Overview
This course examines the psychological, behavioral, and economic mechanisms that influence repeated transactions and customer loyalty. Topics include attention, motivation, habit formation, reward schedules, social proof, scarcity, defaults, friction, sunk-cost effects, identity signaling, variable reinforcement, and post-purchase evaluation.
Students analyze loyalty programs, subscriptions, points systems, gamification, memberships, notifications, and targeted promotions as feedback loops connecting customer behavior, data collection, rewards, and repeat purchasing. The course distinguishes legitimate value creation from manipulative dark patterns and evaluates the effects of persuasive design on compulsive or harmful consumption.
Emphasis is placed on hypothesis development, retention and cohort analysis, customer-journey mapping, conversion and repeat-purchase metrics, experimental design, consumer protection, data governance, accessibility, disclosure, vulnerable populations, and customer well-being. Students audit an existing loyalty system and develop an ethically designed alternative based on transparency, meaningful choice, proportional rewards, privacy, and sustainable customer value.
Learning Outcomes
- Evaluate psychological, behavioral, and economic mechanisms that influence repeated transactions and customer loyalty.
- Analyze retention, cohort, conversion, and repeat-purchase data to identify behavioral patterns and commercial implications.
- Map customer journeys and diagnose points at which rewards, defaults, friction, notifications, or scarcity influence decision-making.
- Design controlled experiments to test loyalty interventions, including appropriate hypotheses, measures, comparison groups, and ethical safeguards.
- Critique loyalty systems and promotional practices for dark patterns, coercion, opacity, privacy risks, accessibility barriers, and potential financial or health-related harms.
- Synthesize consumer protection, data governance, consent, and disclosure requirements into an ethical loyalty proposition.
- Develop segmentation and personalization strategies that respect customer autonomy, vulnerable populations, and responsible data use.
- Measure customer well-being and long-term trust alongside revenue, retention, and transaction outcomes.
- Redesign a loyalty or subscription system to provide meaningful choice, transparent terms, proportional rewards, and sustainable customer value.
Timetable
| Type | Length | Frequency | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 2 hours | Weekly | All semester |
| Tutorial | 1 hour | Weekly | All semester |
| Lab | 2 hours | Fortnightly | All semester |
| Workshop | 2 hours | Fortnightly | Second term |
Assessment Schedule
| Type | Description | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment | Loyalty system audit | 20.00% |
| Quiz | Online quizzes (5 × 2%) | 10.00% |
| Deliverable | Retention and cohort data analysis | 15.00% |
| Assignment | Ethical loyalty system redesign | 25.00% |
| Tutorial | Case analysis and presentation | 10.00% |
| Exam | Final examination | 20.00% |
Teaching Staff & Programs
This course is delivered jointly by faculty from the participating programs listed below. In line with the Douchewater Way, the University of Sexology tailors core instruction directly to each cohort's specific discipline — adapting curriculum to program needs rather than forcing students into a one-size-fits-all model. Learn more about our approach at The Douchewater Way.