Commentary
“Ghosting,” the practice of ending a relationship suddenly, and without any explanation, cutting off all forms of communication with another person, is very costly.
Analysts at SOCi, Inc., a U.S. marketing platform, recently published a report outlining the many ways in which retailers are “ghosting” customers, and how this practice is costing the country billions of dollars. Retailers, according to the report, now “ghost” over “half of all customers online when they give feedback, ask questions or leave reviews,” thus resulting in a rather staggering $2.4 billion annual loss for the country’s retail industry.
Outside of the business world, “ghosting” is costly in other ways. It causes real psychological harm. Interestingly, females are far more likely—150 percent more likely, to be specific—to ghost than males. “Ghosting” is best viewed as a form of relational aggression, or alternative aggression, an insidious, manipulative way of inflicting pain on another human being. A product of recency bias, the tendency to overemphasize the importance of recent experiences or the latest information we receive, ghosting is a destructive practice that leaves victims feeling confused and upset….