Labeling to Drive Behavior Change

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People don’t like being told what to do. In fact, the tendency to rebel or resist when we feel our freedom to choose is being restricted is a scientific principle known as reactance (a concept I discuss extensively in Sell The Way You Buy and in a previous post). Unfortunately, many of the tactics salespeople have been taught over the years trigger it!

For example, trying to “close” a customer and have them sign an agreement by a deadline of your choosing. Or pushing buyers to make a decision on the spot when they say they have to “think about it”.

Luckily, the science of persuasion provides a powerful tactic for overcoming this form of resistance; labeling.

Labeling is defined as describing a person in terms of their behavior. For example, if someone breaks a serious law we label them “a criminal”. Participants in an Olympic games are labeled “athletes”. And someone who writes a book is labeled an “author”. But labels are more than simply titles. For better or worse, labels come with a host of implied meanings, assumptions, and associated behaviors. For these reasons, when assigned to your customers with authentic empathy, labels can cut to the core of their identity and move them to act!



In this bestselling book, Atomic Habits, author James Clear india telegram data describes how we can use labels to create positive linkages to desired, long-lasting behaviors. For example, suppose you were trying to lose weight by incorporating healthy eating and regular exercise into your lifestyle. Rather than thinking of yourself as an ordinary person who practices healthy habits, labeling yourself as a “fit” person is more likely to bring about the desired identity and behavior change.

A runner (noun) is more likely to participate in a marathon than someone who runs (verb).

An author (noun) is more likely to pen a series of novels than someone who writes (verb).

In one study examining voter turnout, participants were asked a simple question with two different and randomized phrasings:

How important is it to you to be a voter in the upcoming election? (noun-phrasing)

How important is it to you to vote in the upcoming election? (verb-phrasing)

In both elections, labeling the individual as a voter (noun) versus simply as someone who votes (verb) was shown to result in increased voting behavior (17% and 14% increases respectively)