Robert Cialdini is a renowned psychologist and researcher at the University of Arizona in the United States. He became known internationally with the publication of his book Influence. The psychology of persuasion, 1984.
To write this book, Robert Cialdini worked in secret for three years. He infiltrated car sales companies, telemarketing companies, charities and more. The book brings together all his conclusions and has become a reference in the psychology of persuasion.
"The art of persuasion is as much about pleasing as it is about convincing; since men are governed more by whims than by reason. »
All his books were, according to the New York Times Bussines, among the best selling books. In addition, Fortune magazine has placed its books among the 100 most intelligent that have been produced in recent decades. Robert Caldini proposed, as part of his work, six principles of persuasion that continue to be applied today in various fields. These principles are:
1. Reciprocity, Robert Caldini's first principle
During his research, Robert Cialdini was able to verify a principle that many people had already understood through common sense. According to his research, people treat others as they perceive others treat them. So, for example, we tend to be kind to those who treat us kindly. That's why we have great power, for example, to make us like a person more, or less, over time.
Advertising uses this principle. The reason why a brand sometimes offers its products as gifts is precisely the principle of reciprocity. They know that consumers appreciate this gesture and become more loyal to the brand for this reason. An example may be a well-known franchise that has announced that it will now offer free coffee on Mondays. Reciprocity applied on your site; you must provide a service to your visitors to engage with your brand. Indeed, if the visitors of your site do not find enough to satisfy their needs then they may not pursue further.This is how you will be able to retrieve information about your visitors: by offering them content (ebook, study) or advantageous offers (contest game, discount, free delivery).
2. The principle of rarity
Robert Cialdini has discovered that people tend to value more what they perceive as rare or exclusive. It doesn't matter if it really is so. The fact is that when something is catalogued as only accessible to very few individuals, it immediately awakens desire.
Advertising also benefits from this principle. This is the basis on which concepts such as "Promotion for a few days" or "Discount for the first 50 buyers" are built and all such campaigns. They generally work very well. On the other hand, a continuous succession of "last opportunities" for the same product eventually dissipates this effect. A product gains value when it appears to be limited in quantity or time.
The rarity in application on your site ; E-commerce sites often contain emergency messages highlighting the risk that a product may no longer be available or that the current offer may no longer be valid if consumers do not buy immediately.
3. The principle of authority
This principle stipulates that people who have a position of leadership or notoriety enjoy greater credibility among individuals. Others tend to believe simply because it is said by "x" or "y". They are less critical with celebrities.
So that there is now a very lucrative activity around the so-called "influencers". Others tend to identify with them, to imitate them. Others are less demanding about the content of what these people say. They are more likely to believe what they say. This principle is very well illustrated by a study conducted in 1988. She reports that any individual has a 72% probability of helping a person short of change to pay for their car's parking space if they wear a uniform, compared to 27% if they do not.
To optimize the conversions of your site, you can activate this principle in several ways:
Customer testimonials: Cialdini considers that the authority of a person or entity is also determined by public opinion. Indeed, the more positive your products receive, the more your brand appears as an authority figure on the market.
Badges and certifications : do you remember the last time you paid online ? I bet you have taken a look at reinsurance elements such as the presence of "https" or badges certifying the security of transactions before converting (Visa, Mastercard, Paypal, 3dSecure certification, etc). In a B2B context, rely on your company's awards to activate the principle of authority.
You will notice that the principle of authority is in this sense a direct consequence of the social proof. The more positive feedback your company receives, the more your reputation and authority grows. In other words, if you highlight the positive feedback from satisfied customers, you will appear as an authority figure to your visitors.
4. Commitment and coherence
Robert Cialdini points out that the principle of commitment and coherence implies that people are more willing to take measures that are in line with what they have done in the past, even if they have not acted in a particularly reasoned way. People tend to look for what reaffirms them and is familiar to them.
This principle of persuasion is widely applied in the field of sales. In order to attract new customers, their behaviour and customs are studied in advance. This provides a guide to what type of offer should be made. If, for example, they are impulsive people, situations are generated in order to induce them to act impulsively to buy.
You can give much more weight to the principle of consistency if your value proposition to move to the next level is shaped from what precisely interests each of your visitors. Identify the need of your visitors to support them towards hard conversion, generate leads and test requests, the best way to make them want to buy is to make them try it).
A visitor who takes advantage of this test will be considered and treated as a customer for one month and will thus have a strong chance to subscribe to the premium package at the end of the trial period.
5. Consensus or social evidence
This principle stipulates that individuals tend to join the majority. The usual thing is that they bow to the opinion with the largest number of followers. If many people believe that something is right, others will tend to believe the same thing. And vice versa. If the majority believe that something is wrong, gradually, many other people will think the same.
Therefore, whether it is business or politics, great efforts are made to "create trends". They are not always inspired by certain or reasonable elements. However, once they begin to "form a wave", they generally bear fruit.
Social Proof can significantly impact your conversion rates. As in "real life", Social Proof's many marketing applications are all based on the group effect. To encourage more visitors to convert, you can indicate the number of purchases made by other people in real time on your product sheets or highlight the opinions of your satisfied customers.
6. The principle of sympathy
His principle is linked to the so-called "halo effect". It is related to the fact that the most physically attractive people have a greater capacity for persuasion. They are unconsciously associated with other positive values such as honesty and success. This effect also occurs with people who generate sympathy for other attributes than the physical.
This is why advertising almost always uses stereotypes that generate this principle of sympathy. Whether they are very beautiful or beautiful models, or people who symbolize appearances that awaken identification or desire.
Robert Cialdini's principles of persuasion were applied in many areas. Nevertheless, they had their greatest impact in the world of marketing. We can state that contemporary marketing is fundamentally based on the research of this psychologist.
This principle can be used to optimize the conversions of your site. To do this, you must maintain the image that your prospects and customers have of you but also the relationship you have with them throughout the conversion tunnel. It may seem trivial at first, but as Cialdini points out, the closer a visitor or prospect feels to a company, the more likely they are to convert.
This is possible thanks to the emails you can send after a purchase, after a certain time when the customer has not visited your site or to wish a happy birthday.
This also involves customer service. You must offer quality service to your customers by phone or chat in order to convey a good image and provide a quality experience to visitors.
To summarize
The objective of any company is to increase its margins and turnover. By activating all 7 Cialdini principles on your site, you should be able to give a significant boost to your conversion rates.
However, I would remind you that these are sociological principles and not mathematical calculations that ensure results. However, by working with these principles to optimize your site's performance, you should achieve positive results if they help improve your visitors' browsing experience.
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