Operant Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Welcome to part 2 of our series on conditioning in marketing. The next two weeks will cover operant conditioning. This week, our blog will introduce operant conditioning and reinforcement, so let’s get started.

A long time ago, a man named Skinner put some rats in a box, and observed them as they learned to press a lever for food, and to avoid being shocked. He stated that a behaviour that is followed by pleasant stimuli, is likely to be repeated, and those followed by bad stimuli, are lessened. This is reinforcement.

There are two types of reinforcement, which contain subtle differences, so pay attention to this bit! First is positive reinforcement. This is when a behaviour is followed by a pleasant reward, in order to try and increase the likelihood this behaviour will be repeated in the future. However, negative Reinforcement is when something is removed or added, when the desired behaviour is not complete, to increase likelihood that you complete the behaviour in the future, so as to avoid having something pleasant taken away, or eliminating something negative from occurring.

Ok, so again, we find ourselves asking what any of this has to do with marketing. Well, in marketing, you want to get customers to repeat behaviour, right? You want them to come and buy from you again, to leave you more reviews, to pick your business over all the others. A really important way to do that is through discounts and offers, and loyalty cards and points.

Offers work as positive reinforcement, because a person is more likely to buy a product when on offer. They then try the product and are rewarded by its great taste, quality, usability etc. This acts as reinforcement for them to buy the product again in the future at full price. 

Loyalty cards and reward points also work in a rather straightforward positive reinforcement manner. Every time a customer buys from your store, they are rewarded with points that they can then spend in the store, alternatively, they have a loyalty card, and get small reinforcing rewards, every time they go to your store, by gaining one more stamp towards their free item or other reward. These both work on the idea that in rewarding a customer for buying your products, they are more likely to become loyal and returning customers.

Last is negative reinforcement. It is something that is harder to control and less used in marketing, however, it is not impossible. Some examples include sales people, who like to ring you up and try to sell you products. Nowadays this is an uncommon form of marketing, and even at its best was a failed attempt, but the theory applies nonetheless. The salesperson is annoying, in order to make them stop calling you, you agree to buy the product, therefore avoiding the negative stimuli in the future. A more up to date example is airlines, who offer priority boarding to members, this allows them to avoid the negative stimuli of waiting in a queue. 

Next week, we will finish our conditioning mini series, with operant conditioning and punishment. Come back next week for more.

-- From Marketing to Mind --

Photo by Ekaterina Shevchenko and Robert Anasch on Unsplash