# Face-to-face requests 34 times more effective than email, research finds

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/05/12/face-face-requests-34-times-effective-email-research-finds/
- Published: 2017-05-12T07:44:13+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Research conducted in the US into the power of persuasiveness in written communication
versus face-to-face methods has found that face-to-face is 34 times more effective
when making a request than email.**

 

The [study](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S002210311630292X) 
was conducted by Mahdi Roghanizad of Western University and Vanessa K. Bohns at 
the ILR School at Cornell University, and published in the volume 69 of the _Journal
of Experimental Social Psychology_. It states that despite email’s reach, asking
in person is the significantly more effective approach; with just asking six people
in person equal the power of sending an email to 200.

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In one experiment for the study, 45 people asked 10 strangers each to complete a
brief survey. All participants made the same request using the same script but half
did so via email, while the other half asked face-to-face. It found that people 
were much more likely to agree to complete a survey when they were asked in-person.

 

However, before the experiment, the study found that email participants felt just
as confident as face-to-face participants that people would respond positively to
their request, guessing that an average of 5.5 of the ten people they asked would
agree, compared to 5 for those asking in person. In fact, the face-to-face requests
were 34 times more effective than emailed ones.

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