As a bookseller, I have accumulated a collection of books — to which I am continually adding — that I would like to read in the future. And among these books, I had found a book called Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. I had never heard of the book or its author, Robert Cialdini, a former professor of psychology and marketing. But once I had started reading it, I couldn’t stop.

In this fascinating book, Cialdini reports interesting findings on the psychology of persuasion based on his observation and study of compliance professionals. These people — fund-raisers, salespeople, recruiters, and so forth — persuade for a living. Although this book is a serious look at the science of persuasion, it’s full of anecdotes. He shares stories and examples of the tactics and strategies these people use to get what they want.

I found the first chapter interesting. In it, Cialdini presents the idea of a “shortcut” whereby a cue activates a behavioural pattern, performed mechanically without much thought. He supports this concept with a shortcut that we all have in common. Our brains use price as a cue to determine the quality of something. If it’s high, we automatically play “expensive=good,” if low, “cheap=bad.”

The adapter in the screenshot below is on sale and reduced to £39.99 from the £79.99 RRP, making this offer seem like a good deal. Customers with limited knowledge of adapters, however, are going to use the old and new price to guide their buying decisions. In this case, the inflated price is still going to evoke the reaction that “expensive=good.”

Another subtle yet powerful psychological principle he introduces is the contrast principle. Salespeople, for example, make use of this principle by first showing you something expensive, then a relatively cheaper one. This sequence of presentation makes the second item shown seem reasonably priced compared to the first — even if it’s expensive.

This video explains this idea in more depth.

We have a storage full of behavioural shortcuts that we turn to when you trigger their respective cues. And in terms of compliance, Cialdini simplifies the techniques commonly used in practice to six principles: reciprocation, commitment and consistency, social proof, authority and scarcity.

Let’s look at each in more detail.

Reciprocation

You probably don’t realise it, but you’re very familiar with the principle of reciprocation. It pervades the world and no one is immune to it.

The law of reciprocity basically says “we should try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided us.” In other words, if someone gives us a gift or does us a favour, we would feel obliged to return the gift or favour.

This principle is powerful because, under the feeling of obligation, we’re more likely to comply with requests. The strength of reciprocating is dependent on what the other person has provided. The more personalised and surprising the gift or favour, the stronger the feeling of obligation and the need to reciprocate.

Compliance professionals also use reciprocation in conjunction with the contrast principle. In negotiations, for example, the person selling often starts with a very high offer. Then retreats by making a much better second offer, by making a “concession.” This makes the other person feel obligated to return the favour — to agree with the second offer, the price they wanted to sell at all along. Cialdini calls this reciprocal concession.

Commitment and consistency

I found this principle interesting. It basically says that we like to be consistent as often as we can — it’s innate within us all. Armed with this knowledge, compliance professionals influence by getting people to make a small, reasonable commitment first. This makes people feel pressured to be congruent in the future, making them more prone to agreeing to requests.

The consistency principle is even more potent if we write down the initial commitment. Financing companies use this strategy to increase the likelihood of people not defaulting. When you take a mobile contract, for example, the salesperson gets you to sign the contract in front of them.

There is another variation of this strategy — one that I almost became a victim of. I had found the perfect product to private label and finalised a deal at $3.95 per unit with a manufacturer in China. But after sending me a few samples, however, the manufacturer increased the price to something like $7 per unit. As I had invested time and committed to the deal, the manufacturer hoped that I would be consistent and agree with their new offer.

I remember trying to rationalise the deal. I thought I could sell it a higher price because it would of higher quality. The pressure was strong but financially it didn’t make sense. And so I eventually declined.

Social proof

What’s one of the first things you check first when deciding whether to buy a product or not on Amazon? The number of positive reviews, right?

What do you turn to when deciding which video to watch on YouTube? The number of views…?

What do you consider when choosing a playlist on Spotify? The number of followers, right?

