Credible Communication: Make Your Message Stick

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Made to Stick" by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.

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Why is credibility important in communication? How can you build credibility?

Credible communication sticks with people. When people trust you, they believe what you have to say. The Heath brothers share ways you can build credibility to help make your message stick.

Continue reading to learn about the power of credible communication.

Credible Communication Is Sticky

The second “C” in the SUCCESs formula for creating “sticky” messages stands for “credible.” Besides being easy to grasp, your message has to be believable. People’s beliefs are shaped by social influences, such as family, friends, and faith, as well as personal experience. Countering people’s beliefs or getting them to believe a new message seems like a daunting task at first glance. Yet urban legends and false stories stick and spread easily.

The reason is that in addition to being easy to understand, they use authority to build credibility. The simplest way to exercise credible communication is to be an authoritative source or to quote one. Well-known experts such as the Surgeon General (for health messages), Alan Greenspan (economics), or Bill Nye (science) lend weight to messages in those fields. Another type of authority is the celebrity who endorses products—celebrities have credibility with people who aspire to be like them.

Here are two messages with seemingly authoritative sources but different outcomes:

In 1999, people started receiving and sharing an email message warning that bananas from Costa Rica were contaminated with a flesh-eating bacteria. The message, originating with the “Manheim Research Institute,” warned people not to buy the bananas for three weeks and, if they got a rash, to seek immediate treatment. The bacteria allegedly could consume two to three centimeters of skin per hour. The Food and Drug Administration supposedly knew about it but didn’t warn people in order to preclude mass panic. Subsequent versions of the message claimed the problem had also been verified by the Centers for Disease Control. Citing the bogus Manheim institute, FDA, and CDC helped make the message stick.
Up until the 1980s, medical authorities believed ulcers were caused by too much stomach acid from spicy foods, stress, and alcohol. There was no cure, just treatment of the painful symptoms. However, in the early 1980s, two Australian medical researchers discovered a correlation between ulcers and a specific bacteria. This meant ulcers could be quickly cured with an antibiotic. While the story would seem authoritative to a layperson, the medical establishment didn’t believe it—it went against conventional wisdom and the researchers were young and little-known—and it took years for the establishment to accept the new finding.

The examples show that the amount and type of authority required for credible communication depends on the audience. Average people believed a bogus source in the banana scare example, but doctors doubted medical colleagues whose ulcer research challenged current thinking.

Fortunately, however, the ulcer research story didn’t end there. One of the researchers, Barry Marshall, got frustrated with the disbelief and added a layer of authority to the message that was harder to dismiss.

One morning, with colleagues as witnesses, he chugged a glass of water containing about a billion ulcer-causing bacteria. When he got extremely sick a few days later, tests showed his stomach lining was inflamed, which is the early stage for developing an ulcer. Then, he cured himself with an antibiotic. His demonstration prompted other researchers to build evidence supporting his ulcer finding, although it took ten more years for the National Institutes of Health to back antibiotics as a treatment for ulcers. Finally, ten years after that, Marshall and his colleague, Robin Warren, received a Nobel Prize.

Marshall’s message finally became credible when other researchers, prompted by his vivid demonstration, added authority by confirming his findings.

External Credibility

Using experts and celebrities as authorities builds external credibility for a message. Alternatively, you can buttress your message by using someone who’s an authority by virtue of personal experience.

In the 1990s, Pam Laffin, a 29-year-old mother who suffered devastating effects from smoking, was a compelling messenger for a series of anti-smoking ads. She had started smoking at age 10 and had emphysema by 24. A lung transplant attempt failed. A series of public service ads showed spots on her lungs and surgical scars on her back and showed her struggling to breathe. She died two years later. She was able to use credible communication—sending a powerful and authoritative message—because of her direct experience.

For some messages, the trustworthiness of a source rather than their status or expertise can make them an authority worth listening to. For instance, you may not believe a commercial that extols the benefits of a shampoo, but if a friend starts raving about it, you’re likely to give it a try.