Often enough, we let ourselves be misled by false assumptions, fears, peer pressure, or flimsy promises. An overview of 5 classic manipulation techniques.

5 manipulation techniques: thinking errors, fears, peer pressure & wrong assumptions

Kennedy or someone else?

The 34-year-old man was sworn in as his country's leader on a cold January day. At his side was his predecessor, a famous general who 15 years earlier had commanded his country's armed forces in a war in which Germany was defeated. The Boy Führer had been raised in the Roman Catholic faith. For the next five hours he watched parades of honor, partying until three in the morning.

It's easy to guess who I'm describing, isn't it? It is January 30, 1933, I am describing Adolf Hitler and not, as most would assume, John F. Kennedy. The point is that we start with assumptions. We get an idea of ​​the Welt around us, sometimes based on incomplete or wrong assumptions. In this case it was Information, which I have given, incomplete. Many of you probably thought I was describing John F. Kennedy until I added one small detail: the date.

Decisions based on assumptions - not knowledge

This is important because our Behavior is influenced by our assumptions or by supposed truths. We make decisions based on what we think we know. It wasn't long ago that most of humanity believed the earth was flat. This perceived truth influenced behavior. There were few discoveries during this period. The People feared they would fall over a ledge at the end of the world if they ventured too far. So they preferred to stay where they were.

Only with the discovery of a small detail - that the earth is round - did that change. After this discovery, cultures began to explore the planet. Trade routes emerged, spices were traded. Societies began to create new ones ideas exchange, for example in mathematics, which made all imaginable innovations possible. Correcting a simple misconception took mankind a step further. One could also say: Lost illusions are clarifications gained. But what can we do against the power of manipulation?

With carrot and stick

There is no product or service on the market that Customer you can't get anywhere else that's as cheap, just as good, with just as good after-sales service and features to match. Most new products verlieren their lead within a few months. Innovative products quickly find themselves on the market with products that are equal or even better. And yet, when asked why their customers are loyal to them, most companies will answer that they are better, cheaper, have superior products and theirs customers better care. This shows us that most companies don't know why their customers are their customers. And if a Companys does not understand why its customers are loyal to it, then it will not know why its employees are loyal to it.

A company that does not know why its customers and employees are loyal has no way of knowing the ways in which it can attract new employees and strengthen the loyalty of existing ones. The reality is that most companies base their decisions on sketchy or even completely wrong assumptions about the forces that drive what is happening in the marketplace.

5 manipulation techniques: this is how influencing people works

To influence people, you can do two Methods use: manipulation or inspiration. Manipulation doesn't have to be a bad thing; it is a common tactic that is not necessarily harmful. We have all manipulated others in our youth. The phrase "I want to be your best friend" is an expression of a negotiation tactic used by generations of children to get things they want from other children. And every child who has given away a candy to win a new best friend can attest: the tactic works. Manipulation is in sale and Marketing widespread. This is not only true in the

Economy, but also in politics. Varieties of targeted manipulation are discounts, campaigns, peer pressure, addressing fears and desires, or the announcement of innovations. These funds are used to influence purchasing behavior and voting behavior or to secure support. Businesses and other organizations that do not klare Having no idea why their customers are loyal to them tend to use massive manipulation techniques to get their customers Set to reach. And there's a good reason for that. The manipulation is successfully.

1. The price as a manipulation technique

While many companies have reservations about discounts, they use them because they know they are effective. So effective that temptation is almost irresistible. There are few professional service companies that won't simply lower their prices to a Shop complete when the opportunity for a large order arises.

Discounts are like heroin addiction

No matter how you explain it to yourself or how you explain it to the customer, price is a highly effective manipulation technique. If we lower the price low enough, the customer will buy the product. We see this in retail in the seasonal "sales." If you lower the prices low enough, the shelves will empty fast and space is made for next season's merchandise.

