A Nudge Psychology Perspective on Digital Marketing and Communication

The Nigerian scam is widely regarded as a joke among digital natives. However, forms and variations of the Nigerian scam have been successful since the 16th century and continue to be so, even in the 21st century. The longevity of the scam hints at the exploitation of very basic human processes. Therefore, this chapter tries to analyze these processes from a psychological standpoint trying to derive principles for effective online communication. The different phases of the scam—from the creation of the target group until the final contact—are analyzed from psychology of persuasion as well as behavior economics standpoints—subsumed under the label of “nudging”—trying to identify the settings, scenarios, framings, and signals which make the scam one of the most successful scams in history. In the final section, it will be attempted to transfer the insights from the Nigerian scam to legit online marketing and corporate communication.