Field Project—Social Influence
Xiaorong He
In order to experience how influence professionals attempt to persuade me, I
interacted with three sales people from shopping mall, school gift shop and cosmetic
website to experience influence.
My first experience happened in a shopping mall, I was going to purchase a birthday
gift for one of my best friend. I went there alone after lunch. I planned to buy a
headphone for my friend. I knew the headphone with high quality is expensive, so I
spent a lot of time in several different stores to know differences among different
brands and the features of different type of headphone. The first setting happened at
Beats, one of the best headphone brand. I was not intended to buy a Beats headphone
for my friend in the beginning, the price was over my initial budget. At first, I was just
want to know the features and if there was any on sale products at Beats. After about
thirty minutes, one of the sales person asked me if I need any help. The sales person
was a girl and about my age. I told her I wanted to buy a birthday gift for my best
friend. She didn’t introduce her products immediately after this, she just asked me some
information about my friend, such as gender, age, favorite color. She also asked me how
much time my friend usually spend on listening to music. Nothing related to her
products in the first place. I thought this was a normal way to offer good value to
customers by understanding the needs of customers. So basically I answered all of her
questions. After all this, she started asking me my budget and specifically what type of
products I wanted that day. I didn’t tell her my budget, instead I just told her this was a
gift for my best friend and I planned to buy a headphone. Then she introduced me
some of her best-sell products and products for different type of customers. She also
said quality is one of the most important features of headphone, products of Beats
always have the best quality, and my friend would be very happy to have their product.
She showed me different types of headphone with different colors and sizes. She was
always wears a smile on her face and very patient during this process. I actually felt kind
of pressure after she showed me almost all of her products, because I thought she
would be very upset or even mad at me if I didn’t buy something from the store today.
In addition, I still remembered that she kept telling me how happy my friend would be
and higher price means higher quality. She even allowed me to try some of her
headphones and asked me how I felt. I had to say acoustic was really good. She also
mentioned headphone with high quality could be used for a long time and it is okay to
spend more money on those one-time-purchase product. Therefore, after almost two
hours, I bought a headphone worth 200 dollars, and this is way over my initial budget.
My second experienced happened in our school gift shop, which sales scarf and
accessory; products there are very exotic. I wanted to buy a gift for my mom to
celebrate her job promotion. My mom like scarf, so I decided to buy a new winter scarf
for her. The manager of the store is a foreign lady and she has accent. In the beginning,
when I was picking my scarf outside, the lady was on the phone. She asked if I need any
help after she hung up the phone, and invited me to pick inside the store. There were
more products inside, of course, more expensive price. She only talked to me when I
asked price or other questions about her products. Honestly, I didn’t fully understand
what she talked about sometimes because of her accent and I was not sure if she
understood what I was asking. So we didn’t have many interactions at that time.
However, after about 30 minutes, I was still not sure which scarf I should choose, she
started to introduce me other products, such as earring, necklace and bracelet. I told
her this is a gift for my mom, and she is into scarf. I also told her my mom’s age so she
understand that I didn’t want very showy thing. She showed me many scarfs with
different colors, and she even tried some of them on to show me the “effect picture”,
she also told me which color I should probably choose for my mom to match her clothes
better. Although she has accent, we had a very pleasant conversation there. After all
this, she said I could get amount of money off if I purchased over 45 dollars, she asked if
I would like to pick something else to get the discount. The scarf was 38, there was only
7 dollars gap. But most of the products there was about 11 dollars, and I really didn’t
need anything else. Besides, when I experienced this, I had already learned some social
influences. So I told her I would only take the scarf. But I am pretty sure if I knew
nothing about social influence, I would purchase something else, maybe the cheapest
thing in that store, to get the discount even though it is something I don’t really need or
I am not really into. I disclosed this experience to my friend, she bought something from
that store and got that discount the next day.
