Persuasion Principles, Motivational Chemistry, And More - Review (Week 8)

How knowledgeable are you at persuasion and the human brain? Do you think you can use a skill upgrade?

Welcome to the 8th article summarizing my learnings of CXL Institute's mini-degree called Digital Psychology & Persuasion.

As I've said, for those of you who could use an upgrade of their persuasive skills, or simply get a refresher on the principles of persuasion, this might be the guide you need.

Another interesting find that I've gotten from the mini-degree is the chemistry of our brain, especially how it can be motivated to take action. After all, we want prospects and customers to be taking action on our offer, right?

That's why if you stick to this article until the end, you might be able to grab a nugget or two that you can use in your business, regardless of who you serve.

Shall we dive in?

The Concept of "Dual Brains"

There are different ways to break down the human brain into parts. The first model is the concept of the 'left brain & right brain' thinking.

The left brain is used for logical reasoning and analytical thinking, which I think is how I was brought up since most of my family and relatives have professions that are mainly analytical, such as accountants, programmers, and engineers (including me).

The right brain, the one responsible for creativity, emotion, and intuition, is the part that I started to explore in 2016 when I turned into a blogger, then freelance writer years later.

Another model of the human brain is the three brain structure: The Lizard Brain, Paleo Brain, and Neo Brain. The lizard brain is responsible for instinct, which our ancestors used to survive for millions of years. The Paleo brain is responsible for emotions, while the Neo brain is the newly formed brain which has the ability to form thoughts.

But at CXL Institute, the most emphasized model of the brain, which so happened to be the model that I've been learning over and over in this course, is the Conscious and Non-Conscious mind.

The key lesson in this model is that we must appeal to our customers' non-conscious mind if we wish to succeed as a marketer. While we'd all like to think that we are rational beings, the truth is we are irrational beings.

It's like being the rider of an elephant - we might be able to direct the elephant to where we want it to go (conscious), but the elephant ultimately decides where it wishes to go depending on what the path looks like (non-conscious).

In copywriting, we have this concept where "people buy with emotions then justify with logic" because it's when we appeal to the emotions first that we get them to make a decision to buy. Logic and rational thinking alone can't move customers forward. But once they've made the purchase, they'll head over to the details to justify what they've bought.

Revisiting Cialdini's 6 Principles of Persuasion

In my first few articles, I've already covered Robert Cialdini's principles of persuasion. That means I'm getting another recall lesson from CXL Institute on the same topic.

This time though, because so many lessons have passed into this program, I think I'll be able to break them down in more detail so that I can show you how each principle works.

1. Liking

Simply put, you tend to follow people whom you like, while you likely won't listen to people who are unpleasant or rude to you.

Even digitally, it's entirely possible to create that liking effect in many ways. For example, you can add personality to your website such as in your homepage or About page. Instead of presenting yourself and your team as people wearing corporate suits and ties, you can wear casual attire all while having fun at work.

In your profile, say here on LinkedIn, there are no rules telling you that you should only upload a formal attire or graduation photo as your profile pic, and there's definitely no rule telling that one should look serious in his or her photo.

Instead, upload a casual picture of yourself on vacation or an interesting spot in your neighborhood. Put on a big smile to send good vibes to people viewing your profile. Because the more likeable you are, the more you become persuasive in the process.

2. Social Proof

Showing how many people tried your product or subscribed to your mailing list creates a feedback loop of growth (especially if you have interesting numbers), since it assures prospects that your business can be trusted. And the more people being enticed by your numbers, the bigger that number grows, which further brings in new people, and on and on.

What numbers exactly can you flaunt once you get in high numbers? Try the following:

• Facebook shares and likes
• Email subscribers
• YouTube views
• Your mutual friends liking an FB or IG page

Then other formats of social proof include:

• As mentioned in (i.e. Forbes, Inc, The Huffington Post)
• Photo testimonials
• Video testimonials
• Bestselling status (i.e. NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Amazon)

Social proof works best if you want to persuade people in massive numbers (i.e. hundreds or thousands of people). However, it won't work if you're mainly offering "exclusivity" to your prospects, such as inviting people to an elite group or selling luxury items or selling a revolutionary product to early adopters and insiders.

Instead, you should turn to the next principle for help with persuading in these situations.

3. Authority

Leveraging the authority of experts and celebrities is a powerful way to persuade people with whatever you're selling. That's why many of the popular books you see in the bookstore have expert testimonials either at the back cover or at the beginning of the book.

