For many of us, summer is an opportunity to take time out, relax, visit family and friends, recharge batteries, explore new destinations, reflect on the year so far and perhaps look forward to the challenges that face us when we return to work. But persuasion never rests and sometimes we can learn business insights even on holiday — and in the most unlikely places.
Take hotel bathrooms. Most of us are familiar with the cards placed in bathrooms asking guests to reuse the towels and pointing out the environmental benefits of doing so. These cards are a pretty good example of persuasion in action. Research shows that about 40 per cent of guests do reuse their towels at least once and if a guest stays for more than four nights that figure rises to 75 per cent. Social scientist Robert Cialdini wanted to know if there was a way to persuade even more guests to reuse their towels and experimented by changing the words on the cards to read: ‘The majority of guests who stay in our hotel reuse their towels’. Towel reuse instantly rose by a further 26 per cent. But why should such a dramatic improvement occur for what was, on the face of it, just a simple change of words?
The answer lies in something psychologists call social proof. When people are told what others like them are doing there is a tendency to follow the crowd and do it too. If you have ever joined a queue and not really been sure if it’s the right one, or joined the crowd around the street performer, you are experiencing the persuasive power of social proof.
People will often deny that the behaviour of others around them influences their own but study after study shows this is simply not the case and for that reason it can be a very effective business tool. Pointing out to prospective customers how many others like them have chosen to do business with you can be a cost effective and useful strategy. The approach has been shown to be especially successful if the testimonials you employ come from those who most closely resemble the people you are looking to persuade.
If you want to win business from the small businesses community, references from the big blue-chips you have worked with will simply not have the same persuasive power as testimonials from other small businesses.
So maybe it’s time to reflect on how to put your testimonials to best use. And for those of you returning from holiday — did you choose that sightseeing trip because it seemed like a good idea, or did the guy selling it just happen to mention that it was their most popular one?
Steve Martin is co-author of
Yes! 50 Secrets from the Science of Persuasion. Test your persuasive skills at
scienceofyes.com
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