Get people in open-minded moments if you want them to give
- Wed, April 13 2011
- Filed under: Fundraising essentials
People are more likely to buy a product when they’re going through personal experiences that open their mind to its potential. For example, I never noticed diaper commercials before I had children. But when my kids were infants, Pampers ads seized my interest - and even my heart. And Cheerio ads could make me cry.
I call these “open-minded moments.”
The same is certainly true of causes. Today at Network for Good, the authors of the Science of Giving discussed their book (which I blogged in its entirety here on my blog). This idea of open-minded moments came through loud and clear, and here was my favorite example: Danny Oppenheimer and Chris Olivola noted that when people feel hot, they are more open to messages about global warming.
The New York Times summed up the relevant studies nicely here:
One recent national study found that for each 3.5 degree rise in temperature above a local average, Americans became 1 percent more likely to agree that “solid evidence” exists that the earth is getting warmer… Now, new research suggests that people’s opinion on global warming can be influenced not just by the weather, but even by the temperature of the room they’re sitting in. The study, by Jane Risen, a behavioral scientist at the University of Chicago, and Clayton Critcher, a marketing professor at the University of California, Berkeley, found that university students placed in a heated room expressed higher confidence that global warming was a proven fact than those placed in a neutral control room.
If you work for an environmental cause and you’re debating when to send out that appeal about climate change, call a meteorologist. If you’re any cause, remember—the circumstances of your supporters are critical to whether they hear - and act upon - your message. Timing, after all, is everything.