Lyden's Lab for Strategic Copywriters

Is Persuasion through Reciprocation Really Manipulation?

In his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (affiliate link), Robert Cialdini presents these six principles of persuasion:

• Reciprocity
• Commitment and consistency
• Social Proof
• Liking
• Authority
• Scarcity

This series of posts at Lyden’s Lab will unpack each of these principles and explore how it applies to persuasive writing in marketing, advertising, public relations and sales.

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In a previous post, we talked in-depth about persuasion through reciprocation – that is, when a vendor or sales rep gives us something of value, we often feel a need to give back (or reciprocate) by responding favorably to the offer.

But this begs the question: If our intention is to give in order “to get,” isn’t that really manipulation? In the extreme, isn’t that really bribery? Couldn’t you say that it’s the “quid pro quo” (or reciprocation) in backroom deals among politicians and lobbyists that often drives corruption in politics? Can it not also lead to unethical marketing and sales tactics, as well?

On the surface, there’s just something that seems unseemly and manipulative about using reciprocity as a tool of persuasion, right?

Perhaps.

Yet, I am reminded by an oft-quoted saying from sales guru Zig Ziglar:

"You can get anything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want in life."

From that perspective, reciprocity can be a powerful and compelling force for mutual good.

Keeping Persuasion in the Proper Perspective

How do you apply this principle of persuasion-through-reciprocation in copywriting -- in a way that both the audience and marketer come out as winners? Ask yourself these three questions to keep your persuasion strategy in the proper perspective:

1. What does your audience want/need, relative to what your product/ service offers?

2. What can you give away that your audience wants/needs – and will make them hungry enough to pay for more?

3. What do you want in return for your give-away? A demo appointment? Contact information? Permission to market? Determine your goal upfront – and be transparent about your motives. If you’re offering something of genuine value – and it’s in the best interest of the audience – then you don’t have to be shy about your intentions.

Where I see the appeal to reciprocation sliding into manipulation is when the marketer is more focused on his or her company’s best interest – at the expense of the prospect/ audience. 

The Bottom Line

So here’s my take on the reciprocation-versus-manipulation debate: What’s your focus -- mutual benefit (win-win) or your own benefit at the expense of others (win-lose)? Transparency or alterior motives?

If we think “win-win” when applying persuasion-through-reciprocation, I believe we’re on the right track.

What’s your take?

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Related Posts

The Give-to-Get Method of Persuasion

Avoid Pain or Gain Pleasure – Which is the Stronger Motivator?

Pricing Psychology 

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About the Author: Sean M. Lyden is a nationally recognized feature writer and columnist on sales, marketing, automotive and technology topics. As a ghostwriter and copywriter, Sean has served clients such as General Motors, SunTrust Service Corporation, Morgan Stanley, Embedded Linux Consortium and Shaw Industries. He’s also co-author of the book How to Succeed and Make Money on Your First Rental House (Wiley, 2003). Follow Sean on Twitter.

© Sean M. Lyden, 2012, All Rights Reserved

 

The Give-to-Get Method of Persuasion

In his book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (affiliate link), Robert Cialdini presents these six principles of persuasion:

• Reciprocity
• Commitment and consistency
• Social Proof
• Liking
• Authority
• Scarcity

My next series of posts at Lyden’s Lab will unpack each of these principles and explore how it applies to persuasive writing in marketing, advertising, public relations and sales.

What is reciprocity?

The idea behind this principle is that when someone gives us something of value for free, we feel a sense of obligation to “reciprocate,” to repay the favor in some fashion. It appeals to that psychological need in many of us to balance the scales. That may mean we allow the vendor time to pitch a product or even close the sale.

I call this the “Give-to-Get” method of persuasion.

For example …

A consultant offers a FREE initial consultation.

This reduces risk for the prospect because he or she expects to receive something of value (the consultant’s time) and be able to test whether the consultant is a fit – without the fear of losing money. If the prospect and consultant seem to be a good match, the prospect is more inclined to move forward with that consultant, not only on the merits of the consultant’s expertise but also, more subtly, out of obligation to the consultant’s investment in the relationship.

Other examples …

A software company offers a FREE white paper in exchange for prospects’ contact information, profile and permission to market to them.

A media company offers FREE access to certain articles – to demonstrate value while motivating users to pay for premium content.

A sales rep brings breakfast and coffee to a prospect’s business – and may not be expecting a formal meeting – but the decision-maker often feels obligated to at least “hear what you have to offer.”

A writer offers a prospective agency client a few hours of her time “at no charge” to give the agency a "no-risk" taste of her writing skills; if the agency principals are pleased with her work, the odds are strong that they feel obligated to present the next “paid” opportunity to that writer.

How does reciprocity apply to print and online copywriting?

