Persuasion & the Power of Oprah

August 24th, 2007 by Carolyn Gardner

This blog is all about persuasive e-marketing so posting about persuasion and the power of Oprah feels oh so right…

I don’t need to explain what happens to average everyday people who happen to have a product that Oprah loves. Instant millionaire pretty much sums it up. The whole persuasive phenomenon around celebrity endorsements is considered a dream come true for marketers.

Tracy Ryan - an associate professor of advertising research at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, teaches about celebrity endorsement in her courses. When it comes to creating product demand, she says there are six principles behind the concept of persuasion - i.e. getting someone to buy something , do something or think something. Three of these six apply to celebrity endorsements:

1. Likability - you have to like the person making the pitch…
2. Authority - you have to believe the person making the pitch knows what he or she is talking about…
3. Social Proof - many people do something because others are doing it; they don’t want to be left out of a trend…

The three other pricincipals of persuasion are reciprocity, consistency and scarcity.

As a side note to all email marketers who might be tempted to announce they’ve got Oprah’s backing, don’t even think of sending an email with the subject line: “As seen on Oprah”.

Why you ask? Well according to SubscriberMail, this is a huge subject line no-no! Of course there are tons more including:

100% free

50% offact nowAll words that relate to sex or pornography

All words that related to cures or medication

amazing

Anything that looks like you are YELLING

apply now

As seen

As seen on TV

avoid

Be your own boss

Buy

Call now

cash bonus

…the list goes on, but I think you get the point!

Posted in Carolyn Gardner, Email marketing, eCommerce |

One Response

Paul Hancox | InternetInfluenceMagic.com Says:

August 24th, 2007 at 6:09 pm

Carolyn, you’re right about the power of celebrity endorsements. It’s like the ultimate testimonial. I think what especially works with Oprah is that appears she uses the products she endorses. (Whether that’s actually true or not, I’m not sure!)

That’s certainly different from celebrities doing a paid ad - especially when it’s obvious it’s a paid ad.

Paul Hancox
Author, “Internet Influence Magic”