Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

http://www.moskalyuk.com/blog/yes-50-scientifically-proven-ways-to-be-persuasive

by MattF • 17 years ago

21 7 17 years ago

moskalyuk.com

Hates_• 17 years ago

Dupe from a few weeks back, with some discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=613402

omail• 17 years ago

Typo?

"When employees were offered a choice of 2 funds, roughly 75% signed up for a retirement program. When the number of funds was increased to 59%, even though qualitatively this was a better deal for employees, only 60% decided to sign up."

weaksauce• 17 years ago

Probably "by" 59%. It is true that when there are more choices there is less of a conversion rate in sales. Studies have shown that when there is 3 types of jam on an endcap at the supermarket more total jam gets purchased than when there are 7 choices on the same endcap.

TrevorJ• 17 years ago

Very good info here, thanks for the submit. The huge font kinda hurts my eyes though.

The point about how giving away a product causes it to lose perceived value and seem less desirable is a good one: I wonder though how this translates to web-based products since so much of this ecosystem is defined by free services.

TheSOB882• 17 years ago

Nah man, it's like this: free stuff given away in order to convince you to buy other stuff seems less valuable. That's what the experiment says, anyways.

gensym• 17 years ago

Gah, this is some awful abuse of statistics:

"There are three times as many dentists named Dennis as any other names. Number of Florences living in Florida is disproportionately high, same goes for Louises living in Louisiana."

This is interesting, but it proves nothing. Of all the possible names and vocations, of course you're going to find at least one combo with a disproportionate number. Perhaps the "Dennis/Denist" combo has more to do with the popularity of that name coinciding with a growth in the numbers of professional dentists.

Similarly, with names and states, you're going to find some overlap. Know any young people named "Florence"? Know where retirees move to? And perhaps people living in Louisiana are more likely to name their kids something similar to the state name than the other way around.

I'm toying with the idea of starting a blog that highlights abuses of statistics and misunderstandings of probability in the press. They drive me nuts!

TheSOB882• 17 years ago

I would totally read this blog, dude.

Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

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