Standing there, sweating and impatiently shifting weight from foot to foot I never imagined the situation would provide inspiration for blog fodder. One never really knows until the moment strikes.

Even though I’m the last person in a line of about 15 people, by some strange mechanics the two postal clerks are right in front of me. I had a front row seat to what happened next. A woman walks into the building, instead of getting in line behind me she walks up to the employees at the counter and asks, “Excuse me, I need to send this package right now. Could you help me?”

Replying rather gruffly, the postal worker pointed to the line, “You’ll have to wait like everyone else ma’am.”

And so the simple request ended unsatisfactorily for the woman, she sullenly waited in line like everyone ahead of her.

Even so, the woman’s failure got me thinking, what could she have done differently to achieve her desired outcome?

For starters, she should have directly addressed the people in line rather than the clerk.

More importantly, the woman should have provided a reason for her request. For instance, “Excuse me, I need to send this package right now because I have an appointment to make in 15 minutes,” would have increased the chance or her skipping to the front. As Robert Cialdini points out in his book, “Yes: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways To Be Persuasive,” using the word “because” drastically increases the rate of compliance. He references a study by Ellen Langer, who showed that using because in a request to make Xerox copies ahead of someone else led to a 94% compliance rate versus 60% when no reason is supplied.

This held true, even when the reason is complete jibberish. The woman might have said, “Excuse me, may I get ahead of you because I have to mail this package?” Well, duh of course you’re here to mail the package, after all this is a post office. Despite unsound requests, the study Cialdini references shows people still maintained a high compliance of 93%.

However, the power of the word has it’s limits. If the woman had an armful of packages that needed to be weighed, people in line would be less receptive to letting her skip ahead. Plus, I’m confident that it has less effect with a crowd of people than just a handful.

What’s really interesting is how to take this knowledge and apply it to your business. The power of because also works in reverse. Research by Gregory Maio and colleagues shows that when people are asked to reiterate their reasons for doing business with a company they have a more favorable opinion of the business afterwards. In addition to providing valuable insights, those customer feedback surveys may allow long-time customers realize they’re decision to use you as a supplier is not out of habit but based on reason.

You should read Cialdini’s book “Yes,” because it raises awareness of how persuasive techniques affect you, and how you can use ethical strategies to be a better persuader. Not to mention the next time you’re at the post office it might get you through the line a little faster.

Show me web copy or advertisements that fail to substantiate claims and the odds are it’s generic and unpersuasive.

For instance, BattleRidge Builders created a thread on ContractorTalk.com for their new website. What follows is my review, it will help you learn how to use facts as the basis for creating a compelling story.

There is room for improvement in the website copy.

For instance,

Quote From The BRB Website:

Yawn. It’s too generic. Quality and dependability are no longer defining but expected, so it’s not really a selling point unless you say how you achieve it.

The Sam Adams commercials are excellent examples, specifically Hop Til You Drop. “We’re a great tasting beer because we only use noble hops. Where other brewers use a dash (2.7 ounces) of hops, we use a pound (16oz) per barrel.” The visuals in the ad are powerful, especially where 2.7oz  is compared next to 16oz. For an audience who are not beer connoisseurs the imagery engenders confidence that yes, Sam Adams makes a superb tasting beer.

For a General Contractor deciding to hire a sub-contractor I’m betting safety is an important criteria. Maybe you could use copy that states, “All our builders are certified by *insert accredited safety course here*, in addition to passing our own strenuous safety requirements. As a result, we’ve been accident free for the past 960 days. That’s the equivalent of building a 2,330 square foot, 4 bedroom Victorian home 32 times over without a single injury.”

You might even include a safety checklist that shows how your requirments exceed the standards set by the accredited safety course.

Notice that each story uses facts to make it more believable. The BattleRidge example takes this a step further. It’s hard to visualize “960 days,” so adding the bit about the number of homes built during the time frame provides context for the General Contractor. When you use imagery that a person relates with it’s that much easier for them to wrap their mind around abstractions and larger numbers.

Remember that substance sells.

It’s brilliant creative. Unfortunately it’s ineffective because it fails to provide clear steps a person can take to prevent the long term consequence of cancer and death.

Research shows that while fear arousal is sufficient to influence attitudes, it must be paired with specific, detailed recommendations for a person to change their behavior. In this case, including booklets on “How To Quit Smoking,” provided by the US Dept. of Health & Human Services alongside the mural will be more effective than providing a quit smoking hotline phone number or nothing at all.

Remember that fear by itself only leads to inaction, you need to immediately provide concrete, achievable steps for the person to begin minimizing the risk.

