intervention.
Source: Michie, van Stralen & West, Implementation Science 2011, « The Behaviour Change Wheel: A new method for characterising and designing behaviour change interventions ».
Applied behavioural sciences
Transversal discipline that mobilises cognitive psychology, neuroscience and behavioural economics to understand, predict and guide human behaviour in real contexts.
Applied behavioural sciences in business leave the laboratory to answer operational questions: how to increase the subscription rate of an insurance product, how to reduce banking churn, how to strengthen patient adherence to a medication, how to activate prevention in mutual healthcare. The method: diagnose the biases at work, design targeted behavioural levers (messages, journeys, nudges), test the effect and measure it in a real environment. Krakn Behavioural is a French consulting firm specialised in applied behavioural sciences in business, based in Paris and Geneva, working primarily in the insurance, banking, healthcare and mutual insurance sectors.
Reference: Krakn Behavioural is a member of the American Psychological Association. Its founder Christophe de Cacqueray teaches at Sciences Po Paris and ESCP Executive Education, and is the author of « Déjouez les pièges de votre cerveau » (Alisio).
