Editor’s note: The Center for Due Diligence 2014 conference includes a presentation by Chris Carosa – “Using Proven Psychological Techniques to Motivate Plan Sponsors Participants to Implement Your Recommendations” – scheduled for 11:45 a.m. Wednesday. Click here for the full conference schedule. 

Everybody talks about better preparing 401(k) savers for retirement, but it’s very difficult to actually accomplish the task.

It turns out, even when you drag them to the meeting room for their (usually) annual dose of “general” education, their minds drift off. Even plan sponsors suffer from this. Perhaps, rather than relying on gimmicks from the world of entertainment, maybe we’d be better off applying the tested tools of behavioral psychology.

Robert Cialdini, author of “The Psychology of Persuasion,” among other books, champions what he calls “The Six Principles of Influence.” Many of them have a direct bearing on overcoming the obstacles we face and persuading 401(k) savers and plan sponsors to act in their own best interests.

Here are all six of the principles with a brief explanation of them and how they might be relevant in the 401(k) education process.

Liking: If someone likes you, they’re more apt to do what you suggest. This is a no-brainer. Many good sales people already know how to get someone to like them. It’s all about showing you care through the intonations of your voice, your ability to get them to talk (so you can demonstrate you’re listening), and, in general, your body posture as a whole.

Scarcity: People are inclined to desire something if they think it soon won’t be available. The best application here is the calendar. Once the New Year dawns, employees will forfeit the opportunity to maximize their annual contribution and their employee match for the previous year. Let them know the clock is ticking.

Reciprocity: This is a little more difficult, since, in practice, it may violate one’s fiduciary duty. A safer application might be to use this principle between parties within the plan. For example, the plan sponsor might do the employees a favor (like increasing the match) that the employees could reciprocate by increasing their contribution (thus allowing the plan to pass its annual safe harbor HCE testing).

Social Proof: People follow other people. This is an inertia that’s tough to break once it’s started. If the plan is not taken seriously (especially by the plan sponsor), the employees will follow suit. Identify the influencers and get them to do the right thing first. Eventually, the horde will follow.

Commitment and Consistency: Here’s the best opportunity to employ one of the six principles of influence. It’s also the best counter to the lack of trust most Americans currently have of all financial professionals. Education programs need to become interactive, with participants writing down and verbalizing the relevant lessons. If they say it, if they write it down, chances are greater they’ll actually do it.

Authority: I saved the best for last. Although Cialdini names it among his six, the relevant work appears in child psychology, which has identified several types of authority and the relevant hierarchy of those types. The highest level of authority is Earned Authority. Authority is a little bit too tricky to describe in a short piece like this. If you’re really interested in discovering this particular Holy Grail (and studies emphatically show its undeniable power), then I recommend reading, “How a Fiduciary Can Successfully Motivate 401(k) Investors to Do the Right Thing.” Who knows? If you become a master at Earned Authority, maybe next year I’ll be listening to your presentation at the annual CFDD conference.