The metrics in the above examples are similar in nature. They quantify and reflect the thoughts and opinions of other people, which we use to base our decisions on when we are unsure about what’s “right.” In most cases, we choose the product, video or playlist with the most number of reviews, views or followers. Why? Because “we will make fewer mistakes by acting in accord with social evidence than contrary to it.”

I exercise but not as often as I should be. I am, however, trying to change this — and after reading The Power of Habits, I feel equipped to make it a permanent one.

Anyway, I recently went for a run and found myself browsing Spotify for a playlist to listen to. I checked out the “workout” category and clicked the first playlist. I had just glanced at the number of followers of the playlists and, without any thought, I translated “high number of followers” as “good.” On this occasion, the playlist turned out Okay.

Liking

You probably won’t be surprised to hear that we are more likely to say “yes” to someone we know and like than some someone we don’t.

But what are the factors that influence liking?

• Physical appearance. The way people look effects our views of them. If we find someone attractive in some way, we automatically view them favourably; we view them to be more intellectual and associate them with positive personality traits.
• Similarities. Naturally, we like people who are similar to us. If someone is similar to use in any way — if they have similar interests or shares same values as us, for example — we more prone to liking them.
• Compliments. Compliments are powerful. We naturally like people more if they compliment or praise us.
• Contact and cooperation. We like things that we familiar with. That’s why advertisers like to be at our faces, even briefly, consistently. Our familiarity with their brand is all they want because they know when we have to make a decision, we invariably choose the thing we are familiar with.
• Condition and association. This is a subtle but powerful technique. It says that people view other people in the same light of the things that they merely have a connection to. It’s why internet marketers always mention and quote well-known people like Warren Buffet, Richard Branson, Bill Gates and so forth. By creating such a connection, they borrow their positive traits — authority, genius, rich, powerful etc.

Authority

I found this principle the most shocking, especially the results of the Milgram experiment which Cialdini uses to introduce the principle of authority. Alarmingly, it revealed that we can be obedient to authority to an extreme level.

We have this tendency mainly because “we are trained from birth that obedience to proper authority is right and disobedience is wrong.” I agree with Cialdini on this. Like me, you were probably brought up with the rule “respect your elders.” And over time, we’ve translated this to mean “authority = respect and obey”

Therefore, this principle says that we more likely to comply requests if they come from an some who is seen as an authoritative figure. Compliance professionals use various props — certifications, titles, clothes and so forth — to be seen as an authority.

Scarcity

I recently turned to Amazon for a stapler. I searched the term “stapler” and it bombarded me with options. But it didn’t take me long before I came across the stapler below.

In hindsight, it chose me. It had lots of positive reviews (social proof) and, guess what? There were “only 7 left in stock.” I bought it without hesitation. I don’t think my decision was solely based on the limited availability but it played a big role.

Scarcity is a powerful tool. When we want to buy something that we have little knowledge of, its availability is one of the factors that we consider to determine its value.

If there’s limited availability, we translate “scarce” as “valuable,” without much thought. And instantly our perception of its value would shoot up and suddenly becomes a lot more desirable. If, however, it’s high we would automatically interpret “abundance” as “invaluable.”

Conclusion

The ability to persuade is an important skill — and one that is accessible to everyone. It can be as powerful as than any other forces of success in life, such as IQ and emotional intelligence. And it’s based on a set of principles that anyone can master, and in this practical book, Robert Cialdini identifies them, explains their mechanics, and how we can defend ourselves from their deftness use.

Cialdini warns that a lack of awareness of our automatic reactions “make us terribly vulnerable to anyone who does know how they work.” He is, however, optimistic that people with such knowledge, and of the tactics of influence, can use them responsibly. It is ultimately our in our hands, though, to understand our automatic tendencies to defend ourselves from those who choose to play unfairly.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this book. It’s well-written, engaging and contains examples and stories from research, making the mechanics of persuasion that bit easier to understand. I would recommend this book to not only entrepreneurs and marketers, but to people from all walks of life.