Working with discounts can be a Company however, cost very dearly and get you into trouble. For the Seller are discounts like heroin addiction. The short-term gain is fantastic, but the more you do it, the harder it is to stop. Once buyers get used to paying below average for a product or service, it's very difficult to get them to pay more for it again. And for sellers, who are under intense pressure to drive prices lower to remain competitive, their profit margins are also shrinking.

When the price spiral turns downwards

More must be sold to compensate for the losses. Again, the quickest way to do that is with price. And so the downward spiral of price dependence is started. In the drug world, addicts are called junkies. In the business world, consumer goods have taken over this role. Insurance. home computer. cell phone service. packaged goods. The list of consumables that only became so through discounts is long. The companies that have to sell their products as consumer goods are almost always to blame themselves. Certainly price reductions are a perfectly legitimate way to increase sales; but the challenge is to remain profitable.

Wal-Mart seems to be an exception. The chain built up an extremely successful business model with its price reductions. But too high Costs. Only its size allowed the Wal-Mart group to circumnavigate the dangers of discounting. But the company's fixation on price left it vulnerable to scandal and tarnished its image. The trigger for the scandals was always the attempt to keep costs down in order to be able to offer products at low prices. Price always has its costs. The only question is what you do for that Moneythat one deserves, wants to pay for.

2. Manipulation with buying incentives

General Motors had a bold goal. The company wanted to gain the largest market share in the American auto parts industry. There were four choices in the US auto industry by the XNUMXs: GM, Ford, Chrysler, and AMC. Before the foreign auto manufacturers appeared in the market, GM dominated. However, as expected, the new competition made it difficult to achieve the goal. There is no need to provide statistics to show what has changed in the auto industry over the past fifty years. But General Motors successfully steered through most of the past century and was able to maintain its dominance with high-price products.

Buying incentives only work at the beginning

Since 1990, however, Toyota's share of the US auto market has more than doubled. In 2007 Toyota's market share rose from just 7,8 percent to 16,3 percent1. In the same period, GM's US market share plummeted from 35 percent in 1990 to 23,8 percent in 2007. In 2008 that became an unthinkable reality: US consumers bought more foreign than American cars.

Confronted with the successes of the Japanese competition, GM and the other American car manufacturers began to set purchase incentives in the 500s. The aim was to hold onto the dwindling market share. GM offered massive incentives to customers who bought cars and trucks, with cash back ranging from $700 to $XNUMX. For a long time, the actions worked splendidly. GM's sales rose again. But over the long term, the stimulus only contributed to the dramatic decline in GM's profit margin and was the cause of the high ones dept the company.

Customers as cashback junkies

In 2007, GM lost $ 729 per car, largely because of the incentives. When it was realized that the model could not be maintained, GM limited the discounts, but with that sales also fell. No cash, no customers. The auto industry had turned customers into cash-back junkies; customers were no longer willing to pay full price.

Whether "two for the price of one" or "plus free toys" - such campaigns are so widespread that we often forget that we are being manipulated. When we next buy a digital camera, let's pay attention to the criteria we use to make our purchase decision. It's easy to find a camera that fits the bill - size, megapixel count, good price, familiar brand name. But with one of these cameras maybe one SALE connected - a free case or a free memory card. Given the relative equivalence of properties and Performance this little extra is often the deciding factor for a product. In the B2B sector, this is called »value enhancement«. The principle is always the same: give something away to reduce the risk of selling.

The peak of manipulation: 40 percent of customers involuntarily forego discounts

As with the price, you can see that campaigns are successful. Manipulation of promotions is so widespread in retail that the Industry gave a name to one of the applied principles. They call that the abandonment rate. The abandonment rate measures the percentage of customers who don't take advantage of the promotions and pay full price instead. This usually happens when buyers fail to go through the necessary paperwork to claim the rebate, a process intentionally made complicated or impractical to increase the likelihood of error or passiveness and to keep the abandonment rate high.

To take advantage of discounts, the customer usually has to send a copy of a payment confirmation or cut out the bar code on packaging and fill in a discount form with product details and detailed information on purchasing behavior. Submitting the wrong part of the packaging or omitting a detail in the application form often delays the payment of the discount by weeks and months or makes it invalid. The discount industry also has a name for customers who simply don't bother to apply for the discounts or who never redeem the discount coupons they receive. These are the so-called dropouts.

