Social Proof Read online "Window cleaning in progress" I love this board because it remembers something most marketers forget. A real photo taken on a suburban street in Houston. Cialdini proved that we're persuaded by others. In an Arizonan hotel room, he placed two messages on hotel doors designed to convince guests to reuse their towels. “Help us save the environment” = 35% towel reuse. “Most guests reuse their towels” = 44% towel reuse. We're persuaded by others' actions. So, if a...

Associative Learning Read online I'm reading The Expectation Effect. On page 52¹, there's a story that every marketer should read: The surgeon John Noland Mackenzie was among the first to test a negative expectation effect in medicine. Working at Baltimore's Eye, Ear and Throat Charity Hospital in the 1880s, he examined a 32-year-old woman with severe asthma and hay fever. When exposed to pollen, her nose and eyes would run and her throat would itch so badly she felt she must "tear [it] out...

The Mere Exposure Effect Read online Take a look at this image. What do you see? Taken from Robson's brilliant book The Expectation Effect¹ This is a real image, but it's bleached and poor quality. Chances are, you can't spot what this is. Have another look. Spotted anything? I imagine it's still a no. However, if I tell you to look for a cow, you might see the image differently. As Robson¹ writes: Something somehow “clicks,” and the image suddenly makes a lot more sense. Let's try another...