You may have heard of this concept as Post-Purchase Dissonance, an area where more research has been done, but the fact is that many actions other than purchase create dissonance.
This area of Psychology is more generally referred to as Cognitive Dissonance. Along with Norms of Reciprocity, Dissonance is one of the most important pieces of Psychology for today’s Marketing folks to understand. This is doubly true if you are serious about using a two-way Social model in Marketing.
Here’s why: The Social sword has two edges. If you are going to use a two-way Relationship Marketing approach, you will create higher expectations with those who Engage. If you fail to perform, or just act like an Advertiser would, then you will end up creating more damage than if you had simply ignored the two-way idea.
For Marketing, the important idea to understand is the human brain always questions actions taken, however briefly, and tries to resolve conflict. Any unresolved conflicts tend to taint the action, they create Friction, and drive down the Potential Value of the experience.
The important action item for Marketers is to know this will happen beforehand, and take steps to counteract the Dissonance. The result will be customers who have generally better experiences, and you know what that means, right?
In other words, by planning for Post-Action Dissonance you are using a Prediction that increases Profits or cuts Costs down the road.