Imagine you are about to use a photocopying machine, when someone suddenly comes and tells you…

“Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”

Would you allow him to cut in front of you?

In an experiment mentioned in the book, Influence by Robert Cialdini, around 60% allowed the hurried guy to use the machine first.

Now here’s the interesting part… in another group, the participant said:

“I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I am in a rush?”

It’s basically the same sentence, with “because” plus a reason added in the end. Do you know how many people allowed him to use the machine first? A big jump to 94%!

Do you want to know something more interesting?

In a third group, the guy said this:

“Excuse me, I have 5 pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make copies?”

Notice that the reason given is not a good reason at all, some would even argue that it doesn’t make sense to give that as a reason. But do you know how many allowed him to cut in?

93% – only a 1% drop from the second group where he used a more logical reason (“because I am in a rush”) and 33% higher than the first group where no reason was given at all.

According to the author, Cialdini:

A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.

So the next time you’re writing a sales or ad copy, give a reason why they should buy your product, or why they should follow your call to action, because it will make you more persuasive.

That’s it! We hope you learned something new today.

Please share this article to your friends, especially those who work in sales and marketing, because they’ll surely thank you for it.