Combining multiple influence strategies to increase consumer compliance

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the effects and implications of utilising multiple social influence strategies simultaneously to endorse a single product or call to action. In three, studies we show that combinations of social influence strategies do not increase compliance - this is contrary to commonly held beliefs and practice. Studies 1 and 2 show that combining implementations of both the consensus and authority strategies to promote a single behaviour does not lead to an increase in the effectiveness of a persuasive attempt. In Study 3, we test these findings in an online advertising campaign and again show that a single influence strategy is more effective than the combined usage of multiple influence strategies. The paper outlines the importance of appropriately choosing and implementing social influence strategies to prevent unintended interactions between the strategies that lead to a suboptimal performance.