The key is to develop a compelling FREE offer. Here are two questions to help guide you through the process:

What is something of value that you are willing to offer for free?

What do you ultimately expect to achieve with that giveaway?

• Attract blog or e-newsletter subscribers
• Build database of prospects who give your company permission-to-market to them
• Schedule a demo
• What else?

When is reciprocity most effective in the sales process?

In my post, Where Does Your Copy Fit in the Sales Process?, I describe in detail the various stages of the Law of the Harvest and Trust Continuum. Take a look at this graphic.

While you can leverage reciprocation at any of the four stages, it’s in Stage 1 where reciprocation will make the biggest impact. With new prospects, the trust-level with your company, product or offering is at its lowest point. But the appeal to reciprocation can create an environment where prospects can test your product/ service, which will likely increase their level of trust in you – and make them more inclined to continue down the sales cycle with you.

But wait …isn't reciprocation really a form of manipulation? Where do you draw the line?

I’ll address this issue in my next post.

 

About the Author: Sean M. Lyden is a nationally recognized feature writer and columnist on sales, marketing, automotive and technology topics. As a ghostwriter and copywriter, Sean has served clients such as General Motors, SunTrust Service Corporation, Morgan Stanley, Embedded Linux Consortium and Shaw Industries. He’s also co-author of the book How to Succeed and Make Money on Your First Rental House (Wiley, 2003). Follow Sean on Twitter.

© Sean M. Lyden, 2012, All Rights Reserved

 

Avoid Pain or Gain Pleasure - Which is the Stronger Motivator?

When you're comparing the two forces one-on-one, my money is on "avoiding pain" as the stronger motivator. While pleasure represents a nice-to-have goal, pain stirs up such negative emotion that it incites an I-MUST-change attitude in the reader. 

Think of the difference this way. If we're struggling with weight gain, we might desire the benefits of losing weight -- looking attractive in a bathing suit, feeling more energy to play with the kids, increasing our self-esteem and confidence in all areas of our lives, and so forth. But are any of these "pleasure points" powerful enough to cause us to want to change habits (eating less, exercising more, etc.) NOW? 

Sometimes, but not likely.

These pleasure points may create a desire that we SHOULD change, but fall short of causing us to feel like we MUST change. "Must" is like a red-hot iron poker to compel change (via pain); "should" is a lukewarm desire that lacks compulsion.   

Appealing to pain taps into the powerful "must" motivator. If the doctor says you MUST make changes NOW or you'll experience x,y,z health issues (or even death), you'll be more likely to change. 

When writing sales copy, you must first appeal to your readers' pain before they will sense the need for the benefits (the pleasure) of what your product or service has to offer.

Does this mean your copy should focus exclusively on the pain principle? No. The point is to leverage both forces to motivate your readers to the action you intend. 

• Appealing to pain compels the reader to WANT to change NOW.
• Appealing to pleasure propels the reader toward your product as the only elixir for his or her pain.

How does this mesh with your experience? What are your thoughts?

About the Author: Sean M. Lyden is a nationally recognized feature writer and columnist on sales, marketing, automotive and technology topics. Lyden is hired by companies in the high-tech, industrial and automotive markets to write persuasive sales copy that makes complex, highly technical products more compelling to customers. He’s also co-author of the book How to Succeed and Make Money on Your First Rental House (published by John Wiley & Sons). Follow Sean on Twitter.

 

© Sean M. Lyden, 2010, All Rights Reserved

6 Questions that Help You Blast Through Writer's Block

How do you blast through writer's block? The key lies in your ability to get into the mind of your audience. To do this, I like to think of myself as an actor, putting myself “in character,” imbued with the same thoughts and emotions of my audience. Once I’m in that mindset, my writing seems to flow with little effort, making writer's block a non issue.

 

How do you quickly put yourself into character?  The following are six questions to ask. I’ll then share a “live” example of how these questions work to illustrate the process.

 

1. What is this person’s title?

2. What is this person’s role/ function?

3. What does a person in this role typically fear? (What makes him/ her paranoid?)

4. What impacts his/ her job security?

5. What makes this buyer frustrated?

6. What does this buyer strive to attain? What defines success?

 

B2B OR B2C APPLICATION?

You'll notice these questions assume a business-to-business (B2B) audience vs. business-to-consumer (B2C). That's because B2B projects are what I do most. However, you can apply these questions to help you tap into the minds of consumer audiences, too. 

 

How? Take the first question, for example. Consumer titles can include father, mother, husband, wife, parent, runner, musician, or whatever. You then move onto question 2 as it relates to that person's title. Even question 4 on job security can apply to a consumer audience, especially if your product/ service helps people overcome anything that would put their job security at risk.

 

Check out the example below. While it's B2B case, I think you'll be able to see how this process can also apply to B2C. 

