Ask for Help in Rich Media Channels for Better Results

New research confirms what you might already think: you are most likely to get the results you want when you ask someone in person.

Experiments indicate that people are more compliant when communication takes place over richer media channels. Requests made face-to-face are most likely to be fulfilled. Second best is Zoom and then phone calls. Email and text requests are least effective. Survey participants thought richer channels would be more effective, but they underestimated the differences.

Cornell University researcher Vanessa Bohns sums up the results:

“We tend to think people will weigh the costs and benefits and make a measured decision about whether to agree to something, saying ‘yes’ only if they really want to. But in fact, people agree to all sorts of things, even things they’d rather not do, because they feel bad saying ‘no’ in the moment.”

Of course, this raises issues of integrity. Taking advantage of people who feel uncomfortable refusing a request will damage trust and credibility over time.