For the economy, the short-term benefits of rebates and other manipulations lie on the Hand: A rebate ultimately drives the customer to pay full price for a product that they may have only bought because they expected a partial refund. But about 40 percent of customers never get the discount they expected. You could do one thing tax call for disorganized shoppers, and retailers are counting on it Market regulators have tightened scrutiny of the discount industry, but with limited success. Rebate redemption remains cumbersome, and that translates into cash gains for the seller. A brilliant manipulation. But at what price?

3. Manipulation through fear

If someone robs a bank with a banana in their pocket, they will be charged with armed robbery. No one was actually in danger of being shot, but it is the victims' belief that the robber is holding a real weapon that counts for the law. For good reason. The robber threatens his victims because he knows they are out for him Anxiety will obey. Playing with the fear induced by a real or imagined threat is probably the most powerful manipulation of a crowd.

Fear makes facts secondary

"Nobody has ever been fired because they gave IBM an order," said an old commercial that reflected behaviorspiegelt that is dictated by fear. Employees in procurement departments whose job it is to find the best suppliers for their company turned down better and cheaper products only because they were offered by small companies or unknown brands.

The fear, real or imagined, that if something went wrong, their job would be at stake was enough to keep them Tasks to neglect, even to damage the company's interests. When fear is involved, facts are secondary. Deeply rooted in our survival instinct, it cannot be fought with data and facts.

This is how terrorism and parenting work

That's how terrorism works. It is not the statistical probability that someone could become the victim of a terrorist attack that can paralyze the population, but the fear that it could actually happen. The power of fear to us manipulate, is of course mostly used for far more harmless purposes. We use fear as a tool in raising children. We use fear to hold people to a moral code. Fear is regularly used in ads by government agencies, such as child safety campaigns, AIDS awareness campaigns, or to promote the wearing of seat belts.

Television viewers in the XNUMXs were bombarded with anti-drug interludes, including one from a state agency on a national teenage drug abuse program: 'This is yours Brain' said a man holding an undamaged egg. Then he cracked the egg into a frying pan with splattering hot oil. “That's your drugged brain…for now Ask? "

This is how fear works

Another spot aimed to scare the hell out of perky teenagers: "Cocaine doesn't make you sexy...it kills." Politicians claim their opponents raise taxes and cut them expenditure in security, or specials on the evening news that give the impression Health and security is at stake if the television is not turned on at 23pm; in both cases an attempt is made to frighten. Companies also work with fear, they use our deep-seated insecurity to create products merchandise. We are told that something bad could happen to us if we fail to purchase a certain product or service.

"Every 36 seconds someone dies as a result of a heart attack," it says Advertising a local heart specialist. "Is there radon in your house? Your neighbors do!” reads the message on the truck of a company that offers household pollution screening services. And then, of course, there's the insurance industry that offers life insurance with the slogan "Before it's too late." Who associates sales with the warning that it negative could have consequences for not buying a product, puts buyers under more or less gunpoint pressure to buy the "better" product. It may be that he only works with »bananas«. But it works.

4. The power of desires

"Quitting smoking is very easy," said Mark Twain. "I've done it a hundred times." Fear drives us to avoid the negative. Messages that address our desires draw us to what we yearn for.

This is how the power of desires works

Sellers often emphasize the importance of entitlement, that is, offering someone something they want and giving them the opportunity to buy a specific product or service to get it faster. "Six steps to a happier life«, »With abdominal muscle training to a dream size«, »Rich will be in just six weeks.” Manipulating all these announcements. They lure us with things we want or promise us to become what we want to be.

Though positive, wishful messages appeal most effectively to those who do not have any Discipline who do not believe that they are capable of achieving their dreams unaided (which is true of all of us at times for a variety of reasons). To put it bluntly, one could say that we are sending a message of wishes light persuaded to join a fitness center, but that we need to be inspired to actually go three times a week.

