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100 More Things #143: A PUBLIC COMMITMENT LEADS TO STRONGER SELF-STORIES

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When people make a public commitment to a product, service, idea, or brand, their self-story about that product, service, idea, or brand becomes stronger.

For example, let’s say that Maryanne creates custom bow ties for weddings and sells her bow ties on an arts marketplace online. She has a self-story that she is an arts and crafts person, not really a business or marketing person.

But then she watches a short video about the XYZ email marketing service, which claims that when you create an email campaign for potential customers, you can greatly increase your sales. Maryanne wonders if she could increase her sales this way.

The XYZ company offers a free 30-day trial, so she decides to try it out. That’s a slight shift in Maryanne’s self-story. She can’t really say that she’s not a business or marketing person if she uses an email marketing service. Maybe she’s an arts and crafts person who is also savvy about marketing. If she signs up for the trial and doesn’t tell anyone, then the shift in her self-story might stay very small.
But what if she not only signs up for the free trial, but she clicks the “Share” button and shares on her Facebook page that she has signed up for the XYZ email marketing service. That’s a form of a public commitment. Unconsciously this will shift her self-story more. The public commitment about the action makes the effect of the action on her self-story stronger than if there were no public commitment.
Taking an action that no one else knows about results in less commitment and will lead to less long-term self-story change than an action that others see.

Surveys, Reviews, And Testimonials

If people have made any commitment at all to your organization, company, product, or service, you can strengthen the commitment and the self-story they have about being committed customers by asking them to make a more public show of support.

As an example, let’s say that you work for a hotel chain. When customers stay at the hotel, you send them an email with a link to an online survey about their stay. This survey is a form of public commitment. If they rate your hotel well, then they’ve made a public commitment that they are a supporter. Be sure to ask how likely they’d be to stay at your hotel again. A survey can be a way for you to get data and feedback about your products and services, but it’s also a way to get people to publicly commit. Even if you’re the only one who sees the survey result, when people fill out the survey form they will feel that they have made a public commitment, and this will strengthen their self-story that they are a fan of your brand.

You can even send a survey to people who are not yet your customers. If you ask them about their perceptions of your organization, products, or services, and they give positive responses, then they’ve just committed publicly and will be more open to dealing with you in the future.

The more public people’s commitment, the more it will strengthen their self-story— and the more it will affect their current and future behavior. Completing an anonymous survey is better than no commitment at all, but giving a testimonial or recommendation, or writing a review that’s posted online, is an even stronger show of commitment.

When people give a recommendation, testimonial, or write a review, they’re strengthening a self-story that says, “I am a person who believes in this product,” or “I am a person who donates to this organization,” or “I am a person who buys from this company.”

Reviews act on others as a form of social validation, but they also act on the self as a form of commitment. If people write a positive review, they’ll want to stay consistent, and that means they’ll take more action to interact with the site, the company, the organization. If you want to build commitment to your brand, your company, or a product, then make sure you give your audience the opportunity to write a review.

Don’t pay people to commit

If you pay people to write a review, testimonial, or respond to a survey, it won’t change their self-story. Instead of a self-story of “I am someone who believes in this product,” it will be “I’m someone who says I believe in order to get a reward.” Rewards (extrinsic motivation) interfere with self-story change (intrinsic motivation).
A reward may get people to take one action, but it won’t strengthen their self-story and it won’t lead to future action without more reward.

Takeaways

  • Ask people to fill out surveys or write reviews and testimonials. These forms of public commitment will strengthen their self-stories about your brand, product, or service.
  • Don’t pay or reward people for making public commitments. Extrinsic motivation (rewards) interferes with intrinsic motivation and will weaken the self-story.

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