Britain’s Most Persuasive Text Message
Summary
TLDRThe NHS's 2021 text message campaign is analyzed for its use of six persuasive techniques: social proof, scarcity, commitment and consistency, reciprocity, liking, and authority. Behavioral scientist Patrick Fagan explains how these principles were masterfully woven into a single message, potentially making it the most persuasive text in British history. The message's success in encouraging vaccination highlights the power of strategic communication in public health initiatives.
Takeaways
- 📢 The NHS sent a text message in 2021 using six world-famous persuasion techniques to encourage COVID-19 vaccinations.
- 👫 Social proof is the tendency to follow the actions of others, as demonstrated by the busy restaurant example and the Brazilian bar CCTV footage.
- 🏺 Scarcity makes people value something more if it's perceived as limited, influencing behavior from evolutionary, status, and urgency perspectives.
- 🔄 Commitment and consistency principles suggest that people are more likely to act if they've made a previous commitment, reflecting sunk cost fallacy and social identity.
- 💖 Reciprocity is the principle that people tend to return favors, as shown by the Coke and survey example and the behavior of monkeys and fruit flies.
- 😌 Liking is a persuasion principle where people are more influenced by those they like, which can be due to attractiveness, familiarity, or similarity.
- ⚖️ Authority is the final principle, where people are more likely to comply with directives from perceived authority figures, as seen in the Stanley Milgram experiment.
- 📝 The NHS text message was a masterclass in persuasion, incorporating all six principles in just 19 words, making it potentially the most persuasive text in British history.
- 🔗 The text's effectiveness lies in its ability to tap into social proof, scarcity, commitment, reciprocity, liking, and authority, all while being easy to understand and act upon.
- 🎯 The podcast episode featuring Patrick Fagan, a behavioral scientist, dives deeper into these principles and their application in persuasive communication.
Q & A
What are the six principles of influence mentioned in the script?
-The six principles of influence mentioned are social proof, scarcity, commitment and consistency, reciprocity, liking, and authority.
How does social proof influence our decisions?
-Social proof influences our decisions by making us more likely to follow the actions of others, as demonstrated by the example of choosing a busy restaurant over an empty one.
What is an example of scarcity used in the script?
-An example of scarcity is the anti-smoking campaign that increased its conversion rate by communicating that only 300 places were left.
How does commitment and consistency affect our behavior?
-Commitment and consistency affect our behavior by making us more likely to follow through on actions we've already committed to, as shown by the car wash loyalty card study.
What is reciprocity and how does it work?
-Reciprocity is the principle where we feel obligated to do something for someone if they've done something for us in the past, as illustrated by the example of giving a can of Coke to increase the likelihood of filling out a survey.
How does liking influence persuasion?
-Liking influences persuasion by making us more likely to be influenced by people we find attractive or familiar, as demonstrated by the research showing people give more tips to smiling waitresses.
What role does authority play in persuasion?
-Authority plays a role in persuasion by making us more likely to follow the guidance of those we perceive as authoritative figures, as shown by the Stanley Milgram experiment and the example of letters signed by a dentist versus a secretary.
How does the NHS text message use these principles of influence?
-The NHS text message uses social proof by implying popularity, commitment by suggesting the recipient has reached the top of the queue, scarcity by implying urgency, liking and authority by coming from a trusted source (NHS), and reciprocity by offering a free vaccine.
What was the purpose of the NHS text message mentioned in the script?
-The purpose of the NHS text message was to persuade British citizens to get vaccinated by applying principles of influence that make the message persuasive.
How effective was the NHS text message in achieving its goal?
-The NHS text message was highly effective, as it encouraged millions of Brits to get vaccinated and is considered one of the most persuasive texts in British history.
What is the significance of the NHS text message being called 'the most persuasive text in British history'?
-The significance lies in its ability to masterfully apply all six principles of influence in just 19 words, making it a powerful example of persuasive communication.
Outlines
📢 The Power of Persuasion in NHS's Vaccine Text
The NHS sent a text message in 2021 to every British mobile, packed with six world-famous persuasion techniques to encourage vaccination. Patrick Fagan, a behavioral scientist and ex-Cambridge Analytica employee, explains these techniques. The message was likely crafted by behavioral scientists and tested for effectiveness. The first principle discussed is social proof, which suggests that people tend to follow the actions of others, as demonstrated by a CCTV footage of diners in Brazil who abandoned their meals to follow a jogging group. The effectiveness of social proof is further illustrated by a Reddit ad campaign where ads with five-star reviews were more successful. However, not all nudges work the same for everyone, highlighting the importance of targeted nudges based on audience personality and profile.
