Double Foot-in-the-Door Technique

Compared to the Foot-in-The-Door technique, the Double Foot-in-The-Door technique is a compliance strategy which aims to make an individual agree to a big request by first agreeing to two smaller requests of varying degrees. For instance, your goal is to borrow your friend’s car for a big date. First, borrow his pen (small request); the next day, ask if you may borrow his car for just 30 minutes for a quick errand (big request); finally, ask if you may borrow it for a night (goal).

The experiment conducted by Souchet and Girandola on Double-Foot-in-The-Door technique proved that those who complied with two preparatory tasks were more likely to accomplish the target task as compared to those who were only given one preparatory task. This implies that most people would like to establish consistency regarding their behavior by maintaining their initial response.