Perhaps one of Cialdini’s most powerful principles is the first: reciprocity . People try to reciprocate what they have received from others. In short: if I do something for you, you feel the urge to do something back for me. Giving = receiving. For example, if I invite you to my birthday, there is a good chance that you will invite me to yours. Or if you help a friend move, there is a good chance that he will help you move too.
The free slice of sausage at the butcher’s
A free webinar or consultation, a business gift… These are all examples of reciprocity dataset where the giver knows that you will unconsciously feel the obligation to do something in return.
Even in a restaurant, you are influenced by the power of reciprocity. Robert Cialdini describes a study that showed that tips increased by 3% when a free peppermint was included with the bill. Not very impressive, right? But the study went further.
The tip even increased by 14% when not one but two mints were given. And the waitress got the highest tip of all when she gave one mint, walked away, and then came back with an extra mint because she was such a nice guest. The result? The tip increased by.
You can also apply reciprocity on LinkedIn. Digital content has value that you can give away (unconditionally) for free clean email without explicitly expecting anything in return (trust reciprocity, don’t ask for it). In other words: share your knowledge. Of course the text content on the site solves two main tasks you don’t have to give away all your knowledge, 20 to 50 percent is more than enough (and not all at once).