 

"LIVE" EXAMPLE

I am a regular contributor to Work Truck Magazine. The target audience is fleet managers for companies with truck fleets ranging anywhere from a handful to several hundred vehicles. This is the process I go through at the start of each article for Work Truck.

 

(NOTE: While this example is for an article, the same process works no matter what the format – ad copy, Web, brochures, case studies and so forth. The starting point to persuasion is to identify your audience’s hot buttons. This line of questioning makes it easy.)

 

What is this person’s title?

Fleet manager

 

What exactly is this person’s role/ function?

Handle the day-to-day operations of a multi-vehicle fleet. This includes:

· Spec’ing trucks

· Locating and purchasing new trucks

· Maintaining and repairing vehicles

· Scheduling crews

· Ensuring optimal crew productivity

· Managing tag and title renewals

· Purchasing insurance

· Cultivating relationships with vehicle OEM’s, dealers, fleet leasing companies, and truck body and equipment companies.

· Reselling used vehicles

 

What does a person in this role typically fear? What makes him/ her paranoid?

· Vehicle down time because for each day a vehicle is in the shop, the company loses money

· Crew complaints about vehicle performance and comfort because an unhappy crew leads to negative, time-consuming phone calls with crew members keeps fleet managers from focusing on more productive tasks

· Purchasing trucks that don’t do the job (insufficient weight capacity, poor performance in hilly regions, etc.) because the investment is too high not to get a suitable return, which leads to greater scrutiny from upper management

 

What impacts his/ her job security?

· Excessive crew complaints

· Mistakes in spec’ing vehicles that shorten vehicle life or make the truck completely unusable for the job

 

What makes this buyer frustrated?

· Work overload

· Having to be a constant “fire fighter” and not feeling on top of situations

· Vendors who are more of a hassle than help

 

What does this buyer strive to attain? What defines success?

· Saving the company money in terms of fleet operations. Fleet managers create savings through improved vehicle fuel economy, lower vehicle purchase costs, lower maintenance cost, etc.

· Creating greater efficiencies throughout the fleet management process. For example, if fleet managers standardized specs for all of their companies’ locations, this would reduce the time it would take to spec, select and purchase vehicles. Moreover, since the trucks would be spec’s the same way, the company can take advantage of volume purchasing of that spec, which lowers their vehicle acquisition cost.

 

ORGANIZE YOUR THOUGHTS

Choose what approach works best for you. I like to take a sheet of paper and create two columns: “Pain Points” and “Pleasure Points.” Then I fill in the columns with the appropriate notes from my answers above. All thoughts having to do with fear, job security and frustration go under “Pain Points” – what your audience wants to avoid.  The thoughts that answer “What defines success?” I place under “Pleasure Points” – what your audience wants to move toward.

 

CONNECT PLEASURE & PAIN POINTS TO YOUR TOPIC

The topic for the article I’m working on right now is “How to Spec Truck Bodies to Prevent Corrosion in High Risk Regions.” So, what I do here is ask one more question: How does this topic relate to a fleet manager’s pleasure and pain points? I then brainstorm all possible connections. This gives me all the raw material I need to write a compelling lead paragraph (that addresses both pleasure and pain points) -- from which the rest of the article just flows with little mental resistance.

 

Try it! When you take 15 minutes upfront to get into the character of your audience, you’ll break through writer's block and save hours in the actual process of writing copy that resonates with your readers.

 

About the Author: Sean M. Lyden is a nationally recognized feature writer and columnist on sales, marketing, automotive and technology topics. As a ghostwriter and copywriter, Sean has served clients such as General Motors, SunTrust Service Corporation, Morgan Stanley, Embedded Linux Consortium and Shaw Industries. He’s also co-author of the book How to Succeed and Make Money on Your First Rental House (published by John Wiley & Sons). Follow Sean on Twitter.

Pricing Psychology

Thought this may be of interest. Listen to this interview on NPR's Science Friday with William Poundstone, author of the book Priceless: The Myth of Fair Market Value (and how to take Advantage of it). (The audio is on the upper left hand side of the Science Friday page.)

Learn about the "magic" behind prices that end in "9" and other pricing strategies that experts in consumer behavior employ to boost product and service sales with just slight adjustments to price presentation. This info is invaluable for writing compelling and persuasive copy.

About the Author:Sean M. Lyden is a nationally recognized feature writer and columnist on sales, marketing, automotive and technology topics. As a ghostwriter and copywriter, Sean has served clients such as General Motors, SunTrust Service Corporation, Morgan Stanley, Embedded Linux Consortium and Shaw Industries. He’s also co-author of the book How to Succeed and Make Money on Your First Rental House (published by John Wiley & Sons). Follow Sean on Twitter.