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Imagine this …

You’re skimming some business news headlines when a story catches your eye. 

“Too critical of yourself? Try this tip from top neurologist”

Interesting… you’ve been feeling a little bummed out about your performance lately. You click it. 

In today’s edition of Why We Buy, we’re taking a look at The Barnum Effect – how to use personality descriptions to get the attention of a wide range of people.

Let’s get into it.

🧠 The Psychology of the Barnum Effect

Can I ask you a question?

👉 Do some of your aspirations tend to be pretty unrealistic?

I’m no magician, but I’m willing to bet that question got your mind racing.

It’s another example of “Barnum Statements.”

A Barnum statement is a general characterization that is focused on an individual but is so broad that it would apply to almost everyone.

Coined in 1956 after the famous entrepreneur, showman, and pseudo-psychologist P.T. Barnum who used this psychological shortcut to persuade curious onlookers to come into his circus.

Some more examples of Barnum Statements:

“Security is one of your major goals in life.”

“You pride yourself as an independent thinker.”

“At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing.”

Spooky, right!?

As you may have already realized, this effect is widely used by horoscope writers, tarot card readers, and astrologists.

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🧐 Inside Your Buyer’s Mind

This effect works best when the statement is specific enough that your buyer is able to read their own meaning in it.

Using vague terms like “at times” and “often” also help the reader perceive that the statement is directly related to them.

There are two factors that influence the effectiveness of Barnum Statements:

1. Ratio of positive to negative traits: Being too harsh on your reader will turn them off. But including negative traits makes them curious to learn how they can improve themselves.
2. Trust between reader and writer: The reader must trust that the source of the statements is from a credible source.

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🤑 How to Apply This

Alright, so how can we apply this right now to sell more?

Create Quizzes

There’s a reason why those Buzzfeed personality quizzes go viral. People love to analyze themselves. Self-assessment-style quizzes that start with Barnum-style questions, like the one below, can be excellent ways to gather leads. At the end of the quiz, participants will feel understood and be more open to learning more about a product that feels like it was custom-made for them.

Build Trust

The fastest way to earn trust is by helping others with their problems and asking for nothing in return. Provide advice and direction based on asking Barnum-style questions. 
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💥 The Short of It

Use the Barnum Effect to build trust with your customers—not to exploit them.

Make statements about character traits that most people would see as positive. Balance it with traits that are negative to appeal to people’s urge to improve themselves.

Don’t use this tool for evil! It’s an extremely powerful effect that makes people very vulnerable. Breaking that trust can ruin a relationship and reputation very quickly.

Until next time, happy selling!