I have been meaning to blog about an interesting article on Comment is Free about peer group pressure as it applies to advertising messages.
The article mentions a change in copy to an infomercial - changing the call to action from "call now as operators are waiting" to "if operators are busy please call again" apparently broke a 20-year-record for a home shopping channel.
Why does this work? The winning call to action implies high demand and perhaps also scarcity - it helps the customer to paint a mental picture of needing to re-dial to get an open phone line.
I've heard of similar things happening with Google Adwords copy, where quite simple changes to call to action copy - like adding "book online today" - make a big difference to response. In fact Adwords would be a fantastic place to test this kind of thing.
There has been some great work by Robert Cialdini, a professor of psychology at Arizona State University in this kind of area. For instance, he tested three versions of cards left in the bathrooms of single-occupancy rooms in hotels asking the guests to re-use towels.
The full research is well worth reading, but here's a summary.
Three cards were initially tested:
Card 1:
HELP SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT.
You can show your respect for nature and help save the environment by reusing your towels during your stay.
Card 2:
PARTNER WITH US TO HELP SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT
In exchange for your participation in this program, we at the hotel will donate a percentage of the energy savings to a nonprofit environmental protection organization. The environment deserves our combined efforts. You can join us by reusing your towels during your stay.
Card 3:
JOIN YOUR FELLOW GUESTS IN HELPING TO SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT
Almost 75% of guests who are asked to participate in our new resource savings program do help by using their towels more than once. You can join your fellow guests to help save the environment by reusing your towels during your stay.
Card 3 is the card that pushed the triggers on peer group pressure. People like you - argues the copy - reused their towels. An (invisible) majority of guests reused their towels - so you should join them. Card 1 prompted a reuse rate of 38%. Card 2 was slightly worse, with a 36% resuse rate. Card 3 did significantly better, with a 48% reuse rate.
Which brings me back to the article in Comment is Free. What prompted the posting was a sign in a doctor's waiting room which pointed out how many patients the previous week had missed their appointments. The first week, twenty patients had missed appointments. A week later, that number had risen to thirty patients.
What's happening is that the sign suggests to some people that it's actually socially acceptable to miss appointments without cancelling them! The sign should have read something like: "98% of patients at this surgery either turn up for appointments or cancel them. This helps us to provide a better service to all our patients."
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