Should 'persuasion marketing' have its own budget?

There was some lively debate at an E-consultancy Persuasion Marketing roundtable last month about whether this topic constitutes a separate discipline which should have its own processes and budget.

Persuasion marketing is a hot topic at the moment, with the likes of BJ Fogg and Bryan Eisenberg continuing to speak a lot of good sense about how the right approach and site architecture can significantly boost conversion rates.

Richard Sedley, head of cScape's customer engagement unit, gave an excellent introduction to this topic which is summarised in our free roundtable write-up and also available via his Loopstatic blog.

Should marketers budget for this area separately or is it something which falls into usability and user experience?

The point was made that marketers may feel dubious about another standalone discipline which requires 'another specialist to manage another agency'.

It is true that usability, when done properly, should address aspects of persuasion marketing. However, there is a danger that this subject may only be given lip-service unless it is treated as a separate entity.

To make sure it is taken seriously and not lost in the rush to complete a project, this may mean getting clearly defined processes in place, such as a 'persuasion audit'.

Further reading:
Persuasion Marketing Roundtable Briefing 2007