“But you are free….”: getting customers to comply

By J. N. Halm

We are hardwired for freedom and so we always want to have control. It is in our DNA. From our very infancy, we have always wanted to have control of everything around us. Babies, not having any physical strength to use, would resort to tears, shouts and throwing of tantrums to get their parents or caregivers to accede to their demands.

As we age, people develop all kinds of means to ensure they get their way in life. People fight to acquire lots of material goods because it affords them the sense of freedom and control they have always desired. It is just the nature of things.

Nowhere is this need to always be in control played out better than in the business world. While customers want control to bargain things to their advantage, sellers also want control to make as much as possible from the transaction. In the back and forth between customer-facing employees and customers, there are those times when employees make certain requests of customers. Some of these requests include asking a customer to fill out or sign a particular document or to authorise some kind of transaction.

Requests that are typically made of customers can be grouped into three categories. The first is what researchers refer to as Pro-social Requests. These are requests where compliance benefits a worthy cause, such as money being raised for the benefit of the disadvantaged in society.

The other category is the Self-interested Requests. As the name suggests, these are requests where compliance is meant to benefit the one making the request. An example is a beggar asking for alms on the street. Or a customer service employee asking customers to fill customer satisfaction survey questionnaires.

The last category of requests are those termed as Offers. These are the requests where the beneficiary of compliance is the one to whom the request is being made. An example is that of a doctor asking a patient to do an exercise routine.

When it comes to natural laws, you either work with or against the rules. Things are way easier if you work with the laws than if you work against the laws. Based on this, it makes sense that if one desires another to comply with a request, regardless of the category, the best way is to play to the need of the one to whom the request is being made to be in control. This is why a technique developed by French scientists has become such an effective compliance-gaining technique. This is known as the ‘‘But You Are Free’’ (BYAF) technique.

A study whose results were published in the January–March 2013 edition of Communication Studies publication threw more light on this technique. The title of the study report was A Meta-Analysis of the Effectiveness of the ‘‘But You Are Free’’ Compliance-Gaining Technique. The power of this technique is that it works with the natural desire of people to want to be in control of their lives and also to want to have the freedom to do what they want to do.

This is why adding the line “But You Are Free… (BYAF)” becomes a powerful weapon to bring down any psychological guards people might have erected around themselves. What this phrase does is give back control to the customer. It places control of the situation squarely in the hands of the customer. It plays into the customer’s natural tendency to want to be in control at all times.

What makes the BYAF technique so effective is that it is simple to use. It does not involve crafting a whole sentence or learning a complicated psychological trick. It is just a matter of adding this little phrase “But You Are Free….” to the end of a request. It is important to note that the exact wording of the phrase can change. However, no matter how it is framed, the phrase must always emphasise the customer’s right to say ‘‘no.’’ There are studies that show that regardless of how the phrase is framed, it still manages to get the job done.

The study referred to touched on the fact that the technique worked perfectly during face-to-face interactions. There was even one face-to-face experiment where the requester did not even offer a reason for the request. Just by yielding control to the one to whom the request was being made, the request was granted. This seems to suggest that in face-to-face interactions when you make your customers see that they still have all the power to grant or reject a request, they are more likely to grant your request.

One sector where it has been suggested that the BYAF technique can be used most effectively is in soliciting funds from donors by charities. It is believed that by adopting this technique, there is an increased likelihood of charities raising substantial amounts. People tend to give more when they believe they are doing it out of their own volition, without feeling coerced.

It was found that when people were told to donate as much as they wanted to, without stating a particular figure, they gave more. The BYAF technique was reported to be very effective in getting people to donate a lot more to a tsunami relief fund in 2009.

One other way the BYAF technique can be used to its fullest effect is in customer surveys. In most cases, responses to these surveys turn out to be low. This is simply because stopping people in their tracks right after they have completed a transaction is not a very effective method of gathering data. Even when customers are told that the interview will only take a few minutes, they still look for excuses to walk away.

The psychology behind the refusal is quite simple. The customer feels she is being made to do something that she does not want to do. In other words, she is losing control. When that thought crosses the customer’s mind, her first reaction is to refuse because that is her way of taking back control of the situation.

But this is where the magic of BYAF comes in. By adding that the customer can either accept or refuse to take part in the survey, the one gathering the data puts the control right in the hands of the customer. The customer instantly sees no reason to raise her guard. The next logical step is for her to accept to take part in the survey.

Another practical use of BYAF is in restaurants. In a situation where there is a shortage of tables and customers have to share tables. Directly asking customers if they would or would not mind sharing tables can backfire. However, if the waiter or manager in charge can apply the BYAF phrase, the likelihood of the request being accepted would increase.

Clearly, BYAF works in a variety of contexts and this is why it is such a potent weapon to have in one’s arsenal when it comes to dealing with customers. There are suggestions that in some cases, applying BYAF can result in approximately double the level of compliance than for direct requests.

The study found that of the three categories of requests, the BYAF technique was found to be very effective when dealing with Pro-social and Self-interested Requests. It is however important to note that the above-referred study suggested that the potency of BYAF is lessened when the requester is not present.

Businesses must understand that these seemingly little things can make a big difference, especially in very competitive markets. For charities and other organisations whose business models depend on people willingly doing things for them, they must take a critical look at the BYAF technique.

BYAF looks counterproductive but it is a very effective means of getting people to do what you want them to do. Just yield control to them. Make people believe that they still have the freedom to refuse and normally, they will not refuse. Hopefully, this piece has convinced you about the effectiveness of the BYAF technique. But You Are Free to accept it or not!

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