Small Change Big Impact Part 2

In the previous post (part 1), we talk about using the principle of consistency technique that helped a restaurant reduce their cancellation of table reservations by 30%.

This was achieved just by adding 2 “small words” to the call script used by the phone receptionist.

Today, we are going to explore another “Small Change Big Impact” scenario.

I got this from a newsletter issue from John Forde’s Copywriting Roundtable. I thought it’s pretty relevant to today’s theme.

And I think you will like this. It goes like this:

In Italy, and for many countries for that matter (including Singapore where I am based), you get penalized with points if you commit a traffic offence.

Once you accumulated points to a certain level, your driving license get suspended.

Now Italy is well well-known for bad driving on the road. And while this measure probably work to a certain degree, the authorities decided to do a small tweak to the system.

They Flipped It Around!

That means you start of with points on your record. With every violation, you get points taken off. If you hit zero, you are IN LUCK! Say goodbye to your license!

What happened after that?

Traffic deaths went down. Accidents went down. Speeding incidents went
down. Helmet and even seatbelt use went up!

Small change. Big impact.

But why?

Because fear of loss is a powerful motivator!

When it’s down to “fear of loss” versus “benefit of gain”, the former wins. Hands down.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at the stock market. It can take years for a stock to reach its absolute peak. But you only need a matter of months (or even days) for the stock to plummet back to square one during a panic.

Wonder why weekend clearance sale work so well? Because people are afraid of missing the bargain. There is “scarcity” involved. That’s very effective in getting people to act. And act now.

Amazing how human emotions work right?

As usual, let me know your thoughts below.

All success,

Jag Foo

P.S Important => What if you can discover the secret element that can increase your profits by 1,000%…and more…

Will you be willing to do a small test – which you can implement in no time and cost zero dollars – that can potentially yield you disproportionally large results?

Click here now if you want to discover these secrets that Jay Abraham, Mark Joyner and other marketing legends have been exclusively to their clients => http://emoneymarketing.com/SmallChangesBigProfits/

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John Forde? Hmmm. Very familiar. I think i heard of this name. Let me research of this person.
Oliver´s last blog ..Pediatric Blood Pressure Monitor

Goodbye license if you hit 0 points. Is there a reward if your points remain in good standing. Laws are also imposed according to human behavior.
Marisse@South Beach´s last blog ..Quick Hotels Search: In and around Miami Dade.

Marketing has always based itself on emotions – and fear is part of that. However, I do not think this is a right strategy for the long term. I wouldn’t like my brand to be associated with a ‘fear’ feeling… What about comfort instead?

Your post got me thinking. Indeed, when the sale’s almost over, lots of people would come rushing. Or let’s say, the holiday sale, people would actually rush before Christmas eve or new years eve to take benefit of that sale. Good point you’ve got there.

Jeff
Las Vegas Short sale Agent´s last blog ..Positve News – Realistic?

I will definitely go through it and see if it can help me in any way…
Victor´s last blog ..Top Five Reasons: People Succeed to Make Money Online

It was a good continuation after the part1, Really its very useful.

Thanks.
Raj

rajguru´s last blog ..No Limit Poker Cash Game

Really admire the line in which you said- “fear of loss is a powerful motivator”.I completely agree with it.I think this system should be followed everywhere.Awesome post!

I’m kind of confused on how this is supposed to work. I understand the points system, but what does this thing actually teach you?
Nathan´s last blog ..Make Extra Money With CashCrate: Review

I have found your blog on Google and have to say that I have found it very useful. I also read the first part of it and have found it very interesting as well.

Deborah’s last blog.. Symptom of panic attacks
Deborah´s last undefined ..If you register your site for free at

@Oliver:

John Forde is a well-known copywriter and he publish the excellent “The Copywriting Roundtable” newsletter.

@Wendy:

Fear can be a powerful marketing motivator. Robert Cialdini has done a lot of studies that make use of fear to motivate buyers to act now. That’s why we have the “principle of scarcity” as an effective persuasion tactic.

Having said that, you don’t want to keep using it. Because customers will grow weary of it after awhile.

So while you may not want to use it in the long term (as in all the time), you want to keep it as part of your marketing arsenal.

Emphasizing the benefit of “comfort” works too. It’s dependent on what you are selling though.

@Nathan:

Well, it just shows that it’s more effective to “deduct points” rather than “gaining points”. In this case, “fear” has a greater emotional pull than the “benefit of gain”.

Not too sure if you can get what I mean. You may want to read the post again.

@Deborah:

Glad that you made your way here. Hope to have you on board for the long term. =)

Warmly,
Jag

Fear of loss is the most powerful motivator bar none. It is far more powerful than “benefit of gain”.

When I am doing a sale for some products I will always talk about the pain of what will happen if they dont buy the product straight away. This gets people to act far faster.

Good tips.Indeed!We just need to make our inner voice same as our niches.When we have spotted “The Hole”,for sure we can close sale easily.

Thanks Jag,

Mr. F
Mr. F´s last blog ..My Life

Good continuation after part 1, very useful.

Julie

This is interesting. I’m going to re-read it and decide if and how it can help me.

Dan

This was quite an interesting post to read.The Italy example was damn good.Look forward to more such posts from you.Thanks.

Great post… and a brilliant insight. This John Forde fellow must be… well… he must be me. Hi Jag, thanks for the nod and the article mention. I happened across this via a Google Alert that searches for CR references. Great to see you spreading the word!

Just thought I’d take a sec to jump in here. First, on the idea of the “fear of loss” as a motivator. Someone here mentions Cialdini, which is a great reference. I think you hit the nail on the head with some of your other examples too.

A further thought I’ve had is that “fear of loss” works so well because, for one, people form attachments with what they already have much more quickly than they can with what they have to imagine having. Thus, to take away the familiar forces a more immediate response than the threat to deny something that still exists only as an abstraction. It’s much more difficult, for instance, to be a rich man gone broke than it is to be a moderately poor guy who never got rich.

Also, I wonder how much social stigma plays into this. When you get traffic points added, people seem to sympathize. The system is out to get you. When you get them taken away, I imagine there’s some scorn involved. You’ve been deemed measurably a lesser driver, so much that you’re not able to guard those points that have been placed in your care. I think there must me many more examples of this, but the short of it is that we hate to look stupid or incompetent.
John Forde´s last blog ..Are You Creative?

Another example is fear of bad weather. People rush to stores when a bad snowstorm is expected. However, many times these bad weather forecasts don’t come true. In other cases the forecasts are exaggerated.

@John:

Great to have you coming by.

Indeed, your point of people forming attachment to what they have than what they imagine having is a very valid one.

Time and time again has proven that the “fear of loss” is so much more powerful than the “benefit of gain”.

Cheers,
Jag