Motivate your customers the same way the CIA motivates assets

There are four motivators that CIA operatives use to manipulate assets into risking their life to share secrets. And you can use the same four to compel people to take action on your product/service.

Photo by David Sinclair on Unsplash

The acronym the CIA uses for these four motivators is RICE, or Reward, Ideology, Coercion, and Ego. Let’s break these down:

• Reward can be financial, an item, or a service.

• Ideology isn’t just religion, but is still something they believe in that is bigger than themselves.

• Coercion is negative emotions, it’s playing on fear or anger to influence people to do something you want.

• Ego is similar to Ideology, but is instead focused on oneself.

Now these are not all created equal. Reward and Coercion are faster to influence, but less effective. Ideology and Ego are slower but much more effective in the long run. The strength in which they are organized, according to Andrew Bustamante, a former CIA intelligence officer, is Ideology, Ego, Reward, and lastly, Coercion. 

Coercion is the weakest because it will likely hurt the chance they will listen/buy from you again. Once someone realizes they’ve been coerced, they tend to distrust the brand or individual coercing them. A great example is a sales person playing on your FOMO with, “you’ll never get a deal like this again.” If you pause long enough to get past the rush of emotion, you may start thinking that if there’s a sale now, there’s likely to be a sale later, likely with a similar deal. Now you know the sales person isn’t necessarily truthful and it becomes harder to trust them. That’s why they have a reputation.

Reward is very straightforward, so I’m not going to go into depth here. Just add value as a reward for someone purchasing or taking the action you want. Like giving a free guide as a reward for signing up to your marketing emails, or a rebate on a big purchase.

Ego is very strong because it plays into how the individual wants to be perceived – their identity. Understanding your target audience’s ego can take a long time. Especially, because while everyone is different, there will likely be similarities between members in your key demographic. For parents, a key one is often being seen as a good parent. Almost all parents feel validated or have a sense of pride when someone praises them for their parenting skill. Messaging in a truthful way here can really resonate with your target market in a big way.

Ideology is the strongest motivator because it not only plays into something the individual believes in deeply, but is also about belonging to something bigger than oneself. A great example of how powerful ideology is, is to take a look at the history of Tesla’s stock. At first, Tesla’s perceived mission was about transitioning the world to sustainable energy to preserve life on earth. An ideology so many held in high regard, that Tesla’s stock price was nearing $500 per share. After Musk’s recent actions, the perceived ideology behind his companies changed. This caused Tesla’s stock to fall by over 50% in less than 3 months.

Ideology is often the hardest motivator to connect with, but it is the biggest mover for a reason. This connects with people's core beliefs. Ego, on the other hand, is something that is easier to reach while still being a powerful motivator. For example, while fathers may have differing views on climate change, most will want to be perceived as good fathers. Playing into making someone feel like a good father for buying your product, like healthy food, will drive more loyal customers than a discount on the food. So while the discount may motivate a single purchase, it generally does not create repeat customers.

If you are curious to learn creative ways to use RICE to motivate your customers, join our wait list to work with us, and we’ll send you helpful tips you can act on while you wait. Click here.