> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://khalidalsuwailem.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Why a Customer's Silence Is More Honest Than Their Like - URL: https://khalidalsuwailem.com/writing/consumer-behaviour-en/ - Published: 2026-09-26T23:17:40.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-26T23:17:40.000Z - Description: A like costs nothing. That's exactly why it tells you so little. - Author: Khalid Alsuwailem - Tags: Marketing [*اقرأ بالعربية*](https://khalidalsuwailem.com/writing/consumer-behaviour/) You send a customer a two-word question: "Thursday okay?" They read it. They don't reply. The same day, your campaign post passes a thousand likes, and someone sends you a screenshot with three exclamation marks. Which of those matters more? Most of us celebrate the second and forget the first. I did, for years. ## A few hundred thousand ads, one question Some years ago I sat in front of a few hundred thousand ads. Some sold remarkably well. Others ate the budget and vanished. I had one question: what actually makes people buy? Scarcity? Reviews? Fear of missing out? A good photo? A limited-time offer? I went looking for whatever the winners had in common, and found something I hadn't expected. The ads with the most likes were, more often than not, not the ones that sold the most. The problem wasn't the ads, and it wasn't the platform. It was us: how we read what customers do, and how much weight we give each thing they do. ## One tap, zero cost A like is a tap. A view is two seconds of scrolling past. No time, no money, no commitment. And still we open the report, watch the numbers climb, decide the campaign is "working", and set next month's budget on the strength of that feeling. The person who liked your post may have been scrolling while they waited for their coffee. The person who ignored your easy question made a decision. ## The rule that changed how I read customers After watching the same pattern repeat, I started reading everything a customer does through one question: what did this cost them? > **A signal is worth what it cost the customer to send.** A specific question about price cost them time and attention. Coming back to the basket two days later on a different device cost them repeated effort. Asking for detailed technical specs cost them thought. Signals like these are rare, but they carry weight. Likes, "I'll think about it" and "let me get back to you next week" are plentiful and light. They give you a feeling of momentum far more than they give you information. This isn't a scientific law. It's a pattern I've seen hold across a lot of real cases, and it's been enough to change how I make decisions. ## So what about silence? Fair objection: silence costs nothing either. So how can it be more honest than a like? Silence doesn't get its value from effort. It gets it from how easy the alternative was. When the answer to your question is a single word, yes or no, and the customer chooses not to type it, that's a choice. And choices tell you things. A like tells you the customer passed by. Silence after an easy question tells you where they actually stand. Usually further away than you'd hope. ## Who's reading the signal for you? Sometimes the signal doesn't reach you from the customer at all. It comes through someone in the middle. A salesperson living on commission will tell you the customer is "really keen". They're not lying. They need to see interest, so they see it. Ad platforms do the same thing in their own way. The platform measuring your campaign is also the one that wants you to spend more on it, so it claims every sale it can. I'm not accusing anyone. Just don't let the one marking its own homework be your only source. ## Three customers. Which one do you chase? Say one in ten customers who receive a quote eventually buys. The first liked five of your posts, watched the product video to the end, and said, "I'll think about it." The second liked nothing. But they asked about delivery times to their city, added the product to their basket, and came back to it two days later on their phone. The third you asked, "Thursday okay?" They read it. That was three days ago. On the likes report, the first is the star of the week. In reality, the second is far closer to buying, and the third has given you a clear answer. The first is the only one who has told you almost nothing. ## Where to start You don't need a complicated system. You need four things: - **Record every step before you analyse anything.** Everything the customer does, timestamped and tied to them even when they switch devices. Most systems fail here, long before they reach any algorithm. - **Write your weights down.** Rank customer actions by what they cost. The weights will be guesses at first, and that's fine. Adjust them from your own results, not from generic benchmarks that look nothing like your market. - **Start from your real rate.** Of every hundred customers who reached this stage, how many actually bought? That's your starting point, and you move from it in small steps. Most signals don't deserve to shift your estimate much. - **Write your prediction down before you know the outcome.** Then compare. If the deals you called at seventy per cent close half the time, you're more optimistic than you should be. Your gut will never tell you that. ## What you measure, and what you guess One last thing, and maybe the most important. Where a customer stopped is something you can measure. Why they stopped is a guess, however convincing it sounds. The danger starts when a report presents the guess with the same confidence as the measurement. You feel like you understand. In fact, you're interpreting. --- I'm not against likes. I'm against giving them weight they haven't earned. Next time the numbers climb and the celebrations start, ask one question: **What did this signal cost the person who sent it?**