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November 11, 2005
Post-it® Persuasion
Sometimes, the most effective communication is as simple as a Post-it® note.
Researcher Randy Garner decided to find out whether Post-it® notes (the 3M product known generically as sticky notes) might have the power to make a written request more compelling.
So, being a researcher, Mr. Garner decided to conduct an experiment: He mailed a group of people a request to complete a survey. Every package contained a cover letter and printed survey, but the mailings had three variations: one-third included a handwritten Post-it® note requesting that the survey be completed, one-third a similar message hand-written on the cover letter, and the rest only the typed cover letter and survey.
What Mr. Garner learned is that the Post-it® note worked best: 78% of people receiving the first package responded, as opposed to 48% to the handwritten note on the cover letter and 36% to just the cover letter.
Why? Mr. Garner believes that “a handwritten sticky note conveys a more personal request, one that urges the recipient of the request to reciprocate this personal touch by agreeing to the request,” according to an article in Inside Influence Report. http://www.insideinfluence.com/year05/11/persuasion/index.htm)
In fact, not only were people more likely to respond to the request because of the Post-it® note; the quality of their response was better as well: people “returned their surveys more promptly and gave more effortful and attentive answers to the questions.”
If you work in a large organization, it’s obviously unrealistic to think you could attach a handwritten sticky note to, say, 40,000 newsletters. But have you thought about how you can make communication more personal? Is the answer to some of your communication challenges simple and low-tech, rather than complex and expensive?
Gotta go now—I have to write a whole bunch of sticky notes.
Posted by Alison Davis at November 11, 2005 04:23 PM