Consistency: Commit to Keepin’ at It

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Consistency is generally a desirable trait, but do you know how other people use it to influence you every day?

WHAT IS CONSISTENCY? WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Thanks to consistency, people have an obsessive need to be consistent with what they’ve already done or intended. Simply put, consistency empowers you to shape the future behavior of others by tapping into their need to be consistent.

HOW CONSISTENCY WORKS

Humans’ neurotic need to be consistent comes from our own internal and external pressures:

• Internal — Once we take an action, we want to believe what we did was correct, so we convince ourselves we made the right decision.
• External — We want to appear consistent to others. Generally, we perceive consistency as a sign of intelligence, trustworthiness, credibility, and overall competence. On some level, you know that appearing inconsistent to others makes you look like a fool. So once you commit to something, you feel external pressure to stick with it.

The need to be consistent is a deep-seated evolutionary trait:

• Shortcut — If you’ve already made a decision in a certain situation, you can rely on past decisions as a shortcut so that you don’t have to weigh the pros and cons each time. If we’ve already made the decision to, say, bike to work instead of drive, you can rely on our original choice. It’s a way for your lazy brain to shortcut decisions.
• Blissful Ignorance — Consistency protects you from having to make unpleasant choices. If the decision-making process would involve disturbing thoughts, your brain’s preferred default is to go on autopilot to avoid those thoughts; consistency is one way you engage that autopilot.

COMMITMENT

You can tap into consistency by getting someone else to make a commitment.

As persuasion guru Robert Cialdini discusses in Influence, one of the best ways you can tap into humans’ need to be consistent is via commitments.

If you get someone to commit to something, he or she will have a natural tendency to act in accordance with that commitment.

After all, who wants to look like an inconsistent fool?

Tapping into commitment is more effective if it involves:

• Acts of Commitment — An act of commitment is more effective than a mere verbal commitment.
• Public Commitments — A commitment is more effective when its public. Combined with the above bullet point, public acts of commitment are more potent than public words.
• Effort — The more effort a commitment requires, the more a person will be influenced by consistency. For example, a social media post where the user has to spend time thinking of what to write will be more effective than if the user just had to repost content.
• Internal Choice — You take more responsibility for a decision when you believe it was an internal choice. Aka, you’re more likely to believe you are responsible for an action if there isn’t a big external reward. And that responsibility increases the effect of commitment and consistency.
• Smaller Rewards — A large external reward (e.g., a big prize) can make you feel you made a commitment partially because of external reasons. This decreases your sense of responsibility over the decision, and makes your commitment less effective. This is why social media giveaways often involve relatively small prizes.
• Remove (or Reduce) the Reason — One way to create a sense of internal responsibility for a commitment is initially provide a strong external reward, but reduce or remove it later. You want to be careful not to use this too aggressively, though, as it could anger the person involved and do more harm than good.

EXAMPLES OF CONSISTENCY

Asking how someone is doing is a good way to tap into consistency.

• Ask How Someone Is — You should start by asking someone “How are you doing/feeling today?” They usually respond with a positive answer like “I’m doing great.” This simple, automatic answer creates a commitment that all is well, and you’ll be more likely to get favors from them.
• Foot-In-The-Door Technique — Start with a small commitment (e.g., a small purchase, or small task). This will increase the odds you can get someone else’s approval for similar, bigger requests.
• Social Media Giveaways — You’ll often see social media giveaways that require contestants to post a picture of the company’s product with a description of, for example, the user’s favorite parts of the product. This creates a public commitment that this product is part of the poster’s identity. It also taps into social proof by creating visible evidence for others.
• Effort — As you read about above, the more effort a commitment requires, the more effective it will be. Groups like fraternities tap into the effects of commitment by requiring that new members undergo initiation rites. Personally, I’ve noticed I am most interested in joining groups on Meetup.com that require you to submit some answers before you can be “accepted” as a member.

HOW YOU WILL USE CONSISTENCY

• Commitments — How can you get someone to commit to behavior you want? Some ideas:
• Foot-in-the-Door — How can you use the foot-in-the door technique? As a starting point, ask: (1) what is the ultimate behavior I want to try to influence? (2) What is a smaller version of that behavior? and (3) What can I do to get someone to engage in that smaller behavior?
• Acts — How can you get someone to take action when they commit? How about social media shares, guest posts, or comments on your website? If you’re selling a product, consider having the customer fill out the order details or be more active in the order process.
• Giveaways / Contests — Can you run giveaways or contests? You could require contestants to describe why they’re fans of [X], what their favorite feature of [X] is, or why they chose to become fans of [X].
• Public Commitments — How can you make someone’s commitment more public? Social media posts? Referral discounts?
• Emphasize the Commitment — How can you use phrases to emphasize someone’s commitment? For example: “this is the model you chose, right?”, “Thanks for posting about us on social media, we’re honored that you decided to do so.”
• Start on a Positive Note — How can you get someone to start an interaction with you on a positive note? As mentioned above, this can be achieved by asking how someone is doing. But how else could you do it? For example: “Hey how’s [their favorite hobby] going?” or “didn’t you say you’re traveling to [future vacation destination] soon?”

How have you leveraged consistency (and commitment) to persuade and influence? Where have you seen it used by others? Share your expertise in the comments.

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