Persuasion or Manipulation, Where’s The Line?

You’ve probably heard of Dr. Robert Cialdine and his scientific approach to persuasion. If not, Google him and get the book or audio, it’s worth it.

But when does using scientifically proven tactics move from persuasion to manipulation?

Most will tell you it’s with the persuader’s intention. Is it an attempt to add value or to pawn off substandard or scammy products or services.

I generally agree with intention being a factor in determining whether persuasion or manipulation is being practiced.

Then I ran across this in a blog post:

Let’s take the example of the decoy. Here are three payment options for a popular trade magazine:

* Online Version - 47 Dollars
* Print Version - 97 Dollars
* Both Online and Print Versions - 99 Dollars

The middle option appears to have no purpose. No market share. No one will choose it. But it’s there for a very important psychological reason. It’s there as a decoy.

Without the middle option, people are far more likely to choose the lower cost online version. With the decoy, it serves to show, or point to the amount of “value” in the higher offer.

Even if the intent is sincere, isn’t it manipulation to take advantage of a psychological “defect” like this?

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Tags: persuasion, marketingmanipulation, cialdini, science of persuasion

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Mark Eckenrode

July 19th, 2008 - 5:30 pm

it’s difficult for a person to compare value, one against another… add the third element and now you have enough information to “accurately” gauge value.

i used to do this when i was in car sales… show them the fully loaded version, followed by the stripped baseline, and finally one in between. it took away the price objection.

when they balked at the price of the one they really wanted (usually mid), it was easy to say, “as you saw, you can pay less but it will be without feature a, b, or c” or “having those features will cost you an extra $XXXX.” regardless, showing the 3 options demonstrates value and allows a buyer to feel “justified” in making their purchase decision

mfartradmin

July 19th, 2008 - 9:30 pm

Thanks for stopping by Mark and I know exactly where you are coming from.

I was taught this tactic, and it is a tactic, when I sold computers. Even then I felt this was manipulative.

You are relying on fabricated pricing comparisons based on known psychology weaknesses to help you sell what YOU THINK they want.

I stopped selling computers like that. Instead I focused on what the person in front of me was going to do with the computer and guided them to the one that would serve them best.

Sure my average sale revenue went down, but my overall sales went way up, as did my customer satisfaction and referrals.

The managers were upset because I wasn’t selling as many of the higher margin items, of course. But for me that proves my point.

Providing genuine value doesn’t need the crutch of marketing tactics based on studied psychological triggers.

Mark Eckenrode

July 19th, 2008 - 11:37 pm

much agreed. in the cases we listed above, hard sales like cars and computers, it is definitely on the dark-side of persuasion.

it can be done in a way that’s not negatively manipulative, in my opinion. it’s not that different from packaging your product/services in a silver/gold/platinum style… the difference is, as you said, intent

Persuasion or Manipulation, Where’s The Line? / To Make Money Online