Have you ever been cheated in your life? TV news always broadcasts news about people who have been deceived.
After seeing a beautiful advertisement for a certain product, I immediately placed an order to buy it, but the result was not satisfactory.
I saw online donation information such as "5-year-old girl suffering from leukemia in urgent need of help" in WeChat Moments, and felt sympathy. However, after donating, I found out that it was a scam.
A friend with whom I had a good relationship disappeared after borrowing a sum of money.
The "lovers" who were chatting passionately on the Internet found out half a year later that they were fake homosexuals.
……
Modern society is more interconnected than in previous eras. However, it seems increasingly difficult to establish trust among people. From the perspective of economic principles, this is because information is not always available. A crisis of trust caused by symmetry.
Information asymmetry (asymmetric information) means that everyone in the transaction has different information. In social, political, economic and other activities, some members possess information that other members cannot possess, resulting in information asymmetry.
Only by overcoming information asymmetry can a good relationship of trust be established.
1. Repeat transactions
One of my favorite thinkers, Wu Bofan, once said: Trust originates from reunion.
If you lie to you once or twice, you will never lie to you a third time. People will cheat less if they know they will meet again.
Why do people like to remember the good old days? One of the reasons is that the past society was more of an acquaintance society, where generations of people knew each other. Anyone who did something unethical would always be found and remembered.
A simple application in real life is that when buying things, it is best to buy at a store with a fixed storefront instead of buying from a mobile vendor on the roadside, because the probability of you encountering this mobile vendor next time is almost zero.
2. Third-party endorsement
Buyers and sellers do not trust each other, but if they both know an intermediary, through the guarantee of this intermediary, buyers and sellers can overcome the information gap. Symmetrical barriers. The most commonly used methods are recommenders and letters of recommendation.
A simple application in real life is that we prefer products recommended by acquaintances.
3. Send signals by increasing additional costs
Whenever a higher added value is added to a product, the cost will also increase, so only the quality will be higher. Only products are worthy of this higher added value.
So conversely, people will judge the quality of a product based on the added value configured in it.
For example, I often share a Taobao shopping experience. If the zipper used on a piece of clothing is from the brand "YKK", then the piece of clothing will not be too bad.
If there is a problem with the quality of a product, people will find it out sooner or later, and once people find out, you will incur higher additional costs and cause greater losses.
For example, if the tableware in a restaurant is very exquisite, then the chef's skills must not be too bad, otherwise these exquisite tableware will be ruined.
3. Replace quality inspection with three guarantees of quality
The implementation of three guarantees of quality, including repair, replacement and return, is a guarantee of product quality. When consumers have no confidence in your product, you let them try it and feel it. This can certainly overcome the problem of information asymmetry.
For example, Taobao’s sellers’ seven-day no-reason return policy will increase consumers’ trust.
4. Use extended warranty contracts to identify users
Extended warranty means extending the protection period. When you go to an Apple store to buy a computer, the clerk will ask you: Do you want to pay a little more for an extended warranty? Every Apple computer automatically has a shelf life of your own, and for a little extra money you can extend the one-year shelf life to three years.
The price of extended warranty is not low, so most people will not buy it. But will some people buy it? Usually they are careless or particularly picky customers.
The purpose of manufacturers providing high-priced extended warranties is to overcome information asymmetry in another direction. It is to identify careless and particularly picky customers and charge them higher fees. Because of this, they can ensure that they have to pay excessive marginal costs for product quality. Their keyboards do not need to be absolutely waterproof; their screens do not need to be hard enough to resist scratches with a knife; their machines do not need to be absolutely waterproof. The body does not need to be strong enough to withstand a drop of one meter.
5. Enjoy the contract to guarantee quality
When we are doing transactions and buying and selling, the quality of some products is relatively easy to judge and can be seen at a glance. The quality of some products is difficult to judge. No matter how many dimensions you specify in advance, it is still difficult to guarantee the quality of the product. At this time, using the exclusive contract can solve this problem very well.
6. Win people’s trust with sunk costs
Sunk costs refer to expenses incurred in the past that have nothing to do with current decisions.
Sunk costs are not costs, so there are some costs that you can't recover after you pay them. It's hard to recover after you pay them. That means you shouldn't think about it or care about it anymore. It's wise for us to continue to look forward.
If you deliberately pay some unnecessary sunk costs, since these sunk costs can no longer be recovered, you can win people's trust and make others think that you intend to continue, and you will not leave. , otherwise you wouldn’t be so stupid.
For example, if a person in love has some specific symbols or even the name of the other person tattooed on his or her body, it will not be easy to explain it to someone else in the future, so if one If you really do this to your lover, the trust between them will quickly increase a lot.
For example, banking is an industry in which it is difficult to win the trust of others, because if someone else gives you the money, it would be a big deal if the money is taken away one day, so how can the bank win the trust of others? Where are people? They usually locate their headquarters in the most prosperous areas. Their headquarters is not rented, but bought, built by themselves, or even built with stone. This can make people believe that they intend to stay here and will not move away. , do it for 50 years, do it for 100 years. This makes it easier to win people's trust.
7. Use hostages and pledges to gain trust from others
The king of a big country said to the king of a small country: "Don't worry, I won't invade you. Don't build armaments. Stop being armed." Do you believe it? Small countries don’t believe it. In order for the big country to make the small country believe it, the king of the big country marries his daughter to the small country as a hostage. At this time, the small country will be easier to believe.
An application in modern society is to share a little secret as an invisible pledge to keep each other informed, which will increase the trust between two people.
8. Drinking is also a way to gain trust
If people have neither the opportunity to repeat transactions, nor the means to find third-party certification, nor the ability to pay for silence, nor the collateral. , when there are no hostages and no secrets to share, if you want to quickly close the distance, you can only rely on self-mutilation. A lot of alcohol is a form of self-harm.