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Welcome to Aha Moments - The 1-minute newsletter with data and behavioral science insights for busy marketers like you.
This week’s newsletter is inspired by a few articles I read about how to get people to comply without thinking by using what might be the easiest behavioral science hack -
Using the word ‘because’
Yes, it has been scientifically proven by a classic Harvard study that had the people use three different, specifically worded requests to break in line to a copier machine:
“Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine?” resulted in 60% compliance.
“Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the xerox machine, because I have to make copies?” resulted in 93% compliance.
“Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?” resulted in 94% compliance !!!
Researchers hypothesised that hearing the word “because” followed by a reason (no matter how lame) causes people to engage in “automatic” behavior that causes them to comply.
In his best-selling book Influence, Robert Cialdini explained this phenomenon: “People simply like to have reasons for what they do.”
So, if you want more conversion and get customers to click on your CTAs, simply use the word ‘because’ in the copy and give them a reason to comply!
Here is the brand that most famously did this to convince its customers to buy its premium-priced products.
