6 Universal Principles of Persuasion
I recently started to learn about the 6 Universal Principles of Persuasion and using them in my copy. Here's a brief summary of what the principles are and the key to using them. I hope it sparks your interest to experiment with them if you haven’t already.
The 6 Principles
When making a decision, it would be nice to think that people look at all the available information in order to guide their thinking.
The reality is often different.
We look for shortcuts or rules of thumb to save time. So how can we utilise these ‘shortcuts’ when we’re writing copy?
Check this out.
Robert Beno Cialdini is the Regents' Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University. His research identified that 6 shortcuts guide average human behaviour.
· Reciprocity
· Scarcity
· Authority
· Consistency
· Liking
· Consensus
Understanding and employing these shortcuts can significantly increase the chances of your customer being persuaded by your request...'your ask for the sale'.
So here's a quick summary of the 6 principles.
1.Reciprocity
· You are/feel obliged to give back to others for the behaviour, gift or service you’ve received.
E.g. if a friend invites you to their party, you feel that you need to invite them to yours.
· You’re more likely to say yes to someone you owe.
· You're not only influenced by what’s given but also how it’s given.
The key to using the Principle of Reciprocity is to be the first to give and that what you give is personalised and unexpected.
2. Scarcity
· People want more of the things they can have less off.
· The ‘value’ of the product/service goes up with demand.
· It’s not enough to point out the benefits people will gain. You also need to let them know what they stand to lose if they fail to consider you/your product/service.
The key to using the Principle of Reciprocity is to point out what your customer stands to lose.
3. Authority
· The idea that people will follow the lead of credible, knowledgeable experts.
· E.g. if a psychologist displays their diploma on the wall, patients are more likely to follow their advice.
· It’s important to signal what makes you a credible, knowledgeable authority before you can make an attempt to influence them.
The key to using the Principle of Authority is letting people know what makes you credible before the ask.
4. Consistency
· People like to be consistence with what they’ve previously done or said.
· This is activated by small initial commitments.
The key to using the Principle of Consistency is looking for opportunities to ask for active, public commitments, even better in writing.
5. Liking
· People prefer to say yes to people they like.
· 3 factors that influence if we like someone.
1. We like people who are similar to us
2. We like people who pay us compliments
3. We like people who co-operate towards mutual goals
The key to using the Principle of Liking is to look for areas of similarity or giving genuine compliments before you attempt to persuade.
6. Consensus
· Also called 'social proof’ is when people are unsure of their decision they’ll look to the actions and behaviour of others, follow the crowd.
The key to using the Principle of Consensus/Social Proof is to demonstrate what similar people are doing.
When we have a better understanding of the psychology of potential customers, we are in a stronger position to persuade them to make their decision and click BUY.
At the moment I’m using a lot of social proof and scarcity and will share some examples of how to use this in copy in an upcoming article.
I hope you found this helpful and would love to know which principles you feel would be most useful for you in your business. It would be interesting to see if different industries lean towards different principles. I'd love to hear your views.
Thanks so much for reading.
Ciara ??