The Effects of Initial Request Size on Compliance: More About the That's-Not-All Technique

Research on the that's-not-all compliance procedure finds that making a request more attractive before the recipient has an opportunity to respond increases compliance beyond that of recipients who receive only the final version of the request. However, participants in Studies 1 and 2 presented with an improved offer before responding to a request were significantly less likely to agree to the final request than those not exposed to the technique. Studies 3 and 4 demonstrated that this reversal is a function of the size of the initial request. Compared to a control group receiving only the final request, participants presented with an initial request that was substantially larger than the final request were less likely to comply, whereas participants presented with an initial request that was only slightly larger than the final request were more likely to comply. The findings suggest an important limit to the application of the that's-not-all technique.