Title: Combining multiple influence strategies to increase consumer compliance

Authors: Maurits Kaptein; Steven Duplinsky

Addresses: Department of Statistics and Research Methods, University of Tilburg, Room P 1106, P.O. Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands ' RPX Corporation, 767G Portola Street, San Francisco, CA 94129, USA

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.

Keywords: persuasive technology; social influence strategies; adaptive systems; online commerce; recommender systems; consumer compliance; recommendation systems; internet advertising; e-commerce; electronic commerce; online advertising; authority strategies; consensus strategies.

DOI: 10.1504/IJIMA.2013.056586

International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, 2013 Vol.8 No.1, pp.32 - 53

Published online: 12 Jul 2014 *

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