I am a big fan of behavioral economics and to its extension, behavioral marketing, especially to the work of Dan Ariely and Daniel Kahneman just to name a few.
I appreciate Daniel Kahneman for the new light he brought on the matter of the contemporary multiple-self that from an epistemological perspective rebuilds the hermeneutics of the narrative-self, continuing the historical becoming of the being Nietzsche started.
For those that are not familiar with the subject, what behavioral economics teaches us is that we can’t exactly talk of a rational economic agent or how a cynical marketer would put it, there is an irrational behavior of the agent that can be exploited. I do not agree with this cynical view, especially when it comes to gambling, but rather I embrace the Responsible Gambling view by making sure a player won’t wager over his budget and gambling doesn’t become an addiction in the strong sense. A happy customer should be the key focus of any business, as happy customers always help the business grow. Even though in the short run the higher value might be on the addiction, in the long run this will just damage the industry as a whole and will negatively influence growth.
Read more: Top 10 Marketing Mistakes Affiliates Make
Behavioral marketing is something that almost any affiliate is used to, as this includes many of the standard web procedures like A/B testing for instance. However there is a small distinction between them, as behavioral marketing goes a bit further trying to be in art in the Aristotle’s sense, more precisely it tries to understand why an action has a particular outcome and not only that it has that outcome. Understating why is the only way of getting new knowledge that can be used to improve conversions and grow your business overall.
My main point is that with the further development of cognitive sciences, marketers will get new tools of exploring the mind of the economic agent, tools that should be used with moderation. There’s nothing wrong with using philosophy of language, psychology, cognitive sciences or anthropology to sell more, but this should also be used to create better products that in the long run create better value for the customer.
About The Author
Victor Stinga spent the first part of his career as a semi-professional poker player and dealer whilst studying at University. He was later involved with affiliate marketing and advertising sectors, focusing on new and emerging markets and working on a number of programs. Victor is now working on the affiliate strategy at mFortune. Learn more about mFortune’s affiliate program at http://mfortunepartners.com/.