1st Principle of Influence – Reciprocation
In our last post, we mentioned about the 6 ‘Principles of Influence’ that can be used in one’s professional and personal life. Today, we will be briefly discussing about the 1st principle:
1: Reciprocation
Randy Garner’s experiment showed that the principle of reciprocation is effective in marketing. His study demonstrated that people who received a hand-written sticky note requesting completion of a survey had a 69% response rate, while those who received a blank sticky note had a 43% response rate, and those who received no sticky note had a 34% response rate. Additionally, the quality of the answers given by those who received the hand-written note was significantly better. This shows that marketers can use the principle of reciprocation to their advantage by giving something – such as information, free samples, or a positive experience – to their customers, which will cause them to feel indebted and more likely to respond positively to the marketer’s request.
