Chapter 19: An Illustrated Guide to the Science of Influence and Persuasion
Editor's Note: Ironically enough, the book that inspired Rand to create this visual reference in 2010, Influence: Science & Practice, was made into a graphic novel last year.
Conversion rate optimization, the practice of improving the number of visitors who take a desired action on your site, has been a hot topic the last couple of years. There's both an art and a science to the process of turning browsers into buyers, and drive-by readers into email subscribers, Facebook fans, and Twitter followers. In my opinion, no marketer should be engaging in this work without reading Robert Cialdini's seminal work Influence: Science & Practice (Pearson, 2008), now available in its fifth edition. I agree wholeheartedly with the assessment of Guy Kawasaki, currently founder and Managing Director at Garage Technologies Ventures and formerly Apple's Chief Evangelist.
“This book is the de facto standard to learn the psychology of persuasion. If you don't read it, I hope you enjoy pounding your head against the wall and throwing away marketing dollars.”—Guy Kawasaki (www.amazon.com/Influence-Practice-Robert-B-Cialdini/dp/0205609996)
The problem is, not every marketer will read the book, and that leaves a lot of head-shaped holes in a lot of walls. Thus, this chapter is here to help do the next best thing: explain the broad concepts of persuasion in a condensed, illustrated format.
The book covers six ...
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