My last experience was interacted with a customer service of a cosmetic website. I
am actually really into online shopping. It is very convenient and easy. I don’t need to
spend time in stores, dealing with sales people, and I could receive some free samples
as well. I usually receive some discount codes from brand’s official website. Most of the
time I wouldn’t use those codes unless the free sample or discount rate is very
attractive. My experience happened before Thanksgiving. I received a discount code
from Estee Lauder. The code I received was Thanksgiving exclusive code, I would get 4
free samples with any purchase over 50 dollars, and three extra samples with purchase
over 75 dollars. It was a “limited time and limited quantities” event. When I noticed this
event, there was less than four hours left, so I purchased a serum for my mother worth
around 85 dollars that day. After a few minutes, I received an email from customer
service that free samples are probably on short and I might not get same samples I
chose before. So I decided to contact online customer service to figure this out. I was
thought if I could not get the same samples I chose, I could still cancel my order and
maybe wait for another event at or after Thanksgiving. When I told customer service I
would like to cancel my order, she asked if it was because the sample issue. I confirmed
and I was expected that she would just cancel my order. However, she asked me if I was
willing to wait for a few days in case they had enough samples to offer. I guessed that
she was afraid I would not purchase again in the near future if I cancel my order that
day. Moreover, she mentioned that there was a customer loyalty program, I would be
one of the members after this purchase and she illustrated some benefits I could get
from that program, especially I could have a 15 percent off code this time and 20
percent off later on. Besides, there were already many people joined this program. She
also provided some alternative samples to me if I could not get my original samples. This
was the first time I dealt with a customer service in that situation. Again, she was very
patient and thoughtful. So I finally decided to wait for a few day to see if I could get my
samples and I agreed to join the loyalty program, a credits exchange program. Frankly,
after the conversation, I felt like I was probably not that care about those samples, and I
may purchase more in the future if I want those benefits from that loyalty program.
Before I understanding what social influence is, I didn’t pay much attention on those
daily life phenomenon. But by studying and discussing with my friends, I started to
notice those influences, and tried to use some defenses. Among all those three
experiences, I felt significant pressure in my first experience. First of all, the sales person
I met is about my age and she is a girl. Just like liking principle, the similarity between us
and her hospitality service made me willing to talk to her, take her advice or even
purchase an expensive product from the store. I also thought her suggestion or
information is very important because she is a specialist, and Beats is one of the best
brands. She works in that store every day, she knows the product better than anyone
else. Since she told me product features and other customer’s choices patiently, I
thought she was right and I should buy something there subconsciously. Especially when
I didn’t know much about headphone, an “authority” opinion is very important to me.
Moreover, she kept emphasizing it was for my best friend and I should choose
something great, and other young people love their products as well. Here I noticed she
used social proof principle. She was pretty sure I wanted something great and my friend
is very important to me, and we would enjoy the product just like other young people
do. Sometimes when people say something about other people at my age, I always put
myself in their shoes, and assume I would do the same, this makes me especially
vulnerable in that situation. I wanted to show her that my friend is important, and I was
just like other modern young people. I wanted to prove myself. Finally, the most critical
reason I decided to buy a Beats headphone is that the acoustic is really good. When she
asked me to try some of her products, it is kind of a rational persuasion. If the product is
really great, I will notice after using it, Apparently, I noticed, and this reinforced her
opinion about her product, great quality and the product worth that much money. I
didn’t have any excuse to resist. Therefore, I would say even though she used some
social influence principles, she didn’t make me feel aversion, I was still willing to talk to
her and finally buy something from her. I did felt some pressure over there to prove
myself, but I would not say I had an unpleasant shopping experience there.
My second experience happened after I knew something about social influence, and I
intended to defense myself. Although English is not our first language, the old lady—the
store owner, and I still had a nice time there mainly because her warm heart service.
The old lady was just like the sales person from Beats, she was also willing to spend time
to show her products, even tried some on to show me the “effect picture”, the liking
principle affected me again. But when she mentioned I could get amount of money off if
I buy more, this is an exchange or reciprocity as we know. I didn’t expect there would be
extra benefit. However, I didn’t made my decision immediately. I checked other
products and noticed most of their price is over that 7-dollar gap, I started asking myself
if I really need something else, what if I didn’t like it after purchasing, and was the liking
principle still affected me. I didn’t want to buy more just because discount or good
impression on that old lady. It is really useful to ask yourself some questions or have a
deep breath when someone offer some exchanges. I used to buy something useless
when sales people offer extra benefits since I always focused on the benefit itself.
