How Businesses Alter Your Preferences Using Persuasion

I often find myself in situations saying yes, like buying a product online which I don’t need or returning a favor even if it is infeasible to do so. Sales operators, automobile dealers, and the e-commerce industry use compliance techniques to influence people. Professionals aren’t the only ones who use these techniques. We all use them and fall victim to them in our interactions with people¹. A mere understanding of the underlying principles which govern these techniques can help us make better decisions.

Your perception of something will get affected by things you have encountered just before. For example, After lifting a light object, a heavy object feels heavier¹. An automobile dealer uses the contrast principle by suggesting accessories after the price of a car is negotiated¹. Because, when buying a million rupees car, the price of a rearview camera seems trivial in comparison.

When someone does a favor to us, we should try to repay it. For example, if someone brings a cake on our birthday, we must also take one for theirs. As a marketing technique, the free samples are given to potential customers for the stated purpose of allowing them to try it to see if they like it¹. The beauty of free samples is that they are also gifts and, as such, can engage reciprocity rule¹. Because it is difficult to take a sample and walk away from the always-smiling attendant.

Suppose you want me to agree to a request¹. One way to increase your chances would be to initially make a higher request, one that I will decline¹. Then make the more modest request, the one in which you are interested¹. Since you have decreased the demand, I should view this second request as a concession given to me and feel inclined to respond with a concession¹. That is, agreeing to your second request¹. Once my friend asked me for money, he initially asked for an amount that I cannot give. After I declined, he dropped to a smaller amount. Now by reducing the amount, he offered a concession to me. And I had no choice but to respond with an inclination. That is, agreeing to give the money.

One of the beauties of this tactic is, it simultaneously engages the force of the reciprocity rule and the contrast principle¹. Not only the smaller amount asked by my friend can be viewed as a concession to be reciprocated, but the amount looked even smaller than if asked straightaway.

When people make a public commitment, they usually remain consistent with it, often due to personal and social pressures¹. A car dealer may offer a great price to some customers, making them consider buying the car¹. Then the customer is encouraged to: take a test drive, see the finance options and explore new features¹. Now customer has developed unique reasons to be consistent with their car choice¹. In this case, even if you remove the initial price offer, the customer has sufficient grounds to buy the car¹.

When we are unsure of ourselves, when the situation is unclear, we are likely to follow the actions of others¹. For example, if there are two fruit sellers, you are more likely to visit the one with more customers. Businesses use the principle of social proof to add new customers. The advertisement agency only publicizes the good reviews of the product, which enables us to think that, if people found the product beneficial, I will find it too.

It often happens that liking, for one thing, produces liking for another just because the two things are associated¹. To make us look good, we try to associate ourselves with others who are successful even when we are remotely related to them. On the contrary, we avoid publicizing our ties to failures. Brands constantly use the association principle in the advertisement by hiring celebrities. Because when our favorite cricketer, actor, or actress promotes something, we cannot resist preferring it.

Whenever you see someone as an authority figure, you hardly give a second thought to their decision. In healthcare, nurses and patients hardly question doctors and their prescriptions¹. When someone introduces themselves as a professor, government official, or high-ranking individual, we become more compliant.

Sometimes this principle is used for the exploitation of the general public. In TV advertisements, we see actors with a lab coat talking about toothpaste, hand wash, soaps, and other products. Because we feel, when experts say something, it has to be true.

Things that are hard to possess are better than those that are easy¹. Whenever you visit an e-commerce website, some deals are always present. They show the number of stocks left, time left before the deal ends, and discount price. Because we feel that since limited stocks are remaining and the sale will end soon, we should buy this product.

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