Humans are wired to not want to be different. Most of us work hard to fit in. Turns out that playing the ‘this is what everyone is doing’ card can be one of the most powerful ways to persuade customers, colleagues and businesses to do the things you’d like them to do —such as making a particular purchase or agreeing to your position over a deal. This is called consensus messaging.
In the 90’s when I worked as a sales rep for Lucent Technologies we often joked we won many deals because no one ever got fired for purchasing a Lucent phone system. Back then it was what almost every business did. So if something went wrong you could always say to your boss “I went with Lucent, who could have expected this”.
Consensus Messaging Can Come Down To Semantics
Consider the small difference in the these two messages and the corresponding results.
Message 1: “75% of customers who stay in this hotel reuse their towels.”
Result: The number of customers who reused their towels increased by 26%.
Message 2: “75% of people who stayed in this room reused their towels.”
Result: The number of customers who reused their towels increased by 33%.
You can learn more about consensus messaging by reading Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive