Selling the Price Increase

20The Price Increase Because Statement

In a landmark study on human behavior, psychologist Ellen Langer and a team of researchers from Harvard demonstrated how using the word because compels people to comply with requests.¹ During their research, Langer and her team attempted to cut in line in front of people waiting for access to photocopiers.

When the researcher:

• Politely asked to jump in front of the person waiting for the copier without giving a reason – “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the copier?” – the subject would say yes less than 60 percent of the time.
• Qualified the request with a valid reason – “because I'm in a hurry” – the subject said yes, on average, 94 percent of the time.
• Gave a nonsensical reason like, “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the copier? Because I have to make copies,” the subject still said yes 93 percent of the time.

In this curious finding, they discovered that it was the word because that prompted compliance by signaling that there was a reason to comply. When the word because preceded the reason, regardless of the validity of the reason, the probability that the person accepted and complied with the request rose significantly.

The Five-Step Price Increase Because Statement Framework

Robert Cialdini, author of Influence, writes that, “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.” ...