"Advertising is legalized lying." (H. G. Wells)

              The book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini is considered one of the greatest business books ever written. It talks about key principles of how you can influence people, for instance, make them buy whatever you are selling, even if they don’t need it (Cialdini, 2007).

Being interested in business, I pay attention to what companies offer to attract customers. There are so many of them who are great at making you forget that you are spending money. And think instead that you are the luckiest person in the world for getting this limited offer/getting a discount/saving elephants in Africa because 10% of your purchase go to charity.

I have discovered one of these beautifully managed companies during the first week of this semester, when I received the textbooks I’ve ordered from chegg.com. In the box with my books I also found a nicely-designed coupon for 20% off and free shipping for the first order from the website that sells shoes and accessories (JustFab).

As soon as you open it, they say that in order to use a coupon, you have to take a short survey, and enter the e-mail. You feel committed to it - since you’ve already spent this much time and provided them with an e-mail, you wouldn’t mind going through their web-site and considering buying something. According to Cialdini (2007) it works because we like being congruent and consistent with anything we commit to (Cialdini, 2007). Also, by sharing our e-mail, we provide the company with a small favor and later we are more likely to continue agreeing to their terms because we enjoy maintaining our behavior (Cialdini, 2007).

Another principle that Cialdini (2007) talks about is scarcity: when we are told that something is limited, we tend to overvalue it (Cialdini, 2007). And as soon as you finish the survey, the window pops up that presents the scarcity principle - it starts a 12-hour countdown to using the “VIP MEMBERSHIP”. And this feeling of being appreciated by a company who seems to really care about you and offer you all these amazing opportunities within the next few hours definitely pushes you towards buying something from them. 

Besides, the e-mails they send to me almost every day - their topics are just great and most of the time personalized with my name! I’d never think that something like “Get Gorgeous, Ksenia!” or “Afraid of the dark, Ksenia?” could be from a shoe-company. I send their e-mail to the junk folder, but don’t unsubscribe. I keep an eye on what else they will come up with. =)

P.S. And you would guess that after thinking through all of these points I would never buy anything from there. But I am actually writing this post right now while wearing a pair of boots from them. In other words - well done, JustFab! :) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cialdini, R. B. (2007). Influence: The psychology of persuasion. New York: HarperCollins.

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