🔑 Unlocking the Six Principles of Influence
The second principle is scarcity, which makes people value something more if it's rare. This is rooted in evolutionary biology and the desire to secure resources when they are scarce. Scarcity can also signal status and uniqueness. An anti-smoking campaign used scarcity by announcing limited spots, which increased conversion rates. A study by social psychologist Warell showed that people enjoyed cookies more when they were scarce. The third principle is commitment and consistency, where people are more likely to act if they've made a previous commitment. This is due to the sunk cost fallacy, social expectations, and maintaining a coherent sense of self. A 2006 study on the 'endowed progress effect' demonstrated this by giving car wash customers a loyalty card, where those who started with two stamps were more likely to complete the card. The fourth principle is reciprocity, where people feel obligated to return a favor. This is seen in human and animal behavior, such as monkeys reciprocating grooming. The fifth principle is liking, where people are more influenced by those they like, often due to attractiveness, familiarity, or similarity. The sixth and final principle is authority, where people are more likely to follow directives from authoritative figures. This is efficient for decision-making but can be manipulated, as seen in the Milgram experiment. The NHS's text message masterfully applies all six principles in just 19 words, making it one of the most persuasive texts in British history.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Persuasion Techniques
💡Social Proof
💡Scarcity
💡Commitment and Consistency
💡Reciprocity
💡Liking
💡Authority
💡Nudges
💡Cognitive Misers
💡Ego Nudges
💡Messenger Effects
Highlights
The NHS sent a text message in 2021 employing six world-famous persuasion techniques.
Patrick Fagan, a behavioral scientist, explains the use of these techniques in the NHS text.
Social proof is the first principle, suggesting that people follow the actions of others.
A Brazilian CCTV footage example illustrates the power of social proof.
Not all nudges work the same for everyone, highlighting the need for targeted nudges.
Scarcity is the second principle, where value increases when something is perceived as rare.
An anti-smoking campaign used scarcity to increase conversion rates.
Commitment and consistency is the third principle, influencing behavior based on past commitments.
A 2006 study showed the 'endowed progress effect' increased commitment to a task.
Reciprocity is the fourth principle, where people feel obligated to return favors.
Research shows that monkeys also follow the principle of reciprocity.
Liking is the fifth principle, where people are more influenced by those they like.
Attractive people are judged less harshly and earn more, according to research.
Authority is the sixth principle, where people follow the guidance of authority figures.
The Stanley Milgram experiment demonstrates the power of authority in influencing behavior.
The NHS text message is a masterclass in persuasion, using all six principles in just 19 words.
The text implies social proof, commitment, scarcity, liking, authority, and reciprocity.
The effectiveness of the NHS text message in persuading Brits to get vaccinated.
The video is a trimmed version of the 'Nudge' podcast, focusing on persuasion techniques.
Transcripts
in 2021 the NHS sent this text to every
single British mobile this wasn't any
ordinary text it was jam-packed with six
world famous persuasion techniques
designed to persuade a nation at least
that's according to Patrick Fagan the
behavioral scientist and ex Cambridge
analytical employee that I spoke to and
yes that is that Cambridge analytica so
the NHS sent a text message for the co
vaccine and it is really a master class
in how to bring together multiple nudges
into one message and we know that there
are lots of Behavioral scientists in the
NHS and working at the government for
the pandemic response so this message
was almost certainly crafted and tested
by behavioral scientists to understand
the potency of this persuasion
propaganda we first have to understand
those six principles of influence
starting with social proof so one is is
social proof If you imagine you're in a
foreign city for a business trip for one
night and you can only find two
restaurants one is completely deserted
and the other one is packed which one
will you choose probably the packed one
because if it's busy it must be good
some people choose the empty one I
probably would but I'm a disagreeable
introvert there there is an important
point there that not all nudges work the
same for everyone something thing I do
in my job is targeted nudges I work out
the personality and the profile of the
audience and design nudges that work for
them but generally speaking when I talk
about this in a presentation I would say
at least 90% of hands go up for the busy
restaurant so that's social proof social
proof means we follow the actions of
others and this CCTV footage from a bar
in Brazil proves this point eloquently
it's around 9:00 p.m. and the diners are
packed on tables along the pavement when
a CrossFit jogging group runs past
without even looking at what they are
running from the diners start to Dart up
and follow the Run in less than 10
seconds the whole restaurant was
abandoned with hundreds running down the
road and no one left to pay the bill
I've tested this nudge to promote my
show I created two Reddit ads both were
identical except for a bit of social
proof showing my five star reviews in
this case I spent $100 promoting both of
the ads and the social proof version it
won it made redditors 9% more likely to
listen to my show lovely news for me but
but hardly enough to persuade a whole
nation so let's move on to principle
number two and that's scarcity there
scarcity where we're more likely to
Value something if it's scarce for a few
reasons first of all it's evolutionary
if it's winter and there's no food and
you find some obviously you you'll feel
an urgency to collect it also it can
communicate status and a unique identity
if you own something that other people
can't and so if you make something
appear scar people feel an urgency to to
obtain it so one anti- smoking or stop
smoking campaign added a message saying
there's only 300 places left and they
significantly increased the conversion
rate for example in 1975 the social
psychologist warell invited participants
to a lab in the lab the participants
either saw a full jar of cookies or an
almost empty jar turns out people enjoy
the taste of a cookie more when it is
the last cookie in the jar even though
the cookies are identical in both
scenarios this explains why spent my
