I am examining Robert Cialdini’s “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” with one eye for the make money online niche (MMO) and the other for the broader, practical uses of the psychological findings he presents. As a so-called Internet Marketer (IM), of course I can’t help but translate his 6 specific findings on social engineering into “How can this be applied on the Internet to make money” type terms.

What follows are brief analyses of Cialdini’s 6 principles of persuasion, as well as brief examples of how they may be used to make more money online.

This rule states that when someone does something nice for another person, that person then feels obligated to do something nice back. (Interestingly, vengeance works like this too.) In fact, the feeling of obligation can be quite powerful. Have you ever received a gift and kind of wished the person just hadn’t given it to you in the first place, because now you’ll have to give something back? Sometimes, you even know you’re being manipulated, but you still don’t want to look like a leech.

This principle basically states that things that are scarce are viewed as more valuable. People may scramble without thinking (or at least without thinking as much) in order to get whatever is drying up fast. This is a classic rule that everyone is pretty familiar with, but marketers will tell you that it still works just as good as ever.

If people like you, then they will tend to say yes when you ask them for something. This goes beyond just what you do. If they like how you look, they will also tend to say yes to you. Or maybe you are both of the same nationality, etc.

So, if you are liked, or can become liked, then this can be leveraged for your own personal ambitions. I like to think of this as actively cultivating a good karma. Everyone knows a network of friends can do wonders.

Someone displaying the symbols of authority will be able to influence people easier. This could be a police badge, a scientist’s lab coat such as in the famous Stanley Milgram experiments, or a huge house. Where does this come from? Maybe because of how we were trained by our parents to obey their authority. Really, you will see it all throughout the universe: from the king gorilla calling the shots for his whole flock, or even in the way the planets orbit the more powerful sun. They are held in their orbit by the sun’s gravity (authority).

When people don’t know the correct answer, they will often look to what others are doing and just copy them. “Well if she’s doing then she must know what she’s doing… I’ll follow her lead.”

If you can arrange for people to "give" you social proof, such as in testimonials, then you will generally have more clout. Obviously, it has to be believable. Ideally, it would be the truth! (Google's algorithm is based on this principle.)

People feel compelled to put on a façade of consistency. If they tell someone they will do something, then it is harder for them to back out of it than if they had never spoken about their commitment out loud.