(Personal Note: I sometimes use those expert references to find people to learn from and look for other books to read)

Another way to use authority is through clothes. Often times just by wearing the right clothes in the right situation, you can send a strong signal of persuasion even before you convey your message.

Examples of situations where clothes can persuade include:

• Explaining a medical concept while wearing a doctor's white coat
• Giving a business presentation in a formal suit & tie
• Wearing hard hat at a construction site when filming a video about safety
• A racer promoting motorcycle racing while on a rider's suit

Other persuasion tools that can convey authority include:

• Titles (Engr., Dr., Ph. D., CEO)
• Top-Rated Seller (in Upwork or Fiverr)
• Awards won and recognitions earned
• Certification from a credible institution (such as CXL!)

Sometimes, special types of people - like celebrities and influencers - have the ability to influence even if what they're promoting is not related to their expertise. But these are special cases (of course!)

Imagine Warren Buffett selling you a pair of rubber shoes, would you buy it?

4. Reciprocity

Reciprocity is the tendency for other people to give back the favor you've done earlier. However, you do or give something of value without expecting something in return.

The best example I can think of is creating and publishing content to build credibility and trust. As a blogger, I got used to producing helpful blog posts knowing that I may not get something immediately in return.

Of course, there are other ways to give besides producing content, such as:

• Giving discounts
• Offering a free consultation session
• Providing services (for freelancers)
• And more

Since we're marketers, it's definitely important that we receive something in exchange for the efforts we're giving. However, we don't ask until we've first provided a lot of value to them.

5. Commitment & Consistency

Talk about asking, you want your prospects to first get used to small favors instead of big ones. That's what the principle of Commitment & Consistency is all about. Ryan Levesque introduced the concept of "micro-commitments", wherein you break down your prospects' actions into small but consistent ones.

In the case of buying for example, if you want to sell a $500 product but don't want to be perceived as too expensive, you can train your buyers to first grab a $20 product, then increase the price of your succeeding offers until it reaches $500.

When reaching out to prospects (outbound marketing), you can start off by asking a small question, preferably those that can be answered by yes or no. Imagine after a few rounds of conversations of getting them to say yes, they'll find it hard to say no the deeper they get into the conversation.

In a sense, we're simply leveraging "momentum" with this principle, which of course is a concept that's already proven to work (it comes from physics!).

6. Scarcity

Anything in scarcity is more desirable. It could therefore persuade potential buyers to act on your offers when used right - and in a truthful way!

You see, having navigated the ultra-competitive make money online niche for over 3 years, I can't count the number of times that I've seen countdown timers and the 'number of copies or number of slots' indicators placed on countless sales pages, which were all FAKE and are only there to deceive innocent buyers.

Sadly, as evil as it may look, it works - because I myself have bought some of those offers!

The most common ways to use scarcity in your business include:

• Countdown timers - for discounted products or enrollment period in courses
• Number of copies left - for physical books, imagine a fraud placing it on ebooks!)
• Number of slots left - for a membership or coaching program
• Number of reservations - for hotels or rooms
• Proof of purchase - for online stores when a real-time customer buys your product

Unity, The 7th Principle of Persuasion

Years later after publishing his 6 principles, Cialdini added another principle of persuasion, which is the Principle of Unity.

It can be compared to the Principle of Liking. But instead of commonalities, Unity talks about a shared identity, family, tribe, or co-creation. The main difference between the two is their "scope" of influence, with liking being in the smaller scale while unity operating on a larger scale.

Being an introvert, I found this principle harder to absorb than the previous six. I'm only starting to discover the idea of groups and unity in the most recent years, especially in this time of pandemic since we need to be united in order to survive COVID-19, whether we like it or not.

As an example in marketing, CXL Institute mentions the famous Super Bowl commercial of Apple, wherein people were called to be united in changing the image of computers as not something owned by only the big guys, but by everyone who wants a computer at home (personal computer, or PC).

The main takeaway? Make your customer feel you are part of the same tribe (or having a common enemy), regardless of the niche you're specializing in.

A Quick Preview of Cialdini's Book: Pre-Suasion

Although this book isn't yet part of my reading list, it's great to have gotten an idea about the concept of Pre-suasion, written by Robert Cialdini as well.

He shares the idea of having the right timing for using the persuasion principles he taught in his previous book. But first, you should do a couple of things right before you do the main persuasion.

