Contagious Cause Marketing?

July 16, 2010 Categories: Blog by 9 Comments

A recent Wired article explored the possibility that emotions were contagious and found that emotions spread in patterns similar to epidemiological disease models. Have a friend who’s happy or sad? It’s possible you may “catch” their emotion.

What about positive, community-oriented behaviors like recycling or charitable giving…are they contagious?  It turns out they may be, in an indirect sort of way. And, better yet, that you may be able to use this in your favor when crafting messaging.

The Power of Social Norms

A study from Stanford published earlier this year concluded that consumers are more likely to engage in a positive, community-oriented behavior if they are given descriptive social norms, “simple descriptions of how the majority of people tend to behave”.  The study focused specifically on environmental conservation efforts within the hotel industry.

We’ve all seen the cards in hotel rooms asking us to “protect the environment” by reusing our linens and towels.  Well, it turns out that simply changing the language on those little cards to include descriptive social norms may make guests more likely to participate in these conservation programs.

Researchers did a study on this very practice and compared participation rates based on messaging.  Here’s what they found:
…hotel messages using “descriptive norms” (i.e. “the majority of guests reuse their towels”) were more effective than traditional messages focusing solely on popular environmental concerns. Furthermore, messages that described the participation in the conservation program by hotel guests were most effective when describing group behavior that occurred in the setting that most closely matched individuals’ immediate situational circumstances (i.e. “the majority of guests in this room reuse their towels”).

Tell Me About Others Like Me
Researchers found that desired behaviors improved the more closely the environment resembled that of the subject.
The hotel guests who were informed that the majority of people who stayed in their room previously had participated in the towel reuse programs were more likely to participate in the program themselves than were those who were given the same information for all hotel guests…

The Punchline:  Implications for Cause Marketers
While the power of descriptive social norms is not a new discovery, researchers suggest that they may be underused, particularly in trying to influence positive, community-oriented behaviors.
If, for example, marketers in California were to run a recycling campaign, Goldstein suggests that they would want to make sure that they highlight norms for their audience’s specific location in their appeals. For example, telling Santa Barbara residents about the recycling habits of other Santa Barbara residents should be more effective than highlighting the recycling habits of California as a whole.

Testing Descriptive Social Norms

We all want our messages to resonate more fully and, at the end of the day, to drive desired behavior.  So why not do some testing with this concept in your next campaign?

If you have giving or participation data on a specific retail location in the case of a point-of-sale program or via a specific platform (e.g. Facebook or Twitter), why not include it as part of your messaging, e.g.

The Main Street location currently has the highest rate of participation in our Save The World program…won’t you join us?” or

“The majority of our conference participants follow us on Facebook – Click Here to Join Us Online.”

Not buying it?  Test it.  Create two messages:  one “standard” message you might typically use and one including a descriptive social norm.  See which plays better with your target audience.

How else could you use this information in your cause marketing programs?  Have you seen any descriptive social norms used in marketing messages lately?

Image credit to cogdog.

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9 Comments

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  1. Peter Korchnak July 16, 2010 at 8:02 am #

    For more on the subject of idea, emotion, behavior, etc. contagion check out

    - “Connected: The surprising power of our social networks and how they shape our lives” by Nicholas A. Christakis & James H. Fowler, and

    - this 2-part Slate article criticizing the contagion concept http://www.slate.com/id/2250102/entry/2250103/
    http://www.slate.com/id/2250102/entry/2250141/

    Peter

    • Megan July 18, 2010 at 8:57 pm #

      Great resources (as always), Peter – thanks so much. Definitely food for thought as far as the “science” behind contagions.

      What’s your experience been from a marketing perspective? Ever tested any social norms? I haven’t personally but would be interested in hearing from someone who has and what their results were.

  2. Gabe Chesman July 16, 2010 at 9:29 am #

    I think cause marketing/CSR is contagious. (Great phrase, by the way.) I just wrote a similar article on the popularity of cause marketing/CSR. Let me know what you think: http://www.prscoup.com/?p=446

  3. Ian July 19, 2010 at 8:21 pm #

    Megan,

    I think this is an exceptional post and right on target. I also think that to effectively tap into people’s normative instincts is hard, and testing is the only way to do it right.

    I encourage you to check out a company called opower.com. They are using normative influence to try to get utility customers to change their energy usage. They contract with utilities and send out a report card to energy customers giving them a letter grade (A-F) on their energy usage compared with their neighbors. They’re finding that this sense of competition pushes people to reduce energy usage more than the standard arguments of either saving money (like $3/month) or saving the environment (tough to show a real relationship).

    • Megan July 19, 2010 at 8:27 pm #

      I will definitely be checking out opower.com – interesting dynamic of both neighbor comparison (social norms) and the primality of letter grades on energy usage – love it!

      Appreciate your comments and the great referral, Ian. :)

    • Rhian July 21, 2010 at 9:46 am #

      Thanks Ian for sharing the source; I recently saw one of these ‘reports’ while visiting family in Minnesota. Now, in the context of this blog, looking back, it is amazing to see how this triggered emotion, was infectious among the family and spurred change! There is a real golden nugget in this concept.

      • Megan July 21, 2010 at 10:34 am #

        Thanks for the comment, Rhian! I always love to be able to look back on a past experience with new information and be able to more clearly see it for what it was. Interesting to hear that it “worked” within your circle.

  4. Bernadette Dominguez July 20, 2010 at 9:20 am #

    Reading Ian’s comment made me do a quick reflect on how I might stack up in my neighborhood. Does my “sunfrost” low energy use refrigerator give me an edge over my neighbors? Normative influence works in this sample of 1. Insightful post Megan.

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