profile

Nudge Newsletter

Over 1,000 people will ignore this email | Nudge Newsletter 🧠

Published over 1 year ago • 1 min read

Well Done! You don't follow the crowd.

Thank you for opening today’s email.

Because psychology suggests you wouldn’t.

There’s a psychological principle known as negative social proof.

Definition = if you make an unwanted behaviour seem commonplace, more people will perform the unwanted behaviour.

Few examples:

  • “Visitors steal 5 tons a year” increased wood theft at an Arizona park (Cialdini, 1984)
  • “Many miss their NHS appointments” increased no-shows (Martin, 2024)
  • “Over 1,000 people will ignore this email” should harm open rates (*ongoing study Agnew, 2024)

In 2022, BBC published an article which shouldn’t surprise you

“The Met Police practice of posting photographs of seized knives on social media could be encouraging knife-carrying, according to a new study.
​
The University of Strathclyde research also found that sharing such images risked creating ‘a culture of fear’ and ‘perpetuating negative stereotypes’”

With all the best intentions, communicators repeatedly make this mistake.

Even organisations that should be aware of consumer behaviour fail.

Take Wikipedia’s notoriously bad attempt to encourage readers to donate.

No prizes for identifying what’s wrong with this message.

So, if you’re trying to deter a certain behaviour, never make the unwanted behaviour seem commonplace.

Cheers!

Phill

Nudge Newsletter

Phill Agnew

I spend 18 hours each week turning marketing psychology into readable newsletters.

Read more from Nudge Newsletter

Specific Number Bias Read online I stumbled across this Reddit post a few weeks back. Everest surveyors added two feet to their measurement to appear accurate. Rather than listing the exact measurement of 29,000, the British Royal Geographical Society declared Mount Everest's elevation at 29,002. Clearly, the surveyors thought that rounded numbers seem less believable. Something that numerous studies have since proven. Can You Spare 17 Cents? In 1994, Santos, Leve and Pratkanis asked three...

6 days ago • 2 min read

The AI Contradiction Read online I just generated an image in the style of Monet using AI. Have a look, and think about what makes this inferior to a real Monet painting. Made with AI* A few weeks back, X user "SHLOMS" did the same. SHLOM's post on X. 1,300 people responded. Most said this AI art was pure crap.They said it lacked "coherent composition". The colours were an "incoherent muddle". Some said it was "trying too hard". Others called it "obvious AI slop". Replies to "SHLOMS" included...

13 days ago • 2 min read

New and Safe Effect Read online In the early 1970s an ambitious young director released his film THX 1138. The concept went against many of the typical Hollywood storylines at the time. Set in a dystopian future where sex is outlawed and drug-taking is mandatory, the film was wildly different from what audiences were used to. The film was also a massive flop. Despite the a-list cast and big marketing budget, few watched it. The young director was discouraged and almost gave up until he read...

20 days ago • 2 min read