There are six widely used successful principles of influence:
1. Reciprocation. People are more willing to comply with requests (for favors, services, information, and concessions) from those who have provided such things first. Because people feel an obligation to reciprocate, Cialdini found that free samples in supermarkets, free home inspections by exterminating companies, and free gifts through the mail from marketers or fund raisers were all highly effective ways to increase compliance with a follow-up request. For example, according to the American Disabled Veterans organization, mailing out a simple appeal for donations produces an 18% success rate; but, enclosing a small gift–personalized address labels–boosts the success rate to 35%.
2. Commitment and Consistency. People are more willing to be moved in a particular direction if they see it as consistent with an existing or recently-made commitment. For instance, high pressure door-to-door sales companies are plagued by the tendency of some buyers to cancel the deal after the salesperson has left and the pressure to buy is no longer present.
3. Authority. People are more willing to follow the directions or recommendations of someone they view as an authority.
4. Social Validation. People are more willing to take a recommended step if they see evidence that many others, especially similar others, are taking it. Manufacturers make use of this principle by claiming that their product is the fastest growing or largest selling in the market. Cialdini found that the strategy of increasing compliance by providing evidence of others who had already complied was the most widely used of the six principles he encountered.
5. Scarcity. People find objects and opportunities more attractive to the degree that they are scarce, rare, or dwindling in availability. Hence, newspaper ads are filled with warnings to potential customers regarding the folly of delay: “Last three days.” “Limited time offer.” “One week only sale.” One particularly single-minded movie theater owner who managed to load three separate appeals to the scarcity principle into just five words of advertising copy that read, “Exclusive, limited engagement, ends soon.”
6. Liking and Friendship. People prefer to say yes to those they know and like. If you doubt that is the case, consider the remarkable success of the Tupperware Home Party Corporation, which arranges for customers to buy its products not from a stranger across a counter but from the neighbor, friend, or relative who has sponsored Tupperware party and who gets a percentage of its profits. According to interviews done by Cialdini, many people attend the parties and purchase the products not out of a need for more containers that go pffft when you press on them, but out of a sense of liking or friendship toward the party sponsor.
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