Principle of Reciprocity
"The reciprocity principle is one of the basic laws of social psychology"(Budiu, 2014). Mentally, we tend to pay back what we received from others. For example, if someone does you a favor, you’re likely to remember it and to return it one day. Moreover, free samples tend to encourage people to buy some of the corresponding products because they feel that they have to return the free goods of being given something for free.
I saw this type of propaganda around the MRT stations and department stores. The salesperson gives you a free sample to attract you and reduce your barriers. In other words, they give you something before they ask for anything from you. Similarly, some retail websites offer discounts from 10% off to 30% off in order to get your personal information such as email, phone number, or membership. There are so many more examples of returning the free goods of being given something for free, but the idea is the same, the principle of reciprocity.
Reciprocity also builds trust and the relationship develops and brand loyalty. By taking the lead and giving, governments around the world can build in a moment where people will feel compelled from social norms and customs to give back.
Principle of Scarcity
Have you ever feel that you can not have anything? Don't worry. It's normal and universal. Even the king of North Korea, can not live forever and get everything he wants. You may commonly hear the law of supply and demand in Economics classes, states that a low supply and high demand for a product will typically increase its price. The prices can be lives, time, or even happiness, not just value in money. And, the rarer or more difficult to obtain a product, offer, or piece of content is, the more valuable it possibly becomes, consider the product we want will soon be unavailable to us. Therefore, for some businesses, sometimes less is more.
Principle of Authority
Have you ever walk into a luxury jewelry store, looking at a beautiful golden necklace, you pretty like it, but you worried about it is a fake product. If you trust the honesty of the store, you may purchase it without thinking. Therefore, trust is crucial to the purchase decision. Some countries have already built credibility within their society, culture, and career. For example, products made in Japan may be seen as high-quality products. Recently, products made or came from China may commonly be seen as fakes or inferior products.
Expertise is also an essential part of credibility and authority. Will hire an accountant or see a doctor who does not get the certifications? Similarly, if a drug has passed the FDA test, and the other one not. Which one would you like to buy? I think the answer is clear. Therefore, many commercials advertisements where a doctor, dentist, athlete, or even more and more celebrities recently, has recommended products for their sponsors. This is how the principle of authority is work. Carefully use the principle will increase your chance to succeed. But remember, without integrity, there can be no trust.
Principle of Commitment and Consistency
Have you ever state a goal or promise something publicly? Did you feel that you have more motives to accomplish it? Mentally, We’re more likely to do something after we’ve agreed to it in writing. For example, doing charity. Once you’ve committed something out loud you will have more incentive to keep up your end of the deal.
As a retailer, if you can get customers to make a small commitment to your brand, like a membership, they are more likely to purchase from you. Many e-commerce companies selling products with a free return policy, and a warranty. Although there is no commitment, customers feel the commitment as soon as they open the boxes.
Principle of Consensus
Did you ever follow the lead of someone that you did not truly agree with? Well, if you did, you are not alone. According to an experiment conducted by a Polish-American gestalt psychologist, Solomon Asch in 1951. When people are unsure how to act in certain situations, they tend to look to others to see how they should respond.
The Asch conformity experiments were a series of studies on how individuals yielded to or defied a majority group and the effect of such influences on beliefs and opinions. In the experiment, a group of eight male college students participated in a task. In reality, all but one of the participants were actors, and the true focus of the study was about how the remaining participant would react to the actors' behavior.
First, students viewed a card 1 with a line on it, followed by another card 2 with three lines labeled A, B, and C. One of these lines was the same as that on the first card, and the other two lines were clearly longer or shorter. And then, each participant was asked to say aloud which line matched the length of that on the first card. But all actors were given detailed instructions on how they should respond to each trial, except the last one the real participant who is actually be tested.
In the first two trials, the actors gave the correct answer. On the third trial, the actors would all give the same wrong answer. It was aimed to test: Will the real participants change their answers to conform to these actors, despite it obviously being "wrong"?
What was the result? One-third of all responses were incorrect, and these incorrect responses often matched the incorrect response of the majority group. Overall, 75% of participants gave at least one incorrect answer out of the 12 critical trials.
Is it unnormal? Not exactly. It is part of human nature. It makes us think, there’s safety in numbers, even though there are chances that all these other people were all wrong. The consensus principle helps business owners to influence their clients to do what they want them to do.
Principle of Liking
Did you ever been promoted by a salesperson? Did you like him/her? If you did like the salesperson, will you patiently listen to him/her? Did you feel like you are easier to be persuaded to buy something by a salesperson you like? That's the principle of liking, we are more likely to be persuaded by people we like.
In addition, if you are a business owner, how your workplace looks will influence how your employees feel about being there. The "workplace" doesn't just mean the building or the outfits in which you work. It can also mean your team's intranet and culture.
Putting The 6 Principles of Persuasion to Work
As the CEO of a tech company, I have a new project call, Herospro which is making products for firefighters, rescue teams, or even soldiers. I try to cooperate with the largest retailer in Europe, Decathlon. And, I have to teach my general manager how to handle this case and getting advantages.
I teach him to start with the reciprocity, to give instead of taking first. We provide the orders on hand and our patented technology to benefit their products and revenues, in order to get their resources such as the market shares, and the brand image.
To persuade them that our company is the best choice and this cooperation will be a wise choice, we need to show them that our technique is the best in this industry and has been certificated by many related authorities. Demonstrate the credibility of our patented technology and earn their trust.
We must let them know that the patented technology is scarce in this industry and very hard to develop. Only our company can keep this technique up to date and even better in the future, to ensure the products we build together are the top choice in the world.
After demonstrated our patented technology is scarce, been certificated, and it does reciprocate throughout the deal. We still need to commit, to reduce the barriers between this cooperation, such as free authorization during the first year. Even commit to sharing 20% of the overall spending on ads associate with our techniques.
If their decision-makers like us, the deal will be much easier to make. Therefore, we need to understand what their recent goals are, what their objectives are, where did they want to improve in the past. In business, decision-makers tend to like those who can help them fix issues, handle problems, and grow together.
According to the principle of consensus, when they are unsure what to decide on our offer, they may tend to look to others to see how they should respond. In order to get the deal, we can invite some firefighters or some professionals to try on our prototypes. If these professionals all recommend our prototypes, it increasing the choice for them to choose us as a partner to build a strong business relationship.
Were All 6 of The Principles Applied to The Process of Persuasion?
Yes, all these 6 of the principles have been applied to the process of persuasion to induce my potential client to join my plan.
Reference
Ahearn, B. (2016, February 05). The Principle of Consensus. Retrieved July 26, 2020, from https://www.influencepeople.biz/2009/04/consensus.html
Asch, S. (2020, May 26). Asch conformity experiments. Retrieved July 27, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments
Budiu, R. (2014, February 16). The Reciprocity Principle: Give Before You Take in Web Design. Retrieved July 25, 2020, from https://www.nngroup.com/articles/reciprocity-principle/
Bernazzani, S. (2017, May 10). The Scarcity Principle: How 8 Brands Created High Demand. Retrieved July 26, 2020, from https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/the-scarcity-principle
Eisenhauer, T. (2018, April 07). How to Use the Persuasion Principle of "Liking" at Work. Retrieved July 27, 2020, from https://axerosolutions.com/blogs/timeisenhauer/pulse/836/how-to-use-the-persuasion-principle-of-liking-at-work
Lindquist, M. (n.d.). " Getting Consumers To Say Yes: Commitment & Consistency. Retrieved July 26, 2020, from http://www.straylight.se/getting-consumers-to-say-yes-commitment-consistency/
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