Robert Cialdini is a renowned social psychologist who is particularly well known for his research on persuasion and influence. He is the author of numerous heavily cited academic papers on the subject, and his book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion focuses on how to influence your audience’s decision making. He distills his many years of research on the subject into six principles of influence, which includes:
- Reciprocation
- Commitment and consistency
- Social proof
- Liking
- Authority
- Scarcity
These principles have been used and proven successful in many applications and industries; including, but not limited to, sales, writing, marketing, and more. While the principles of influence can be and are applied to many things we do here at Zion & Zion, we’ve found these principles particularly useful in user experience (UX). Let’s dive down into what each principle of influence is, and how each can be applied to UX.
Reciprocation
We feel obligated to repay someone when they have given us something.
Real Life Example
The classic story here is about a car salesman who had one trick: a Coke. The car salesman talks to the customer, then goes over to a Coke machine, pulls out a dollar from his pocket, buys a Coke and hands it to the customer.
What happens next? The customer is now more likely to buy the car from the salesman. I know, that $1 Coke isn’t even close to the price of the car. But as humans, we feel obligated to repay someone when they have done something for us—even if it’s as small as buying us a Coke. A statistical note: We’re not saying that if someone buys you a Coke that you’ll buy a car from them. What we’re saying is that over repeated trials, the act of buying someone a Coke has a statistically significant effect on the percentage of people that will buy a car.
UX Application
How can you apply this to UX? One common way to use reciprocation is through developing a content strategy where your brand provides useful information to readers. The mere act of supplying quality information on your website and answering user questions can trigger reciprocation. You help readers by providing information they need, and when the time comes for them to make a purchase, they may be more likely to go with you over a competitor. Is this a fail-safe solution to grow your sales? Of course not; but the user may feel an underlying pull of obligation to do business with you because you helped them.
Commitment and Consistency
Once we make a decision or take a stand, we have a tendency to want to keep our future actions consistent with our previous ones.
Real Life Example
It’s simple. People want to stay true to their word and be consistent. This principle works best when someone takes a stand publicly or verbally.
For example, in one study, one group of participants were asked to wear a ribbon in support of cancer awareness for a week, while the other group did not. After the study had finished, every participate was asked to donate money to help fight cancer. Compared to the control group who were not asked to wear ribbons, the group who wore ribbons donated significantly more money overall. Why? They felt committed to supporting the cause at that point because they had publicly supported it previously.
Once a person takes a stand for a cause, they see themselves as that type of person and stay true to it.
UX Application
Companies that make great use of this concept are those who offer “try at home” programs. There are numerous clothing companies out there who ask users about their style preferences and ship them their first box of clothes for free—no commitment. However, there’s a good chance that once the user tries a piece of clothing on, they’re more likely to buy something and continue to receive their monthly shipments.
Here’s another example for software or products. Offer your users a free trial of your software or product that has some limitations like limited storage, limited use of features, limited time trials, etc. Once the user decides to use the free trial and reaches the trial limitations, it’s likely that they’ll purchase to use the full extent of the software or product.
Social Proof
When we’re not sure of something, we validate our decisions based on what other people think is correct.
Real Life Example
This one is a simple concept. You’re in a new city and you’re hungry. How do you decide where to eat? Do you look up places on Yelp? Do you ask some locals for a suggestion? Either way, you’re using the opinions of others to help you make a decision (i.e. social proof).
UX Application
There are many ways to include social proof on your website. You can include testimonials, ratings from sites like Yelp or Googles, or social media posts from customers to show how much others like your brand, company or product. This will make new visitors think, “these people like this brand, so I probably will too.”
Liking
We say “yes” to individuals we know and like.
Real Life Example
Imagine you’re at a Tupperware party. Do you want Tupperware? Probably not. If your friend hosts a Tupperware party, do you buy Tupperware? I bet you do. Cialdini references a Tupperware party as a classic example of liking. Liking your friend increases the chances that you will purchase the Tupperware, it’s as simple as that.
UX Application
You can go about this one in many ways. It could be as simple as having an attractive, likeable, smiling face on your homepage. You can also make your brand more personable and relatable. Think about it, I’m sure there’s a company or product out there that you are loyal to solely because you like their brand. Their product or service may not be any better than competitors, but you like their brand, so you stay loyal.
So how can you apply this to your brand and site? Small things like an “about” or “team” page that shows the personality of your company can make a big difference. We do this with our site at Zion & Zion. People often mention how much they enjoy getting to know the personality of our team through our team page.
You can also achieve liking through the copy of your site. Let’s say you have an email newsletter sign up on your site. You can say, “Sign up for our newsletter,” and hope for the best. Or, you can say, “Want to be pen pals? We do too.” How about, “We like you. Let’s stay in touch.”
Authority
We follow and react to authority symbols.
Real Life Example
There have been a lot of studies done on how people react to symbols of authority. The Milgram Experiment is likely one of the most well-known and controversial studies. Without going into too much detail, the study focuses on how far ordinary people will go in following what an authority figure tells them to do—even if the result is hurting someone else.
The results? People will go pretty far. You can read about the study in more detail and watch a video of it here.
A less controversial example is one involving a police officer and an expired parking meter. The study showed that when a complete stranger (non-authority figure) suggests that you pay a stranger’s expired parking meter, less than half of people complied. However, when an authority figure (a police officer) suggests the same thing, almost 100% of people do it.
UX Application
There are many ways to achieve authority on your website. The use of simple icons, like a BBB (Better Business Bureau) rating or association logos work. If your company has uniforms, showing a person in your uniform helps position them as an authority figure.
Scarcity
If something is less available to us, we want it more.
Real Life Example
There have been a lot of studies done to show how scarcity works. A simple example is a job posting for serving positions at a restaurant. The study posted two job postings, which were ultimately for the same job. One said there were many positions open, while the other advertised only a few positions left.
Which job got the most applicants? The second one. People assume if there aren’t many positions left, it must be better.
UX Application
Here’s a prime example for due dates. Let’s say your school program is accepting applications until December 31st. You could simply say, “Applications due December 31st”, however, by adjusting the wording and using a count down of the number of days left to apply: “Application deadline: 30 days”, you’re creating a sense of scarcity and diminishing availability.
If you have an ecommerce site, there are a lot more ways you can implement scarcity. One way is to show the amount of stock available: “Only three left in stock.” A simpler option is to use verbiage for an offer or product that is going away soon, such as “limited time offer,” or “get it before it’s gone.” A simple message like that can help put the idea in your user’s mind that if they don’t get it now, they might not be able to get it.
Putting It Into Practice
I’ve outlined a few ways you can apply Cialdini’s principles of influence to user experience, but the list doesn’t end here. Go out there and put these principles to use and help influence your users. Just remember to always influence responsibly.