The Persuasion Master List
The Persuasion Master List
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Reciprocity – If you provide something of value to someone (e.g., gift or concession), they will feel obligated to repay you and be more responsive to your asks.
Social Proof – In determining how to act, people look to the actions of others.
Consistency – People have an obsessive need to be consistent, and you can use commitments to leverage this need.
Likability – The more others like you, the more persuasive and influential you will be.
Authority – Others will defer to you more if you are (or appear to be) an authority.
Scarcity – You value something more if it is (or seems to be) scarce.
“You”: The Most Potent Copywriting Word – Your copywriting should almost always include the word “you” instead of alternatives like “we” or “they”.
Thinking Past the Sale – You can increase the likelihood someone chooses your preferred outcome by getting them to think about that outcome.
Next-In-Line Effect – You don’t pay attention to and remember people who perform right before and right after you.
Visual Persuasion – Humans process, remember, and believe visual information more than other types. Using visuals (either pictures or words) will increase your persuasiveness.
Contrast – You perceive the difference between two things as bigger than it actually is. Use contrast to make your preferred outcome seem more appealing by comparing it to worse alternatives.
Anchoring – You can use anchors to influence others by mentioning information that “pulls” them one way or another.
The High-Ground Maneuver – You can easily defend yourself by (1) moving the discussion from specific to general, and (2) stating a general principle that no reasonable person would argue against.
Give A Because – When making a request, providing a “because” will drastically increase the odds you get your desired outcome, even if the reason is not credible.
Framing – How you present information or choices significantly affects the ultimate outcome.
Watching – The presence of other people watching you will increase the odds you make more socially-minded choices.
Labeling – Giving someone a label ( e.g. , “fair” or “generous”) will increase the odds he or she acts the way you want.
Pacing and Leading – By first matching someone’s behavior, you can then lead their decisions and actions.
Repetition (Mere Exposure Effect) – You can increase the odds other people believe information by repeating it. Also, people will like something more the more they’re exposed to it.
Availability Bias – Humans are more persuaded by things they can easily imagine (i.e., things that are more easily “available” for the human brain).
Strategic Ambiguity – Being deliberately ambiguous can be persuasive because it lets others fill the ambiguities with what they want to perceive.
Primacy and Recency Biases – Humans remember information at the beginning and end of a series better than in the middle.
Visuals and Psychology – Use visual information (whether using actual images or getting someone to imagine a picture) to increase persuasion and memory.
Confirmation Bias – The human brain seeks out information that confirms its pre-existing beliefs. It also interprets any information in a way that confirms what it already beliefs.
Persuade Your Way Into A New (and Better) Job – How to use the levers of persuasion to maximize your odds of getting a new job.
14 Ways to Make Your Cover Letter More Persuasive – 14 quick persuasion tricks to increase the odds you get hired.
Principles of Persuasion – Several common themes underlie the levers of persuasion, and knowing them will help you apply the tools in novel settings.
The Ethics of Influence – It’s in your best interest to use the levers of persuasion in an ethical manner.
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Confirmation Bias: You’ll Believe It When You See It
Presidential Debate Bingo
How to Make Fake News
Visual Psychology of Images
Primacy and Recency Biases: Be First or Last
May 2020
February 2020
January 2020
September 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
Anchoring
Authority
Availability Bias
Because
Branding Others
Cialdini
Confirmation Bias
Consistency
Contrast
Copywriting
Ethics
Fake News
Framing
General Persuasion Tools
High-Ground Maneuver
In Practice
Labeling
Likability
Pacing and Leading
Primacy
Principles
Recency
Reciprocity
Repetition
Sales
Scarcity
Self Improvement
Self-Reference Effect
Social Proof
Strategic Ambiguity
Thinking Past the Sale
Visualization