Robert Cialdini shares his principles of influence
How can you move people to act?
In Influence: Science & Practice, Robert Cialdini shares these six principles of persuasion.
| Robert Cialdini’s ‘universal principles of social influence’ | |||
| Principle | Description | Example | |
| 1. | Reciprocation | We feel obligated to return favors performed for us. | When waiters gave diners extra mints after their meals, tips increased by more than 14%. |
| 2. | Authority | We look to experts to show us the way. | When an executive published the credentials of people brought in to turn around a London bureau, the government monitoring and advisory panel was more accepting of the rate and type of change the team made. |
| 3. | Commitment/ consistency | We want to act consistently with our commitments and values. | Voters who said they’d vote on election day were 40% more likely to show up at the polls than those who didn’t make the commitment. |
| 4. | Scarcity | The less available the resource, the more we want it. | Before serving their buy-on-board meals, Midwest Airlines flight attendants announce: “We apologize in advance if we run out of a meal or meals in general. We have only a limited number of meals.” |
| 5. | Likability | The more we like people, the more we want to say yes to them. | We’re more likely to like people like us. People were nearly twice as likely to fill out a survey when it came from someone with a similar name as theirs. |
| 6. | Social proof | We look to what others do to guide our behavior. | A sign in the Petrified Forest National Park saying “Many past visitors have removed the petrified wood from the park, changing the natural state of the Petrified Forest” actually encouraged visitors to steal more wood. |
Which of these principles do you use to move your audience members to act? Which could you use?
How do you write messages that readers want to read?
If you want to Catch Your Readers, you need to think like a reader. Then you need to use the bait your reader likes, not the bait you like.
So what’s the bait the reader likes?Want to learn a four-step process for making your message more relevant, valuable and rewarding to your audience. If so, bring Ann in to present Catch Your Readers — a persuasive-writing course — to your team.
There, they’ll learn the formula readers use to determine which messages to read. Discover two rewards they can use to boost audience interest in their message. And learn a magic word that focuses reader attention on their message.
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Source: Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin and Robert B. Cialdini, Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive, Free Press, 2008
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