While a young boy my family use to keep Hereford cattle for a few years. Every couple months after the heifers had grazed the grass to nubs we’d move them to a new pasture. At first this proved to be an exerting task, involving a rope, prodding, pulling, pushing and cursing from all involved family members. Moving a few of these animals only a hundred yards turned into a spectacle because we made the mistake of only thinking about what we wanted. Meanwhile the heifers thought only about what their wants, refusing to budge.

The recurring situation only improved when we considered what would make the cattle want to move to a new enclosure. Food of course! Cutting a milk bottle in half, filling the one end with grain and walking the heifers into the pasture while they ate proved the trick.

My point isn’t to liken people to cattle, but if you’re going to persuade folks to do something you have to ask, ‘how can I make this person want to do it?’ In other words, stop speaking and writing about your desires, focus on what the other person wants and how they can get it.

Take the customers point of view in your web copy, advertising and face-to-face interactions and you’ll be able to influence people to buy.

Create relevant messages, know what customers value in your product or service… every marketer should embrace means-end analysis.

A Means End Theory Anecdote

At the ski shop we sell these uber cool bluetooth helmets from K2. You can synch the earpieces to a device like an iPhone, and listen to music or pause the melodies to answer an incoming phone call. I wouldn’t buy one because I consider the sport my refuge from the onslaught of technological-interconnectedness. However, personal preference aside, these helmets fly off the shelves each season like fudgicles in a sweltering summer afternoon.

Yet one particular sale stands out from the rest. A mother and son (probably 10-12 yrs old) walk into the shop. They’re going to Gore, and Billy needs a helmet. Billy trys on a few brands finally arriving at the K2.  He is tickled pink by the thought of listening to tunes, and chatting on the phone while skiing. If Billy’s going to be the envy of all his friends he’s got to have it. Mom rolls her eyes at the price but consents.

Then Billy, god bless him, does some selling for me, “Mom, if I’m wearing a helmet shouldn’t you too?” She’s holding his helmet, and puts it on for kicks, but being too small it cocks backwards funny like. At which point I mention we might have a larger size, not to mention Gore is a huge mountain, if the two should get separated it would be easier to get ahold of each other with bluetooth enabled helmets. Although she trys on a few more helmets, Mom also settles on buying herself a proper sized K2 helmet.

If you’ve been reading carefully you’ll notice that features and benefits are only part of the story as to why Billy and his Mom bought the bluetooth helmets. For Billy the benefit of listening to music or making phone calls translated into “envy from his friends,” otherwise known as enhanced self-esteem. Whereas the benefit of a quick phone call for Mom meant she can check in on Billy to know he is safe.

What Is Means-End Theory?

Billy and his Mom demonstrated what is known in consumer behavior as Means End Theory: People buy features that bring them benefits that get them closer to valued end states.

These are the possible Means-End Chains for Billy and his Mom:

Underlying values are the motivating factor in a consumer purchase. Therefore effective marketing messages that sell will connnect a benefit to values like security, achievement, belonging, fun, enjoyment, etc.

Means-End Theory In B2B

Speaking in terms of only features and benefits tends to remove emotions from the purchase equation. In B2B advertising, overemphasis is placed on benefits with valued end states being downplayed. Why does this occur? Because many B2B marketers operate under the assumption that B2B purchases are rational. In reality, decision makers are influenced by emotive propositions , in some cases more than they would be as individual consumers.

Means-End Marketing Applications

Mean End Theory is important to marketing on two fronts.

I touched on the first already, MEC provides a way to structure messaging. Identify a feature, linking it to a benefit that fulfills a personal valued-end state.

For example, IBM has transitioned itself from a hardware maker to an integrated systems provider. This Applications On Demand video reflects that approach. IBM provides a number of features: server, database administration, etc. These benefit HDR, whose employees have time more time to focus on the company’s core tasks (functional benefit). The message could have stopped there, but IBM clearly distinguishes itself in this ad as a company that is easy to do business with (an intangible, fundamental need of HDR). That valued-end state likely has the most and strongest connections to the multitude of features and benefits provided by IBM.

Second, you may be able reverse engineer the product/service. Knowing the valued-end state allows you work backward to build new features, or create new products and services of value. Using the means-end approach to gain customer insights is an important way to mitigate the risks of marketing failures in the product design and positioning phases.

Uncovering Means End Chains Using Laddering Interview

Where MEC is the visual representation of consumer associations, laddering interviews are the process by which those insights are derived. Typically, these involve in-depth, one-on-one interviewing techniques that are meant to uncover relations between attributes and associations with the self. For the purposes of this article I won’t mention how to carry out these interviews, saving that for a later date.

That’s All Folks!

Read any marketing literature, or the mass of blogs devoted to the topic and a key theme throughout is relevancy. Missing are the practical applications of how to achieve that end. Since it explores underlying values, Means-End Theory is an important scientific tool for creating relevant messaging and services that influence customer purchase decisions.