Ben Franklin Effect
Why doing someone a favor makes them like you more, and how to use the Ben Franklin effect to boost customer loyalty and sales.
In this issue
Hey 👋 The Crew here.
If someone asks you why you should read our newsletter, tell them that by the time you finish this issue, you will know:
- How to apply one of Ben Franklin’s persuasive methods to your campaigns; and
- How to tie Aristotle’s concept of ethos to your advertising.
That should get them interested…
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Reading time: 4 minutes, 40 seconds.
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Turns out, Ben Franklin was into marketing psychology before it was even a thing.
Back in the 1700s, this Founding Father faced a rival in the Pennsylvania legislature who openly disliked him.
Instead of offering any favors, Franklin asked to borrow a rare book from him. The man obliged, and after Franklin returned it with gratitude, the rival unexpectedly… warmed to him.
Weird, eh? But think about it. A neighbor who barely talked to you suddenly becomes friendlier after you ask to borrow a ladder. By helping you, they’re convinced they like you more now.
Psychologists call this The Ben Franklin Effect. When we do someone a favor, our brains rewrite the story. Suddenly, we grow more fond of that person.
Why? Our brains hate inconsistency. If our positive actions—such as doing a favor—clash with our feelings—dislike—we resolve this dissonance by changing our feelings. Makes sense.
A 1969 research backed this up. Participants who did a researcher a personal favor rated him more highly. Neat, huh?
Now do us a favor and keep reading. You’ll learn how to sell more.
Three ways to leverage the Ben Franklin Effect
Ask for opinions, not purchases.
Do you know what definitely doesn’t look like asking for a favor? Pushing for a sale.
So don’t do it. Instead, ask for their feedback. That’s a real favor to ask. If you involve customers in product development, you will make them feel valued and invested in the outcome.
LEGO Ideas built a community around this. They ask fans to design and vote on new sets. A huge favor. When they do, fans become more than customers. They become contributors.
And they’re far more likely to buy the final product because they helped create it.
What can you do: Ask your audience for small but meaningful input like votes, feedback, or design ideas. They’ll feel like co-creators and are much more likely to buy.
Encourage small commitments
How does a path to a big conversion start? With a small “yes,” of course.
Ask for a tiny, low-effort favor before you ask for the sale, such as email signups or social media follows.
Or, ask for micro-feedback like answering a quick poll or providing input on a concept. Or even… participating in a quiz.
Personalized styling service Stitch Fix does this masterfully. They ask you to take a fun, engaging style quiz as the first step:
This series of small favors gets you invested. You become a co-creator of your style profile, making the final purchase feel like the natural next step.
This is closely related to the Foot In the Door Technique that we also wrote about earlier.
So read it for an even better understanding. And more sales.
Make your customer loyalty public
If your customer enjoys your product or service in private, that’s good. But here’s what’s better: making that enjoyment known to the public.
And you can ask them to do so as a favor to you.
When people vouch for a brand, they align their identity with it. Their own belief deepens to stay consistent with their public action. It’s a win-win, basically.
Plus, you can also offer an incentive.
Dropbox used to do this to both grow and retain its user base. In exchange for storage, users performed a favor that made them public advocates and strengthened their own loyalty.
How can you not like it after this?
AI EDUCATION: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Midjourney… So many names, but what’s actually useful for you in your work? There’s a newsletter called The Deep View that exists to sift through all the noise and get you up to speed on what’s actionable with AI products, and it’s free. Join 452,000+ subscribers with one click and let AI empower you.*
AI TACTICS: Struggling to find a practical use for AI in your marketing work? No worries. Every Saturday, we will send you a free newsletter to sharpen your marketing skills and get more wins for yourself and your clients, including the latest AI use cases with actual examples and prompts you can just swipe. Subscribe for free.*
REGULATIONS:Bam. Late last week the EU’s European Commission hit Google with a €2.95B ($3.5B) fine for breaching antitrust law. The commission says Google has been playing favorites with itself and has been ordered to end these self-preferential practices within 60 days. Yikes.
MARKETING:Millennials are worried about their financial future, but are optimistic about artificial intelligence. And are using it more and more. Or at least that’s what the recent stats say, with some of them reported in this fresh data story. Worth a read.
ADVERTISING: What links Aristotle’s concept of ethos and advertising? Well, it all boils down to the same question—why should someone trust you. This article has some interesting angles to answer that question and to boost your integrity among users. Check it out.
SEARCH:Is the open web thriving or dying? It depends on whether you ask Google’s CEO or its lawyers in court. While publicly Google says content consumption is growing, court statements claim display ad impressions dropped from 40% in 2019, to just 11% in 2025. Hm.
SOCIAL MEDIA:The Veo 3 AI video generator now supports the 9:16 aspect ratio, making it easier to create content for TikTok and Reels. It’s getting vertical for socials, isn’t it?
ICYMI, last time we looked at Bikeshedding.
The “Doing you a solid” Crew
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