childhood hunting for rare Pokémon and
why this Pub up the road from me is
irrationally popular so that's scarcity
let's now move on to principle number
three then there is uh commitment and
consistency where we're more likely to
do something if we've made a small
commitment already or any kind of
commitment in fact and there's a few
reasons for this one is the sunt cost
fallacy where we don't want to lose our
investment if we've put time and effort
and money into something already also we
don't like to let people down socially
we could be ostracized so if we've said
we would do something we generally ought
to do it and also there's an identity
aspect where a coherent sense of self is
quite important for well-being and so if
you're for example the environmental one
in your friend group then you're going
to recycle and so forth to maintain that
coherent sense of self a famous 2006
study titled the end downed progress
effect involved giving Car Wash
customers a loyalty card with eight
space spaces to fill in in order to
redeem a free car wash half of the
customers got the card with eight empty
spaces while the other half got a card
with 10 empty spaces except two of them
were stamped in already in the first
group 19% of the customers bought enough
car washes to fill the card compared
with
34% when the commitment nudge was used
we like to show consistency but we also
like to show reciprocity then there's
reciprocity which which is where we will
do something for somebody if we feel
obligated to if they've done something
for us in the past again we're very
social animals and if we don't repay our
behavioral debts then we could be
ostracized and so there's research
showing for example if you give people a
can of Coke they're more likely to then
fill in your survey humans are hardly
the only species to follow this
principle observe monkeys and you'll
discover that 30% of nitpicking is
simply done to return the gesture
there's even a speed species of fruit
fly whose male secures sex with the
female by giving her a gift of food the
researchers while they intercepted the
female bound male fly and used tweezers
to replace the food with useless fluff
and yet the mating still went ahead
which proves that it really is the
thought that counts then there's liking
where we're more likely to be influenced
by people we like and there's a few
reasons that we might like someone it
could be because they are attractive it
could be physically attractive but also
if they're famous us tall successful
whatever it might be we like people who
are familiar to us so who we know
already and we also like people who are
similar to us and similar could be
demographics but it could also be
attitudes the way they're dressed even
when you're younger and you're an Emo or
a punk and then you meet someone else
who's also an emo you're instantly
friends even though you don't know that
person but because you're familiar and
similar and so there's research showing
for example people give more tips to
waitresses who smile that kind of thing
research cited in Patrick's book show
shows that attractive people are judged
less harshly by jurors and that most
handsome people at work earn 5% more on
average while the ugliest earns 7 to 9%
less which leads us on finally to
Authority the final nud is Authority and
this is to do with the fact that we
again are cognitive misers so we can't
process every piece of information in
the world and so a kind of cooky example
I give is that I would assume the vast
majority of your LIF believe the Earth
is flat but the question would be how do
you know it's not flat have you been
into space you see it there are certain
experiments you can do with pendulums
and so forth but probably you haven't
done them you know it's not flat because
your teachers told you and scientists
and white love coats told you and so you
take it for granted because you don't
have the time or the energy or the
motivation to do all this research
yourself it would be impossible for
every subject I'm not saying the Earth
is flat by the way I'm just using it as
an example to show that we need to
believe Authority figure than we do and
it's generally quite efficient although
it can go wrong sometimes and of course
there famously the Stanley milgrim
experiment where he found that people
were more likely to give an electric
shock that they believed was fatal to
someone else if they were asked to by
someone wearing a white lab if there are
these trappings or signals of authority
we're more likely to do what we're told
have you ever noticed how every
important letter you received is signed
by the CEO the mayor or the president
well that's not by accident one 1974
study found that a letter from a
dentist's office got a 54% return rate
when it was signed by the dentist but
only an 18% return rate when it was
signed by the dentist's secretary the
dentist's title was the authoritative
cue that made people reply which leads
us back to this text the most persuasive
text in British history why because it
uses all six of these principles and so
in just 19 words they managed to pack at
least six nudges uh and the 19 words
were you have reached the top of the
queue and are a priority for getting a
free NHS
covid-19 uh so saying there's a QE
they're using social proof and implying
it's popular so it must be good by
saying you've reached the top of the
queue they're using commitment so you
feel invested like you've been waiting
in line you don't seduce your place by
saying you're at the top of the queue
that might be an ego nudge so you feel
special like you're above the people who
are waiting below You by saying your
priority that's essentially a scarcity
nudge they're implying that demand is
bigger than Supply and so you feel that
urgency to get it by having it come from
the NHS they using Messenger effects of
liking and Authority as people in the UK
like and Trust the NHS they certainly P
at the time and then by giving the by
saying it's free it's possibly a
reciprocity nudge but also we're more
likely to do things the easier they are
so it's all about removing barriers so
giving it for free obviously is removing
a barrier and they also make very easy
to just click on the link and book your
appointment the NHS text masterfully
applies all six principles in just 19
words it encouraged millions of Brits to
get vaccinated and might well be the
most persuasive text of all time this
video is a trimmed version of the nudge
podcast the UK's most popular marketing
podcast if you like Today's Show you'll
probably like the full podcast episode I
did with Patrick it is called six proven
principles to persuade anyone to listen
just search for nudge wherever you get
your podcasts
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