Writing to persuade? (Invoke Cialdini)
Do you rely on electronic communication as your “first touch” when marketing to prospective customers or clients?
If so, consider applying Robert Cialdini’s Six Principles of Influence when crafting your message, and see if you get better results.
Every day HR pros around the country recruit “passive” candidates by sending targeted emails and LinkedIn messages to highly qualified people who may be happily employed and not looking for a job – but who could be persuaded to at least take a peek if the right opportunity came along.
A couple months ago I taught 64 HR professionals in Cincinnati how to revamp standard, often boilerplate emails to passive candidates by applying one or more of Cialdini’s principles:
- Reciprocity: People feel obligated to give back if they receive something from others
- Commitment (and Consistency): People desire consistency, which we can inspire by seeking only small, initial commitments
- Social Proof: People look to others to determine their own actions
- Liking: People say yes to people they like
- Authority: People will follow the lead of respected experts
- Scarcity: People want more of things in short supply
We delved deeply into all six principles, and within 90 minutes these HR pros started sharing ways they’d recraft their own messages to be more persuasive.
Before the class ended, we rewrote one participant’s sample email by applying not just one or two of Cialdini’s principles but all six. This participant took our rewrite back to her boss – and now her company is planning to revamp its passive-candidate recruiting process using the principles and applications we discussed.
Do you need to write to persuade? If so, check out Cialdini’s classic work, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. How many principles can you weave in to that all-important first touch to a prospective customer or client?
