We’re talking about Robert Cialdini’s remarkable work, “Influence: Science And Practice”. In this book, Cialdini discusses the 6 principles he found that are found commonly among “compliance professionals.”
If you’re a marketer — that includes you.
As a marketer, if you aren’t tapping into reciprocity, you’re missing a bet.
Reciprocity greases the wheels of societies. Researchers have found the power of reciprocity operating in every culture where they’ve looked.
Why?
Well, researchers figure that it’s what makes societies “go”. While I don’t recall Cialdini saying so, you could say that it’s the precursor to monetary systems. It provides a cohesiveness within groups and gives them advantages.
Some experimenters discovered that if they sent Christmas cards to random people, they invariably got a Christmas card in return.
When people were given a small favor they responded more positively — by about two times — to requests made to them. Most importantly, this is done whether or not the responder likes the person doing them a favor.
The Hare Krishnas are a great example of this. Formerly a fixture of American airports, the Hare Krishnas famously gave people flowers and got donations in response. Cialdini goes into detail about how they use reciprocity to get those donations.
And no, I’m not going to describe it here. You need to get the bookand read it — he explains it much better than I can (and still stay within the copyright laws.)