A Marketer’s Guide to Behavioral Economics(三)

Harness the power of a default option

[6] The evidence is overwhelming that presenting one option as a default increases the chance it will be chosen. Defaults—what you get if you don’t actively make a choice—work partly by instilling a perception of ownership before any purchase takes place, because the pleasure we derive from gains is less intense than the pain from equivalent losses. When we’re “given” something by default, it becomes more valued than it would have been otherwise—and we are more loath to part with it.

[7] Savvy marketers can harness these principles. An Italian telecom company, for example, increased the acceptance rate of an offer made to customers when they called to cancel their service. Originally, a script informed them that they would receive 100 free calls if they kept their plan. The script was reworded to say, “We have already credited your account with 100 calls—how could you use those?” Many customers did not want to give up free talk time they felt they already owned.

[8] Defaults work best when decision makers are too indifferent, confused, or conflicted to consider their options. That principle is particularly relevant in a world that’s increasingly awash with choices—a default eliminates the need to make a decision. The default, however, must also be a good choice for most people. Attempting to mislead customers will ultimately backfire by breeding distrust.

单词注解

harness ['hɑːnɪs]

1.If you harness something such as an emotion or natural source of energy, you bring it under your control and use it. 利用（V）
Turky plans to harness the water of Tigris and Euphrates rivers for a big hydro-electic power project.
土耳其计划利用底格里斯河与幼发拉底河的水来建造大型水力发电工程

2. If a horse or other animal is harnessed, a harness is put on it,especially so that it can pull a carriage, cart, or plough. 给…套上挽具（V）
   On sunday ,these horses were harnessed to a heavy wagon for a day-long ride over the border.
   星期天这些马被套在一辆沉重的货车上，踏上长达一天的旅程越过边境。
   3.背带; 安全带，马具; 挽具 (n)

overwhelming [‚əʊvə'welmɪŋ]

1.having such a great effect on you that you feel confused and do not know how to react.
an overwhelming sense of guilty一阵不能自制的内疚感
She found the city quite overwhelming when she first arrived
她初来时觉得这座城市令她不知所措。
2.very large or greater, more important etc than any other
巨大的，压倒性的
There is overwhelming evidence that smoking damages your health.
有难以辩驳的证据表明吸烟有损健康。
The proposal has been given overwhelming support. 这一提议得到了压倒性多数的支持

default [dɪ'fɔːlt] （v）违约（n）默认，默认选项

翻译

【6】有难以辩驳的证据表明把一个选项设为默认选项会增加它会被选中的机率。默认设置是你不主动选择时，它会帮你做出选择。在任何购买发生之前，默认设置通过逐渐灌输所有权的观点起作用，因为我们从收获中获得的快乐比获得同等的痛苦要少的多，当我们通过默认设置得到一些东西时，它变得比原来更有价值，而我们更不愿意放弃它。
【7】聪明的商人会利用这些原则。例如，当顾客要求取消服务时，意大利电信公司提高了对客户的接受率。最初，一个脚本告诉他们，如果他们遵守他们的计划，他们将得到100个免费电话。该脚本被改写为，我们已经把你的账户记为100个电话，你怎么能用这些呢?许多客户不想放弃他们觉得自己已经拥有的自由交谈时间。
【8】当决策者们对自己的选择过于冷漠、困惑或冲突时，默认的效果最好。这个原则在一个越来越充满选择的世界里尤其重要，因为在默认情况下，不需要做决定。然而，对于大多数人来说，默认是一个不错的选择。试图误导消费者最终会适得其反，滋生不信任。