But You Are Free …
Want to double your persuasion power? The Neuromarketing blog has the answer.
In their post, Four Words That Double Persuasion, they report:
“Want to double your success in persuading people to do as you ask? Four simple words, and even other phrases with the same meaning, have been shown to double the success rate in dozens of studies worldwide.”
Try your hand at guessing the words.
I thought it would be some version of a ‘free offer’. Close, but no cigar.
The winning phrase (or concept) is: ‘but you are free to choose.
Says Neuromarketing: “…it turns out that reminding people they have the freedom to choose makes them much more likely to be persuaded. This technique is known as But You Are Free (BYAF). After making the request, one simply adds, “but you are free to choose.”
According to Neuromarketing, a meta research effort found 42 studies that examined the BYAF principle and confirmed its persuasive effectiveness. “The exact language doesn’t seem to be important. Pointing out that the person isn’t obligated to do as you ask seems equally effective. The key is to give the person the security of knowing they are free to choose.”
Of course you might believe this or not … you are free to choose!
2 responses to “But You Are Free …”
Behavioral Science Q & A
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I’m not an expert in this but a quick search surfaced this article on the effect of tax reforms on 2019’s charitable giving. The researchers didn’t find a reduction. Actually, they observed an “increase in charitable contributions in 2019, even with the lower tax rates and the dramatically smaller number of taxpayers who itemize their […]
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Please excuse my off-thread comment!
As someone who monitors our organization’s newsletter, I was disappointed I couldn’t share my reason for unsubscribing to the newsletter.
I am heading out on maternity leave and will resubscribe on my return.
🙂
Interesting. Have you heard of any testing on this sort of language related to donation solicitation? I’d be curious to hear if it worked.