The foot-in-the-door technique: an effective way of persuasion

Let's look at how to use the foot-in-the-door technique and why it works to persuade.

Imagine you find yourself in this situation: there is a knock on your door asking you to make a donation to a charity that fights poverty. You might say no, you don't have any money, and close the door.

Now, imagine the same situation, only with a small difference: this time, when you open the door, instead of asking for money, they give you a pin with a message of solidarity. They ask you to wear it for a week to raise awareness of the importance of fighting urban poverty.

Two weeks go by and the same members of the charity come knocking again, this time to ask for a donation. It is quite likely that in this scenario you will give it to them. They have applied the the foot-in-the-door technique. Let's find out what it's all about.

What is the foot-in-the-door technique?

The foot-in-the-door technique is a persuasion strategy widely used in all kinds of contexts where the aim is to sell or ask for something. Given its psychosocial implications, this technique has been the subject of study in social psychology, a discipline in which it has aroused great interest, judging by the many studies that have dealt with it.

The name of this technique refers to the classic situation in which a salesman puts his foot in the door, preventing it from closing, as a first step in order to sell his product.as the first step in selling his product or service.

According to the definition given by Beaman's team (1983), the foot in the door is a technique that consists in asking a small favor of someone from whom we intend to obtain something else.. The situation begins with an inexpensive behavior in a context of free choice, thus assuring us of an affirmative response. Subsequently, that person is asked for a related, larger favor, which is actually what we are interested in achieving.

This technique implies that, if a person agrees to perform a small action, he or she will subsequently be more likely to perform a larger related action, an action that he or she had not previously done. In other words, it implies that a person comes to accept a small, inexpensive request, which will make him or her more likely to accept a larger request later on.

The main factors that cause the subsequent larger behavior to be performed are commitment and consistency. People have agreed to perform the initial behavior, voluntarily, and this motivates them to accept it more readily. This motivates them to accept a subsequent request more readily. that goes in the same direction despite being a little more costly.

For example, if we have positioned ourselves in favor of an idea, it will be easier for us to commit to actions related to it. In this way we maintain internal coherence, with ourselves, and external coherence, in the eyes of others. Added to this, the effectiveness of this technique is greater when the following conditions are met:

• The commitment is public
• The person has chosen it publicly
• The first commitment has been costly

@image(id)

The Freedman and Fraser experiment (1966).

The foot-in-the-door technique is so classic that it is difficult to know exactly who invented and first used it. What we can know is who were the first to investigate it from social psychology. The first study on this strategy was conducted at Stanford University in 1966 by Jonathan Freedman and Scott Fraser. Their research posed the following question: How can you get a person to do something they would rather not do?

The first task of their experiment was to test whether strangers, who would act as experimental subjects, would agree to welcome into their home individuals who were conducting a study on cleaning products. These individuals would be responsible for inspecting the brands and use of the products in each household that let them in. Some of these experimental subjects were previously given a short telephone survey to obtain information on what type of cleaning products they used.

Freedman and Fraser found that those who had passed the telephone survey beforehand were 135% more likely to accept the request to receive the professionals at home compared to those who had not made the request..

In the second part of the experiment these researchers went a little further, checking whether people would agree to place a very large and ugly road safety sign in their front yard. Some of them had previously been asked to place a small sticker on their windows or doors promoting environmental protection or safe driving.

Freedman and Fraser again found that those who had previously placed these stickers were more likely to agree to put the sign in their yards. Those in the group that had not been asked to wear stickers were only 17% more likely to agree to put up the sign, while the group that had been asked to put up stickers were 55% more likely to agree to do so.

Why does this technique manage to persuade?

One of the most recurrent explanations to explain the effect of this technique is related to the ideas of self-perception and consistency.. Daryl Bem's self-perception theory states that when people do not feel confident about their attitude towards a fact or situation about which they have no previous experience, they tend to draw conclusions about their attitude by observing the actions they have taken in this regard. In other words, he argues that people infer their personality from their own behaviors.

Based on this theory, in the case of the billboard experiment, those who had previously agreed to use stickers with protest messages had self-perceived themselves as more committed to this cause. This had motivated them to agree to place a sign in their yard about road safety in order to feel consistent with their actions. That is, participants were more likely to carry out this action because it was consistent with their current perception of themselves.

In addition, there is the relationship that is created between the persuader and the persuaded.. The one who has been persuaded feels an obligation not to fail to fulfill a future commitment that has been formed through the acceptance of the first demands. The persuaded person feels involved in the cause and finds it more difficult to refuse later demands.

Its relationship with sects

As a persuasion strategy that it is, the foot-in-the-door technique has a strong relationship with sects. The first contact of coercive organizations is usually attendance at small meetings. Subsequently, a donation or small gesture is requested. Having already taken the first steps, however small they may be, we are more likely to commit ourselves to subsequent larger actions..

Among these actions we can find behaviors such as dedicating weekly hours to the organization, giving more and more money, donating goods of great value... In the most extreme cases, the followers are forced to perform sexual services or even to participate in collective suicides, believing that they do it in a totally voluntary way although they are being manipulated as puppets.

Final thought

The foot-in-the-door technique is a persuasion strategy that, although it may seem intrusive, is very effective because of its subtlety, which is why it is widely used in marketing, sales and advertising.. It is a way to persuade without pressuring, achieving very beneficial results for those who use it.

It is widely used on a daily basis. For example, when we are called on the phone and asked "Do you have internet?" and we answer yes, we are predisposed to continue listening. The next question is usually "Would you like to pay less?" and, if we answer yes again, we fall into their trap. They've just gotten their foot in the door, and they'll keep testing to see if we say yes to their offers or services.

Now that we know about this technique, it can help us to avoid falling into both the marketing strategies of companies and the methods of cults. Learning to say no and detecting the manipulation techniques used by these organizations is fundamental to prevent them from getting everything they want from us, and to make us believe that we have been free to choose it.

A brief and terse "yes" to an initial question can give way to a whole bombardment of questions and demands in which we will find it increasingly difficult to refuse what they want from us. So, the next time we are offered something, we should think again.