Who is susceptible to desire manipulation?

Anyone who has a healthy lifestyle and is physically active regularly does not respond to slogans such as "In six steps to your dream weight". Those who do not have a healthy lifestyle are particularly vulnerable. It is known that many people test diet after diet in order to get a dream figure. But no matter which diet you choose, it is always emphasized that regular exercise and a well-balanced diet will improve results.

In other words, it takes discipline. Every January, when we try to make New Year's resolutions for a healthier life a reality, enrollments in fitness centers increase by twelve percent. But only a fraction of the fitness enthusiasts still visit it at the end of the year. Wish messages can provoke behavior, but it won't last long.

Wish messages in the B2B area

Wish messages are not only effective in the consumer market, they also work in the B2B area. Big and small company managers want to be successful; they make decisions Adviser and implement systems to achieve the desired goal. Not that the systems are bad, but we are often unable to implement them consistently. I can speak from personal experience here. Over the years, I've implemented many systems or procedures to "get the success I want," but have always gone back to my old ways within two weeks.

What I wish for is a System, which avoids systems that fulfill all my wishes. But I probably wouldn't use it for long. The short-term answers to long-term desires are also present in the world of business. A friend of mine, a management consultant, was commissioned by a multi-billion dollar company to help them achieve their goals and dreams. The Problem was that the managers were quicker and cheaper for all questions Solution over the better, long-term solution, she explained to me. Like notorious dieters, "they didn't have the time or money to do it right the first time," she said of her client, "but they always have the time and money to do it all over again."

5. Manipulation through peer pressure

“Four out of five dentists recommend Trident” is the drumbeat in the chewing gum advertisement to make the product palatable. »A doubly anonymous study on a topUniversity came to the conclusion ... ", it says in an info switch. "If the product is good enough for professionals, then it's also good enough for you," the advertising hype continues. "With a million and more satisfied customers" advertises another insertion. There is peer pressure.

Peer pressure creates fears

Sellers claim that the majority of the population or an expert group prefer their product, trying to convince the buyer that their products are simply better. The peer pressure exerted in this way works because we believe that the experts know more than we do. Peer pressure does not work because the majority or the expert is always right, but because we fear that we are wrong ourselves.

Sometimes celebrity endorsements are used to build peer pressure alongside other selling points. "If he has that," goes the suggestion, "then it must be good." That's it useful, such as when Tiger Woods endorses Nike golf products or Titleist golf balls. (In fact, it was the deal with Tiger Woods that got Nike into the golfing world.) But Tiger also promotes General Motors cars, management consulting services, credit cards, groceries, and Tag Heuer watches that “specially for golfers«3 . Incidentally, the watch has a shock resistance with a maximum value of 5 g, a shock to which the golf ball is more likely to be exposed than the golfer. But Tiger is promoting it, so she has to be in Order .

This is how advertising with testimonials and celebrities works

Celebrity advertising is designed to appeal to our desires and our longing to be like them. The clearest example of this was Nike's “I want to be like Mike”4 campaign, which tried to convince young people that they could become like Michael Jordan if they used Nike products. With many celebrity advertisements, however, it is difficult to see a connection. For example, Sam Waterston, made famous by the TV series »Law & Order«, promotes the Online-Sales platform TD Ameritrade. In his case, it's not entirely clear what an actor who has gained notoriety for convicting maniacal killers Brand is worth. It's probably his "trustworthiness." But it's not just impressionable youngsters who are the target of peer pressure.

Most of us have been pressured by a salesperson at some point. Has a salesperson ever tried to sell you a »Office -Solution« with the argument to merchandisethat 70 percent of your competition uses his company's services, so why shouldn't you? But couldn't it be that 70 percent of the competition is made up of fools? Couldn't it be that those 70 percent were offered incentives or prices so low they just couldn't resist the temptation? This behavior has only one goal: to generate buying pressure. We should get the impression that we are missing something or that everyone but us knows about it. Better to go by the majority, right?