CHAPTER EIGHT THE PETRIFIED FOREST

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE PETRIFIED FOREST

One of the most powerful persuasion techniques is social proof. Advertisers and marketers know the power of social proof, which is why they use it so often in their marketing materials. Social proof demonstrates to potential customers that a product is popular, causing the customers to think that the product is good to buy.

21 – THE SITCOM LAUGHTER TRACK

Television studios realize the power of social proof, which is why a lot of TV sitcoms contain canned laughter. Research has found that people who view sitcoms that have laughter tracks find the sitcoms to be funnier than sitcoms that don’t. It can happen because the canned laughter serves as social proof, and when we hear people laughing, it causes us to laugh too.

In another example of the power of social proof, researchers who joined a door-to-door charity campaign found that the longer the list of prior donors, the more likely it was that the person being solicited would donate as well.

So, If you’re trying to persuade someone to do something, then use social proof to do so. Tell the person about how many other people who are similar to him are using your product/service/idea. If relevant, provide testimonials to demonstrate social proof and show that people are happy because of following your recommended course of action.

NEGATIVE SOCIAL PROOF

Social proof encourages more of the behavior that is being advertised. In other words, if a person sees that your blog post has been shared by thousands of people he is more likely to share it too. If a sitcom viewer hears watches a show with a laugh track, she is more likely to laugh too.

The important point is: whichever action is demonstrated as being the one most people are taking is the one that other people will follow (whether you want it or not). Why is this an important point? Because people sometimes don’t realize the unintended consequences of social proof.

22 – THE PETRIFIED FOREST PERSUASION FAILURE

As an example of this, consider what happened when researchers put the following sign in the U.S. Petrified Forest National Park: “Many past visitors have removed the petrified wood from the park, destroying the natural state of the Petrified Forest.”

The sign was meant to discourage theft by showing that removing wood has resulted in the destruction of the forest. It’s the sort of message a lot of people use when trying to scare someone away from a behavior (e.g. “Most people don’t recycle their trash, which results in the destruction of the Earth. Please recycle your trash and help save the world!”).

Have you ever seen a message similar to this?

This type of message conveys negative social proof. It tries to discourage people from a particular behavior, but it demonstrates that a lot of people are engaging in that behavior. So, what were the results of the sign that was put up at the Petrified Forest? Was the sign successful in painting the seriousness of the problem and hence reducing theft of the wood? The results were shocking! The negative social proof (“Many past visitors have removed the petrified wood...”) resulted in increased theft. In fact, it tripled the amount of theft because it unconsciously made people think, “If everyone else is doing it, then why shouldn’t I?”

Next time you’re using social proof to persuade someone to do something, make sure you’re not using negative social proof that results in the opposite of the desired behavior

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