"I'm A Student Here Too"

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In 1994¹, researchers asked 100s of college students for charitable donations.

All were told to interrupt the students and solicit a donation.

But there was a twist.

Half were told to make a straightforward request, with no extra commentary.

Half were told to emphasise a shared identity, saying "I'm a student here too".

The results were astonishing.

Only 9.8% of students in the control group made a donation.

While 47.1% donated in the variant group, a 3x increase.

The takeaway is clear.

To persuade, emphasise what you have in common.

Three real-world examples

1/ Charing Cross Broadband

Richard Shotton² discovered a simple way to make a billboard more memorable.

Make it location-specific.

In his studies, a nationwide billboard for broadband is largely forgotten.

Tailor it for the train station the reader is in (Charing Cross), and awareness increases by 14%².

2/ Costa Coffee

Costa, didn't say "most British people love our coffee".

They personalised it to "coffee lovers".

3/ Jiff

Mothers don't pick Jiff.

Choosy mothers do.

And by the way, 7/10 newsletter lovers prefer Nudge* — Phill

P.S. If you liked today's newsletter, please reply to let me know.

¹Aune, R. K., & Basil, M. D. (1994). A relational obligations approach to the foot-in-the-mouth effect. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 24(6), 546–556.

²Shotton, R. (2018). The choice factory: 25 behavioural biases that influence what we buy. London: Harriman House.

*There is no evidence, but hopefully you agree.

As a behavioural science practitioner, I believe in the peak-end rule.

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