Whether you want someone to do you a favor or buy something from you, the process I'm about to describe is excellent for demand-side policies where you want behavior change, but the person won't be getting any tangible goods or perceived benefits. To get an individual or group to change substantially we need to create a shift in their decision making processes while at the same time reducing any internal psychological barriers. For our example, let's use turning off the lights to conserve energy. 1. What do you want the person(s) to do or not do? (In our example, we want them to turn off the lights when they leave a room.) 2. Find out what their EXTERNAL BARRIERS or physical, environmental, constraints are. This could be lack of money, lack of access, discomfort, etc. (For our example, a flick of a light switch is no big deal, but perhaps the light has one of those chains that a person has to reach up to pull to turn the light off.) 2. Figure out what their INTERNAL BARRIERS for behavioral change are. These could be misperceptions of alternatives, negative attitude towards what you are suggesting, lack of awareness, thinking that what THEY do will have little consequence ("Tragedy of the Commons"),etc. (In our example, our target might think that leaving the light on doesn't use that much electricity, so turning it off wouldn't really make much of a difference. Another possibility is that he or she finds groping in the dark for the light switch to be terribly inconvenient.) 3. What are their decision processes? We need to shift their decision making processes. There are a lot of factors, of course, when it comes to making a decision. Things like hierarchy of values, meta-programs, etc. But we can often boil the process down by asking two questions: "How will (not) doing this cause them PLEASURE?" and "How will (not) doing this cause them PAIN?" Reward and Consequences. 4. Unfreeze their habitual decision processes by including a new problem/or saying it's the social norm now.. (So, say in our example, we are asking kids to turn off the lights, we can say that one of his heroes always turns off the lights [social norm], a reduction of allowance by saying the electricity bill is going up because the lights are on [new problem].) Your message needs to be important: use vivid, emotional language aimed at the language of recipient, reason why, social norm, it's consistent with what they do/say/think/believe, what they will lose, etc. NOTE: If you've asked someone to do something and they said no. You must add additional information to your request because they will think they are being indecisive. 5. The message needs to reflect reality and not the point of view of the message sender, (In our example, we wouldn't say, "I want to save money. I don't like it when the lights are on and nobody is in the room.") 6. If possible, get the person to get publicly involved. An interesting way to do this is by getting your target to tell someone else why your idea is good. (In our example, we could get our older son--our target --to tell his younger sister why turning off the lights when leaving a room is a good idea.) Try this technique with someone you've had difficulties convincing or persuading. Write down what you are going to say with each of the steps above. Try it on your sales Pages. Until the next time....