If you’re no stranger to the trends of Calgary Web Design, you already know just how competitive the market can be. Think to yourself for a second: “How do I stand out to my customers in person?” The answer probably comes down to your sales techniques.
If you’re new to Calgary Web Design, or you’re looking to get ahead in your city, you’ve come to the right place.
Dr. Robert Cialdini famously coined these following six principles of persuasion:
- Reciprocity
- Scarcity
- Authority
- Consistency
- Liking
- Consensus
They’ve been used to ethically educate leaders, salespeople, and more in the art of persuasion, which he defines as the ability to move someone in your direction.
I say ethically because Dr. Cialdini says that this is the key difference between persuasion and manipulation.
That said, before we get into this, here’s the first takeaway: don’t be dishonest. Misusing these principles can do more harm than good to you and your business.
Let’s take a look at these six principles and find out how you can use them to drive conversions with your website.
Reciprocity:
Reciprocity refers to the tendency we have to return favors subconsciously. Give to your client before they give to you.
Strategies
Offer a free session, sample, or consultation
- Let people try your product or service out before they make an investment.
Offer information of value
- Create information of value where you don’t expect or ask for anything in return. Write blogs that tell people how they can solve their problems without you. This will build confidence that you’re an expert, but will also show them that you’re trying to help, not just sell to them.
- Don’t fall into the mindset of “I don’t want to tell them how to change their tire because then they won’t hire me”. If they want to figure out how to change their own tire, they’re going to find the information whether it’s from you or not.
- Write some blogs that don’t have a call to action. I used to write social media posts for businesses across North America and I can tell you that I never shared an article that advertised for a competitor. However, I did share articles without advertisements to multiple business’ social pages. Free sharing equals free brand recognition.
Scarcity:
Scarcity explores our fear of missing out. Dr. Cialdini suggests that fear of missing an opportunity is a larger motivator than the prospect of finding one.
Strategies
Surface the examples of scarcity that naturally occur in your business.
- If you’re a service-based business and it’s your busy season, let people know. You may be concerned that people won’t choose you if they think you’re too busy for them, but many are willing to wait for a service that’s in high-demand.
- If your website has products, don’t be afraid to show the ones that only have a few left in stock.
- Show people that you have a limited-time offer that will be over soon.
Authority:
Authority looks at the value we place in the opinions of someone we perceive as credible or knowledgeable.
Strategies
Show that people trust you.
- The best way to do this is through testimonials. Because we see text-only written testimonials everywhere, we’re finding less value in this kind. A great strategy to add credibility to testimonials is to include images of the person leaving the testimonial, and an even better strategy is to use video testimonials.
- Check out our recent post to find out 20 reasons you need to start using video in your business.
Stop explaining yourself too much.
- In your content, you have to assume that people are willing to accept your expertise. Don’t over-explain yourself—especially when it comes to prices. If you’re not confident in your offering, your customers won’t be, either.
Show that other experts trust you.
- If you partner with, or sell to, other businesses, display their logos. People will see names and brands they trust, which will extend that same feeling to you.
Show off your knowledge.
- Coming back to writing blogs, releasing free information shows that you’re an expert in your industry, and that you’re confident enough in your authority that you aren’t afraid to “lose customers” by educating them.
Consistency:
We like to do things that align with what we’ve already said or done. In a study by Dr. Cialdini, a restaurant decreased their no-shows by 67% by changing their receptionist’s wording from, “Please call if you have to change or cancel your reservation” to “Will you please call if you have to change or cancel your reservation?”
You can achieve a similar effect with the content in your Calgary Web Design.
Check it out:
Important note: This principle is not as strong when people don’t have to agree publicly.
Strategies
Getting commitments:
- In your content, lead people to agree with what you’re saying before the punchline. Talk about the reasons people need or want your service, or better yet, let them choose their reason for themselves.
- Imagine getting to a website that sells houses and being faced with three options.
- I need a starter home
- I need a larger home for my growing family
- I need to downsize
- When your customer clicks #2, they immediately feel like you understand their needs, but they’ve also just actively committed to looking for a solution for their need. Now, when they get to your call to action, they’ve already accepted that they’re looking for a larger home for their family to grow in, so they’re subconsciously less likely to act in a way that contradicts this—such as leaving your website.
Liking:
The principle of liking digs deep into our community programming. We thrive when we’re surrounded by people who share our values and beliefs—those people we feel most comfortable with.
Strategies
Is your content likeable?
- How do you talk to your clients in person? The ones you’ve built great rapport with. Most likely, you don’t speak to them in a strictly formal way. You exchange personal information, you joke with them, etc.
- This doesn’t mean you should include jokes and memes in your content. Instead, focus on matching the way you speak with people in person. Keep your content a little more casual so your viewers feel like they’re getting to know you.
- When it comes to your About page, don’t just talk about the fact that you’ve been around since 1947. This is important information for building authority, but people will get excited about the things you get excited about. Why did you get into your line of work? What is it that you love about your job?
Consensus:
Just like with the category above, we’re hard-wired to rely on our community for survival. Because of this, we pay close attention to the actions and opinions of those around us—especially when we’re unsure.
A study by Dr. Cialdini found that a hotel was able to increase the amount of people who reused their towels by creating a sign that said, “The majority of guests who stay in [your room number] like you have reused their towels”.
Check it out:
Strategies
Talk about what your clients do.
- People want to know which products or services are your most popular. We generally want to feel like we’re behaving similarly to like-minded people so it’s rewarding to know you’re investing in something many others are also investing in.
- In your content, there’s a ton of power in phrases like “75% of people like you do this next” or “Most of our clients like you who go with option A also get this add-on”.
If you made it this far, you can see the absolute power of persuasion, not only in your Calgary Web Design and Content, but in your entire sales strategy. I can’t recommend enough that you should go read and watch everything Dr. Robert Cialdini has available!
https://www.influenceatwork.com/principles-of-persuasion/
https://www.robertcialdinibf.com/
Thanks for reading!
