Hi Savvy Marketers,

Author Dan Ariely has a new book out called Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.

The gist of it all is...

People do lots of things for free. As soon as you pay them, they're less likely to work... unless you pay them a lot.

People love to receive gifts, even small ones, as gratitude for doing something.

If you pay them an amount of cash equal to the gift, they are not happy, and feel they should receive more money... whether they say so or not.

What do you think the implications are for communities?

For example:

• discussion boards
• forums
• business referral programs

That ties in nicely with Referral Marketing.

People refer because they want to, not because they are being bribed to. If they feel they are being bribed, they won't refer.

There was a comparison done between 2 awards for people who referred and it was found that the more expensive and valuable award performed worse than the cheaper one.

This shows that people aren't interested in receiving a big prize for their referring efforts, but they do appreciate the recognition.

Interesting huh?

the only thing that people do for free is say hi and bye because its so hard out here to make a dollar its crazy so people don't be trying to do anything for free and thats sad

Huh?

Never in existence has it been easier to make a dollar then
right now.

And with the internet you have all the free resources you'd
ever need to build a million dollar company if motivated to do
so.

If you think it's hard now, just wait.

It's open duck season right now. All you gotta do is load your
weapon with some shells and start pulling the trigger.

Humans are "herding" animals.

Being part of a herd makes us feel safe (and in our
evolution it was necessary to actually be safe).

So we'll do all kinds of things to get that sense that we
"belong" to a group of people...one of our fundamental
drives.


With referrals for years I've been telling people the
most important part of your referral program is sending
a hand written thank you letter to people who send
you referrals.

That works.

Paying people for referrals can be insulting to some people
and does put into question whether those referrals are
genuine recommendations or an attempt to make income.



A whole pile of business is done in the copywriting sector
without formal payment.

Many of us will try to help out our friends.

While it's not entirely free...our friends in the industry
reciprocate in various ways...it certainly isn't a strict
pay for copywriting deal either.

Kindest regards,
Andrew Cavanagh