One of my favorite things to do is try and understand consumer psychology. Why do people spend more than they earn is so basic, yet so complex in nature. The same goes with why we eat so much bacon when we know it’s so bad for our health. I was going to publish this post on Financial Samurai, but I figure with so much blogging related feedback, it’s best to stay consistent.
About one week before the 2012 Presidential Election, my online affiliate income declined around 70%. Traffic was also down about 20% as Hurricane Sandy turned off the lights for some 30% of the working population.
Given I receive hundreds of thousands of pageviews a month, most of which come from search engines, my sample set is statistically significant. All things being equal, I should have seen a roughly 20% decline in affiliate income corresponding to a 20% decline in traffic rather than a 70% drop. So I got to thinking, what made for such a drastic drop?
There is no better real-time testing ground for social scientists than having their own highly trafficked website. Lucky for you, I’ve got the curiosity to make some analysis and share my findings. Damn, how I wished I had this site in college. Getting straight A’s would be a piece of cake!
To understand overspending, we must first understand why there is spending paralysis.
