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On Being Irrational

January 6th, 2009

I always get a kick out of someone saying that our personal, cultural, or learned dysfunctions work for them.

This is the case in SEOmoz’s blog post, 10 Irrational Human Behaviors and How to Leverage Them to Improve Web Marketing. It’s an extension of Chris Yeh’s Outline of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions. SEOmoz author randfish is using these not-entirely-rational behaviors to his own advantage: finding easier ways to sell stuff and make money. It’s a clean post: description of the behaviors, and lessons on applying them. For example:

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:

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).

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.

Coaching Moment: To borrow a phrase from the government, some people are more prone to “irrational exhuberance” than others. Do you know your own strengths and weaknesses? Are they in service of your true needs? If not, is there some behavior or belief that you need help with?

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