Make a product’s cost less painful

[2] In almost every purchasing decision, consumers have the option to do nothing: they can always save their money for another day. That’s why the marketer’s task is not just to beat competitors but also to persuade shoppers to part with their money in the first place. According to economic principle, the pain of payment should be identical for every dollar we spend. In marketing practice, however, many factors influence the way consumers value a dollar and how much pain they feel upon spending it.

[3] Retailers know that allowing consumers to delay payment can dramatically increase their willingness to buy. One reason delayed payments work is perfectly logical: the time value of money makes future payments less costly than immediate ones. But there is a second, less rational basis for this phenomenon. Payments, like all losses, are viscerally unpleasant. But emotions experienced in the present—now—are especially important. Even small delays in payment can soften the immediate sting of parting with your money and remove an important barrier to purchase.

[4] Another way to minimize the pain of payment is to understand the ways “mental accounting” affects decision making. Consumers use different mental accounts for money they obtain from different sources rather than treating every dollar they own equally, as economists believe they do, or should. Commonly observed mental accounts include windfall gains, pocket money, income, and savings. Windfall gains and pocket money are usually the easiest for consumers to spend. Income is less easy to relinquish, and savings the most difficult of all.

[5] Technology creates new frontiers for harnessing mental accounting to benefit both consumers and marketers. A credit card marketer, for instance, could offer a Web-based or mobile-device application that gives consumers real-time feedback on spending against predefined budget and revenue categories—green, say, for below budget, red for above budget, and so on. The budget-conscious consumer is likely to find value in such accounts (although they are not strictly rational) and to concentrate spending on a card that makes use of them. This would not only increase the issuer’s interchange fees and financing income but also improve the issuer’s view of its customers’ overall financial situation. Finally, of course, such an application would make a genuine contribution to these consumers’ desire to live within their means.

單詞注解

viscerally 發(fā)自內(nèi)心地，本能地

windfall gain【經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)】意外的(巨額)收益

翻譯

減少花錢帶來的痛苦
【2】每次決定購(gòu)買時(shí)，消費(fèi)者可以選擇什么都不做，因此他們能為未來省錢。這就是為什么市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷者的任務(wù)不是去打敗競(jìng)爭(zhēng)者，而是在第一時(shí)間說服消費(fèi)者付款。根據(jù)經(jīng)濟(jì)原則來說，付錢的痛苦應(yīng)該與我們花的每一分錢相等。然而，在營(yíng)銷實(shí)踐中，有許多因素影響消費(fèi)者對(duì)一美元的價(jià)值，以及他們?cè)谙M(fèi)上的痛苦程度。
【3】零售商知道允許消費(fèi)者延時(shí)付款在很大程度上能增加他們的購(gòu)買欲望。延期付款有用的的原因是因?yàn)檫@完全符合邏輯，金錢的時(shí)間價(jià)值使未來支付比即時(shí)支付更便宜。對(duì)于這種現(xiàn)象，有一種更不合理的理由。支付，像所有的損失一樣，是發(fā)自內(nèi)心的不愉快。但是現(xiàn)在的情感經(jīng)驗(yàn)也很重要。即使小小的延時(shí)付款也能減輕立即付款帶來的疼痛感，以及移除阻礙購(gòu)買決定的重要障礙。
【4】另一種減少支付痛苦的方法是理解心理賬戶對(duì)決策的影響。消費(fèi)者對(duì)錢的不同來源使用不同的心理賬戶，而不是平等對(duì)待他們自己的每一分錢，正如經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家們所認(rèn)為的那樣，或者應(yīng)該這樣做。常見的心理賬戶包括意外之財(cái)，零用錢，收入和存款。意外之財(cái)和零用錢是最容易被花掉的，收入不那么容易被花掉，存款是最難的。
【5】技術(shù)為利用為消費(fèi)者和市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷者的利益創(chuàng)造了新領(lǐng)域。例如，信用卡營(yíng)銷人員提供基于網(wǎng)絡(luò)或移動(dòng)設(shè)備的應(yīng)用程序，它可以讓消費(fèi)者實(shí)時(shí)反饋關(guān)于預(yù)先定義的預(yù)算和收入類別的支出，綠色代表低于預(yù)算，紅色表明高于預(yù)算。精打細(xì)算的顧客更容易在這樣的賬戶找到價(jià)值（盡管他們不是很理性的），并將注意力集中在使用他們的卡上。這不僅增加發(fā)行者的交易費(fèi)和經(jīng)濟(jì)收入，也改變發(fā)行者對(duì)顧客總體消費(fèi)情況的看法。當(dāng)然，最后這樣的軟件會(huì)為消費(fèi)者渴望量入為出做出巨大的貢獻(xiàn)。