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It's not that thinking about amounts adds friction, it's that it changes the psychology. Your doctor friend might give you health advice for free, but wouldn't
by jfarmer 16y ago
It's not that thinking about amounts adds friction, it's that it changes the psychology.
Your doctor friend might give you health advice for free, but wouldn't give it for $1.
Although there is still money involved, it's not at the forefront, so I think people's psychological motivations are different when they click that button.
The challenge will be convincing people to sign up in the first place.
- gojomo 16y agoThe monetary amounts move the decision psychologically to a new category. This new category typically triggers economic weighing of costs and benefits. Such weighing takes more mental effort than the kind of hair-trigger evaluation a marginally-costless action (like a comment upvote or Flattr-click) does. That mental effort is transactional friction, a tax on seriously considering the transaction. At the margin, some people move on to the next shiny link instead of engaging in the weighing effort. The motivation-crowd-out effect is related, as is the "don't insult me by putting a measly price on this" sentiment (which I think dominates your doctor example) -- but the theory about previous micropayments that I believe true is in fact talking about a decisionmaking friction.