The Reaction Economy

People say that this is the "Experience Economy".

Others have called it the "Attention Economy".

Still others have called it the "Emotion Economy"

I think that they're all right, but wrong at the same time.

What we're really in - and have always been in - is the Reaction Economy.

Someone has an Experience.
It produces an Emotion (positive or negative).
They focus their Attention on it.
They have a Reaction.

Experience -> Emotion -> Attention -> Reaction

The goal for a business is to reverse engineer the Reactions that they want.

If the Reaction you're looking for is happy, repeat customers, then the goal is to figure out how to move them in a way that causes the Reactions that you want.

Manufacturing "experiences" that don't cause Reactions, is a waste of time, money, and energy.

If you focus on the reactions you want people to have, it forces you to understand them at a whole new level. Asking what would make someone do 'X' forces you to look beyond the simplistic answers.

Comments

[Tom]

Great insight Jon. I'd add that prior to any actual experience taking place, there is a "feeling" conjured up based on the communication encountered (be it advertising, direct mail, email, sales presentation, retail exterior and signage, word-of-mouth, etc.). So it may look more like this:

Communication > Feeling > Action > Experience > Feeling > Action > Communication > Feeling > Action . . .

For instance, if I want to attract you to my offering for the first time, I must be very aware of how you "feel" or "value judge" various messages and methods of communication. Once I have the opportunity to demonstrate my offering, I must understand how you will "feel" or judge it compared to other marketplace offerings. Then I must understand how to communicate with you post-experience to strengthen the bond and futher the strong feelings. I also must understand how to stimulate you to communicate those feelings to others, etc., etc., etc. And that's why I like to refer to it as the Feelings Economy.

[Jon Strande]

Thank you Tom! I really appreciate that! I think we're sort of on the same page. In an earlier post I wrote:

We Connect. We Communicate. We Repeat. We Evangelize (if we really love the feeling).

[Basil]

This is a variation on the concepts of Affect, Cognition, and Behavior.

You see an ad or receive some sort of communication. This elicits an emotional response (affect). Depending on the emotional response that occurs, you may be able to consume the information contained in the communication (cognition). Finally, the feeling and emotion leads to act in certain way (behavior).

Its like a new song breaking on the radio. You hear it a couple times and decide if you like it. The next couple times you begin to learn the lyrics. Finally, you buy the CD or download the mpeg at itunes. Heart, head, hand.

The vast majority of marketing, it seems, is bent on cranking up the emotional reaction, while providing very little information which would lead to the desired behavior.

This 'reverse engineering' of which you speak stops asking people what they like, and starts getting to the root of what motivates them to change their behavior.

[Bob P]

"The goal for a business is to reverse engineer the Reactions that they want."

Great thought Jon. Basil also. On the "info leading to..." part, behaviour breeds behaviour and you can't fake sincerity.

If you observe the dynamics at play, evangelical customers don't become so in the presence of reserved or pedantic providers. Just doesn't happen, at least not in useful numbers. The words loyalty and relationships get tossed around with all the dispassion of a biologist studying enzymes.

But transparent passion--almost childlike fascination and reverence for something, now that's infectious. And it's precisely the thing "the employee manual" or the "boss" frowns on. Too bad. Belief, combined with caring behaviors, instead of "marketing" are amazing to behold.

Ooops. Caring behaviours:

1. Actively try to increase the other persons self-esteem.

2. Listen and show understanding.

3. Offer helpful suggestions.

4. Be receptive to the other persons ideas.

5. Show confidence in yourself.

[Andreas]

Hi - great entry, Jon. But sorry I pinged you twice. MT gave an error message, so I resaved w/o checking. Just delete one, okay? Thanks!

[Jon Strande]

Basil, great comment! I love the Heart, Head, Hand - that is fantastic!

Bob, great comment as well! I love the caring behaviours list!

Andreas, thank you! I'll take care of it! Thank you for the trackback!!

Thank you to everyone who commented, I really appreciate it - the comments, as usual, are better than the post!

[Donnie]

Here is a challenge; let's see if this blogenomenon exposes people to some great information. Feild of dreams--it's built! Now I patiently wait with glove and ball in hand!

[Armand Rousso]

Hey Jon, that's an excellent pattern of feeling, thinking and executing!

If companies tread the path you have just thought of, working backwards from reaction to experience, they can achieve the results they desire without any doubt.

i enjoyed reading your analysis. Bravo!

Armand Rousso

[Alexander]

Very nice