That's where the principle of Priming comes into play, which is a concept I've discovered from CXL's previous lessons. The idea is to get your visitor or customer in the right frame of mind by priming them with prior information before persuading them.

The course showed some examples of how this process works. For instance, they tested a landing page with two different backgrounds: one with clouds as background and another with an image of pennies and money.

The clouds sent a subtle cue of 'comfort', giving website users a feeling of security and peace of mind, which is why more people signed up in that background. However, money instilled a feeling of 'cost', therefore it repelled more people and ended up having less sign-ups.

Cults can also be a great example of priming. In the process of recruitment, members ask potential recruits about their biggest problem, their troubles at the moment, or whether they're unhappy, all in an attempt to best position the cult as the "life changer" for people.

When it comes to marketing, you can use priming by asking new customers what they don't like in other products, making them more receptive to the dissatisfaction of the products and better listen to your sales pitch. While for your existing customers, simply ask what they like in your product to get them buying more from you.

Motivational Chemistry: Introducing Dopamine, Cortisol, Oxytocin, and Serotonin

How do you get customers motivated to buy your product? It's all about hormones.

Whenever we're taking action or making a purchase, it's almost always fueled by the biochemistry of our body. So if you're wondering why some sales pages or online stores are disturbingly strong at pulling you towards making a purchase, these are the main culprits:

1. Dopamine

The happiness chemical, which is triggered by anything that promotes survival. Emotionally, it's the hormone that induces pleasure, curiosity, anticipation, excitement, and interest. On a behavioral level, this makes us crave for rewards and pursue goals that come with rewards (such as money and entertainment).

Applied to Marketing: Introduce novel elements to trigger dopamine, such as a new claim for what your product does (but should still be realistic). Offer more of something, include better features, or promise bigger benefits. You can also slow down in content frequency to make every new content piece more special. For e-commerce products, experiment with unboxing videos or product images with an unboxing effect. You can also build anticipation that your product is on its way (it triggers craving in your customers).

2. Cortisol

The stress hormone, which is triggered when a threat exists externally or internally. You'll know cortisol is in effect if you're feeling stressed, having either a low or high level of alertness, or experiencing anxiety. Our tendency when having cortisol is usually to pay more attention to anything that can help remove the pain or threat.

Applied to Marketing: Get rid of unhealthy sources of stress for your website users, such as: 404 error pages, pop-ups, excessive banner ads, vague messages in CTA or value proposition, unknown founders, and excessive options to choose from. Basically anything that allows you to: simplify processes, lessen cognitive load, and reduce ambiguity.

3. Oxytocin

The trust hormone, which is triggered through social bonds, interaction with others, and physical touch. Emotionally, it makes us feel connected and have the tendency to trust more, but it can also make us feel jealous and possessive. Behaviorally, we act based on how we trust others and become more loyal to people who can be trusted.

Applied to Marketing: Leverage social proof and authority (explained a while ago) when selling products or services, such as showing testimonials or case studies. When a customer is about to exit, you can try and use social disapproval by split-testing parting messages on your exit pages, such as "We're sorry to see you go" or "Well, this is embarrassing".

4. Serotonin

The last hormone mentioned in the course, triggered whenever you feel superior or obtain some recognition or achieve a high status. Emotionally, we tend to feel important, proud, special, or secure when this hormone is in effect. Our behavior under this state is usually to seek status, become risk averse, or maintain loyalty to social structures.

Applied to Marketing: Make your customers feel superior, even if you have to use flattery at times, such as after making a purchase from you and telling them they've made a wise decision.

Key Takeaways

Thanks to CXL Institute's Digital Psychology and Persuasion, I learned another set of interesting principles. Although persuasion was already covered several times in previous lessons, the part on motivational chemistry is definitely fresh to my eyes.

Having several formats in the lessons also made the material more engaging to me, including live events, case studies, downloadable resources, references, citations, end-of-lesson quizzes, and exams. I even got a certificate just by completing one particular course!

Not to mention, this activity of writing an article per week for CXL is the nail in the coffin for internalizing the lessons in my head. It's like teaching the lesson not just to provide valuable content for readers like you, but also for my benefit because I learn more by explaining things to other people.

Want to learn from one of the best? Check out CXL Institute and their courses today!

Which persuasion principle are you going to try right now? How about using dopamine in your online business (or at the offers you're selling)? Let me know what you think in the comments area.