Agent Skills: Cialdini Influence Design

Cialdini Influence Design

Use $ARGUMENTS as initial context.

When to use this skill

• Persuasive emails, pitches, proposals, and campaign messaging.
• Internal influence communications requiring buy-in.
• GTM or marketing copy that needs credible proof structures.
• Situations where persuasion must remain ethical and non-manipulative.

When not to use this skill

• Do not use it to pressure people into decisions they cannot reasonably understand or reverse.
• Do not use it for factual research, market sizing, or a decision memo whose primary need is analysis rather than influence design.

Required inputs

• Objective, audience, and desired action.
• Available proof points and constraints.
• Channel, tone, and execution timeline.
• Audience vulnerability, consent, disclosure, and legal/compliance constraints.

Workflow

1. Define target behavior and decision context.
2. Identify barriers, motivators, and decision criteria.
3. Select 2-3 Cialdini principles that best match context.
4. Build traceability matrix: principle -> evidence -> claim.
5. Draft channel-specific message variants with clear CTA and transparent terms.
6. Run ethical risk check, freshness check, and claim-evidence audit.

Ask-first questions

Ask up to 3 questions before drafting:

1. What action should the audience take and by when?
2. Which proof points are verifiable today?
3. What ethical or legal boundaries cannot be crossed?

Assumption policy

• If proof is incomplete, clearly mark assumptions and confidence.
• Do not use fabricated urgency, fake social proof, or inflated authority.
• State when claim strength exceeds evidence strength.
• Record source, date, population, and limitations for every material proof point.

Output contract

Always produce these sections in order:

1. Context
2. Decision or Recommendation
3. Analysis
4. Risks
5. Next Actions
6. Assumptions

• Label material statements as Fact, Inference, Assumption, or Unknown and include confidence where relevant.
• Every action includes an owner, due date, and success signal.
• Every external claim includes a source and date; unsupported claims are not presented as proof.

Guardrails

• Every persuasive claim must map to verifiable evidence.
• Keep emotional framing proportional to factual support.
• Include at least one trust-preserving alternative for skeptical audiences.
• Reject coercive language or misleading scarcity.
• Disclose material incentives, costs, data use, limitations, and meaningful alternatives.

Handoffs

• Use research-evidence-synthesis when proof points or audience claims need to be gathered or verified first.
• Use pyramid-principle-structured-communication when the deliverable is an executive recommendation rather than a campaign or message.
• Use negotiation-voss-tactical-empathy when the audience response involves reciprocal terms, concessions, or a walk-away boundary.

Resources

• references/cialdini-principles.md - Principle selection and usage cues.
• references/ethical-guardrails.md - Non-manipulation and compliance checks.
• templates/persuasion-brief.md - Decision-ready persuasion template.
• examples/persuasion-cialdini-example.md - Golden example with proof mapping.

Keywords

persuasion, Cialdini, social proof, authority, reciprocity, scarcity, commitment, ethics