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.
单词注解
viscerally 发自内心地，本能地
windfall gain【经济学】意外的(巨额)收益
翻译
减少花钱带来的痛苦
【2】每次决定购买时，消费者可以选择什么都不做，因此他们能为未来省钱。这就是为什么市场营销者的任务不是去打败竞争者，而是在第一时间说服消费者付款。根据经济原则来说，付钱的痛苦应该与我们花的每一分钱相等。然而，在营销实践中，有许多因素影响消费者对一美元的价值，以及他们在消费上的痛苦程度。
【3】零售商知道允许消费者延时付款在很大程度上能增加他们的购买欲望。延期付款有用的的原因是因为这完全符合逻辑，金钱的时间价值使未来支付比即时支付更便宜。对于这种现象，有一种更不合理的理由。支付，像所有的损失一样，是发自内心的不愉快。但是现在的情感经验也很重要。即使小小的延时付款也能减轻立即付款带来的疼痛感，以及移除阻碍购买决定的重要障碍。
【4】另一种减少支付痛苦的方法是理解心理账户对决策的影响。消费者对钱的不同来源使用不同的心理账户，而不是平等对待他们自己的每一分钱，正如经济学家们所认为的那样，或者应该这样做。常见的心理账户包括意外之财，零用钱，收入和存款。意外之财和零用钱是最容易被花掉的，收入不那么容易被花掉，存款是最难的。
【5】技术为利用为消费者和市场营销者的利益创造了新领域。例如，信用卡营销人员提供基于网络或移动设备的应用程序，它可以让消费者实时反馈关于预先定义的预算和收入类别的支出，绿色代表低于预算，红色表明高于预算。精打细算的顾客更容易在这样的账户找到价值（尽管他们不是很理性的），并将注意力集中在使用他们的卡上。这不仅增加发行者的交易费和经济收入，也改变发行者对顾客总体消费情况的看法。当然，最后这样的软件会为消费者渴望量入为出做出巨大的贡献。
