Effects of Praise and Small Requests on Receptivity to Direct-Mail Appeals

Abstract

Summary In a field experiment, 229 female household residents were approached by one of four female Red Cross volunteers who delivered a message which included a labeling treatment saying, “I wish more of the people I met were as interested in their fellowman as you appear to be,” or a request to wear a small Red Cross lapel pin. Ss were subsequently exposed to up to four direct-mail appeals for the Red Cross, and then behavioral measures were collected by telephone. As predicted, labeled Ss were more responsive to the subsequent mailed appeals than unlabeled Ss, with labeling displaying both a prominent main effect and an interaction with the mailed appeals. The small request, however, evoked an effect opposite from that predicted.