Posted by
randfish
I couldn’t help but love Chris Yeh’s
, despite terrible economic conditions
Arouse your audience and their behavior changes drastically (note: this is probably not universally applicable)
VI: The Problem of Procrastination and Self Control
Ariely conducted an experiment on his class. Students were required to write three papers. Ariely asked the first group to commit to dates by which they would turn in each paper. Late papers would be penalized 1% per day. There was no penalty for turning papers in early. The logical response is to commit to turning all three papers in on the last day of class. The second group was given no deadlines; all three papers were due in the last day of class. The third group was directed to turn their papers in on the 4th, 8th, and 12th weeks.
The results? Group 3 (imposed deadlines) got the best grades. Group 2 (no deadlines) got the worst grades, and Group 1 (self-selected deadlines) finished in the middle. Allowing students to pre-commit to deadlines improved performance. Students who spaced out their commitments did well; students who did the logical thing and gave no commitments did badly.
"These results suggest that although almost everyone has problems with procrastination, those who recognize and admit their weakness are in a better position to utilize available tools for precommitment and by doing so, help themselves overcome it."
Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing:
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Procrastination is an extremely common human behavior - plan for it in your business and take advantage of it where it can help (trial offers that turn into paid services, for example)
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By setting up early controls and making people recognize this weakness, we can reduce its negative impact. You can apply this to contractors, employees, vendors, etc.
VII: The High Price of Ownership
The "endowment effect" means that when we own something, we begin to value it more than other people do.
Ariely and Carmon conducted an experiment on Duke students, who sleep out for weeks to get basketball tickets; even those who sleep out are still subjected to a lottery at the end. Some students get tickets, some don’t. The students who didn’t get tickets told Ariely that they’d be willing to pay up to $170 for tickets. The students who did get the tickets told Ariely that they wouldn’t accept less than $2,400 for their tickets.
There are three fundamental quirks of human nature. We fall in love with what we already have. We focus on what we might lose, rather than what we might gain. We assume that other people will see the transaction from the same perspective as we do.
Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing:
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In contrast to the recommendations for offering something for free, be aware that users who get your product/service for "free" will place less value on it than those whoe worked for it or bought it themselves.
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It’s easier to get more money from your existing customers than it is to attract new ones (this marketing wisdom has been around forever, but applies particularly well given this psychology)
VIII: Keeping Doors Open
In 210 BC, Xiang Yu led an army against the Ch’in Dynasty. While his troops slept, he burned his ships and smashed all the cooking pots. He explained to his troops that they had to either fight their way to victory or die. His troops won 9 consecutive battles. Eliminating options improved the focus of his troops.
We feel compelled to preserve options, even at great expense, even when it doesn’t make sense.
Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing:
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Narrow your customers’ choices and they’ll be more likely to commit
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Narrow navigation options to the most important/desired behaviors - it may seem counter-intuitive, but if you want users to click, reducing pathways may actually increase interaction (page views, sales, etc)
IX: The Effect of Expectations
Ariely, Lee, and Frederick conducted yet another experiment on MIT students. They let students taste two different beers, and then choose to get a free pint of one of the brews. Brew A was Budweiser. Brew B was Budweiser, plus 2 drops of balsamic vinegar per ounce.
When students were not told about the nature of the beers, they overwhelmingly chose the balsamic beer. When students were told about the true nature of the beers, they overwhelmingly chose the Budweiser. If you tell people up front that something might be distasteful, the odds are good they’ll end up agreeing with you–because of their expectations.
Not only do we react differently based on stereotypes of others, we react differently based on stereotypes about ourselves. Shin, Pittinsky, and Ambady conducted an experiment on Asian-American women. A first group was asked questions related to their gender, then given a math test. A second group was asked questions related to their race, then given a math test.
The second group did better on the math test than the first. "Blind" presentation of the facts (presenting the facts, but not revealing which party took which actions) might help people better recognize the truth.
Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing:
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Take advantage of expectations - if you’re selling a product or service and can enhance the perception of value/enjoyment, your market is likely to follow along and actually get more value/enjoyment.
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Branding is a powerfullly ally in value creation - position your brand so that users expect great things, and they’ll get them.
X: The Power of Price
Ariely, Waber, Shiv, and Carmon made up a fake painkiller, Veladone-Rx. An attractive woman in a business suit (with a faint Russian accent) told subjects that 92% of patients receiving VR reported significant pain relief in 10 minutes, with relief lasting up to 8 hours.
When told that the drug cost $2.50 per dose, nearly all of the subjects reported pain relief. When told that the drug cost $0.10 per dose, only half of the subjects reported pain relief. The more pain a person experienced, the more pronounced the effect. A similar study at U Iowa showed that students who paid list price for cold medications reported better medical outcomes than those who bought discount (but clinically identical) drugs.
Lessons to Apply to Web Marketing:
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Higher pricing means higher expectations, but also more fulfillment, even if the product isn’t actually more fulfilling! Raise your consulting prices, people.
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The Placebo effect is strong - don’t abuse it, but leverage this knowledge to be smart about your own purchases and investments and as a potentially valuable tool to use in comparisons with competitive products/services/companies.
Your turn -
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