Cialdini's principles
Conversion and UX
Conversion and UX
Robert Cialdini described seven principles that influence choices: reciprocity, commitment, social proof, liking, authority, scarcity and unity.
In marketing you use them to make an existing, honest reason visible: real references (social proof), demonstrable expertise (authority) or genuinely limited stock (scarcity).
Combine sparingly. A page using all seven reads as a sales pitch and lowers trust.
In practice
Fake scarcity ('only 2 spots left') is deceptive, costs trust and is not permitted towards consumers.
Related terms
- Social proofSocial proof is the effect where people base choices partly on what others do: reviews, customer logos, user counts and cases.
- Call to actionA call to action is the button or line that moves a visitor to the next step: request a quote, call, add to cart, book a call.
- CROCRO is conversion rate optimisation: getting more out of the traffic you already have through research and experiments.
- CopywritingCopywriting is writing with a purpose: text that explains, convinces and leads to an action, in the reader's language.