Science Of Effective Persuasion

Introduction

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We all can not count the number of times we set out to do something but ended up doing something entirely different or doing things that are not in line with our budget or beliefs. Been human, there is limit to the amount of external influence we can withstand. Many people have mastered the art of persuasion though sometimes intuitively, they simply know how to get others to say YES. Check the advertisers. Knowing how to make others do your bidding is a skill that comes handy in interpersonal dealing, but must no be taken to the extreme that it becomes amoral. Also, the place never to be is to to be in constant receiving end of other people's manipulation.

Like every other human behaviors and interactions, there is a science to how we are influenced or influence others. It is easy to think people are in control and considered all available information in making their decisions but the reality is many human's decisions are made based on emotions, rule of thumb or shortcut. Human naturally want to take the easy way out of everything. Those 'experts' in manipulation use this shortcuts to control others' behaviours and decision making. Let's look at few of these shortcuts humans intuitively take.

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Reciprocity

How many times you heard "one good turn deserves another" cliche? Human are obliged to give something back when they receive. There is the feeling of "I owe him" or "he owes me" when they receive or give.

Someone send you a nice gift on your birthday, then you feel the obligation to do something special for him on his birthday or any day special to him. Receiving especially has a way preventing you from looking or judging the giver objectively. You just find it difficult to turn the person you feel indebted to down. I believe this is where the idea of 'bribing' stemmed from. Bribing is frowned on in every culture because it means you want to take away the other person's choice of making an objective decision. To use this principle, you need to know when, how and what to give. Giving first, unexpectedly and personalized will make people feel indebted to you.

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Scarcity

Scarcity can make almost anything to be perceived more valuable than it is. People seek desperately things that are exclusive. Almost any object (even human) suddenly becomes more attractive when they become scarce. There were times in history when items like salt, potatoes, flowers were 'gold', because they became scarce.

Shortage of anything will increase the wanting of it exponentially. Great art dealers used the strategy of scarcity to perfection. Joseph Duveen bought up a large collection of arts and kept them in his basement, he increased their worth by increasing their rarity and gave them stories. The strategy of scarcity is true in most of the human endeavours from marketing to relationship.

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Authority

People naturally want to listen to someone that 'oozes' authority in his appearance, recommendations or with awards/trophies on the mantlepiece that shows his expertise.

It is therefore important to 'flash' your credibility when trying to sell or persuade people to take decisions. Let face it, an endorsement by a health agency conspicuously displayed on a product, let say a toothpaste, will increase your chance of adding it to your cart. The same way a sale page is never complete without testimonials. At times, we have this doubt feeling some recommendations or testimonials might be staged, but we so much want to believe them because we want some credibility that will guide our decisions and make them easier.

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Consensus

There is a kind of assurance comes with general opinions. Even if the decision was wrong, you were not alone...a good consolation. It has to do with our lazy nature or our seeking of softer landing to our decisions. Though we are a good percent sure we know the answer, we still want to check if our partner is writing the same thing. Do I have a witness?

Have you ever heard something of this nature; 6 million internet users use so and so, or 80% of our customers also love this and that...When appealing or persuading others, you will do better do better by employing human's need for agreement and back it up with some statistics.

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Liking

It is normal for a human to want to do the bidding or be agreeable with someone they like. It is clear that the chance of someone saying yes to you is high they like you. Once you get someone to fancy you, then your job of persuading them is half done.

And it is almost impossible to convince anyone that has a loathing for you. People tend to develop some form of affections for other people - that have something in common with them, that appreciate them or their work or things important to them (not ass licking) and those that cooperate with them towards achieving their goals. Whether online or offline, those three factors need to be employed before calling others to actions. Getting down to business without appealing to the 'needy' human nature of others is not very effective.

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Conclusion

There is a science to human behaviours, not understanding this science will leave us confused and frustrated when their behaviours are not logical. Many times, we don't operate by logic but by emotions, trend, agreement, ease of decision making and so on. Understanding these 'illogical' human behaviours will pave ways into their hearts for you.
This post is not encouraging using persuasion unethically. Of course, whatever good or service you are offering needs be of quality value. That gives us a win-win situation, everyone is happy.

Thanks for reading.

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