However, this time, I asked myself if I truly need something regardless of what extra
benefit I can get. The funny thing is the liking principle also influence my friend
indirectly. After I disclosed my experienced to my friend, she purchased in that store
next day and got that money discount. I think this is the success of the “endless chain”,
which is as long as people come in, they will bring other people in. The contact between
my friend and I and the attractive exchange impressive my friend as well, and finally
make her consumes something in the store. So sometimes I may not be the one who
influenced by the social influence principles, but my reaction or action may strength the
influences, then affect other people around me in the end.
I think the social influence is most obvious during holiday, just like my online
experience. The major influence would be scarcity. Just like I mentioned before, the
holiday offer was “limited time and limited quantities”. There was a competition in the
advertisement. I may save my money for the future offer if it is just limited quantities,
but as long as the advertisement included the “limited time” information, I felt that if I
didn’t get those samples this time, I would lose them forever. The loosing feeling driven
me in the first place. In addition, the offer was favorable, desirable, and attractive,
which made the offer more rare and valuable to me. When I contacted the customer
service, she asked questions instead just made statement, the consistency principle took
place here, and my answer was my commitment. In addition, if I confirmed the real
reason, then as long as the customer service could provide alternation options, I should
consist with my previous action. So if the reason I want to cancel my order was the
sample issue, then as long as she offered some similar samples to solve this problem, I
would keep my order. She didn’t just cancel my order, instead she make concession by
providing alternatives samples they can offer. She also used reciprocity to reinforce the
influence by introducing me the customer loyalty program, emphasizing the extra
benefits they would offer. Both principles influence my final decision. When she
mentioned that she noticed I am a very loyalty customer based on my order record, and
the loyalty program would offer more benefits to loyalty customer just like me, the
praise, flatter, or the liking feeling made me consider the program. And I noticed other
loyalty customers joined that program too, under social proof influence, I thought I
should joined it and be one of them. She didn’t push me at all during this process, she
said it was a credit exchange program, which means I would earn amount of credit every
time after purchasing, so i should took my time and read the reward details carefully. If
she put pressure on me to force me to make my decision quickly, that may hurt my
shopping satisfaction. But she didn’t
As long as we talk about how to use social influence or whether social influence
affects us, we could first consider whether principles were used ethically. I would say all
my three experiences didn’t make me feel aversion. Although I felt some pressure from
sales person in my first experience, I still think that is part of the marketing strategy,
sales people may have to put a little pressure on customers sometimes. To me, I won’t
make my decision very quickly when I am shopping alone and there is no service people
around. I will try different stores, different brands and different products, but may buy
nothing in the end. However, when there is a service person around me, I would love to
hear her opinion most of the time. I think there is part of culture reason when I consider
if the use of social influence principles is ethical. In Asia, you will have several service
people around almost all the time during the whole shopping process, they will ask you
what you want, they will recommend some of their product, and they will keep
recommending other product when you are in fitting room. Therefore, you are not
alone and you will spend a lot of time in just one store and you will probably just
purchase in that one store. The store core value in Asia is customer service, and more
likely the one to one service in those above-average stores. But in U.S. things are
different. I don’t see too many sales people in store, and all most all of them will just say
hi and tell you what activities they have, that’s it. No service people around all the time,
no one keep recommending things to you, so you won’t feel too much pressure. It is
more comfortable and pleasant, or feel free in this type of shopping environment.
Moreover, there isn’t much ingratiation and compliment in all my three experience.
Again in Asia, when sales people notice you are hesitate about the product, they will
start flatting you. For example, they will say the product fit you so well because you are
good looking, you are well built, you have a good figure, or you should try something
new. In one word, they will say whatever they think can change your mind or help you
make your decision quickly, especially their target is middle age women. So you will feel
significant pressure over there when you deal with those sales people. However, the
only time the ingratiation happened was during my online experience, but what the
service people said was true. I am a loyalty customer, there is a customer loyalty
program, and I should join it. The complement here is just emphasize some key points to
remind me I am qualified and show me there are some better options. So I didn’t
consider what she did was flatter me or put pressure on me to force me make my
decision.
Overall, I think the main reason I consider all influences used here are ethical is
because what I experienced before in my own country is actually unethical. Most of
influences used in my home country are intend to put significant pressure on customers,
and somehow force customers to make their decision quickly, as we know, most of
those decisions are very emotional in those situations. On the other hand, the
influences I experienced here are just part of store’s marketing strategy, I made my
decision independently, and no one forces me to make my decision. So if I purchase
anything in store or online here, it is because i need it or I like it.