The Daily Stat from Harvard Business Review

 

Are you having trouble viewing this email? If so, click here to see it in a web browser.

October 28, 2014 To Make Your Claim More Believable, Simply Add a Graph When a claim about a new drug's effectiveness was presented in text form, 67% of research participants said they believed it. But when the text was accompanied by a simple graph making exactly the same claim, 97% believed it, say Aner Tal and Brian Wansink of Cornell. Graphs' persuasiveness has nothing to do with ease of understanding; instead, a graph signals to readers that the information has a scientific basis, making it more believable, the researchers say. SOURCE: Blinded with science: Trivial graphs and formulas increase ad persuasiveness and belief in product efficacy

PREVIOUS STATS Think Hard About the First People You Hire for Your Start-Up Engaging in a Vice Can Stimulate Creativity if It's Framed as a Duty Australia Tries to Keep Older Workers in the Workforce Counterfeiting as a Form of Free Advertising Hovering Over a Touch-Screen Keyboard Has Its Consequences Computer-Based Teaching Ends Up Being Costly and Risky for the Navy

BEST SELLERS HBR's 10 Must Reads: The Essentials | HBR's 10 Must Reads Boxed Set | HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations | HBR Guide to Better Business Writing | HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done

FEATURED PRODUCT Leading Digital: Turning Technology into Business Transformation HBS Press Book The authors, a trio of highly regarded thought leaders on corporate digital transformation, say changes in the digital realm so far have focused on high tech and media companies – but there’s still a whopping 94% of the business economy that needs to change. This book will show them how. Based on a study of more than 400 large, mainstream firms in every industry around the globe, the authors usefully break down how these organizations have used their own digital transformation to gain strategic, competitive advantage. Readers will learn how these digital leaders have transformed their businesses through smart and rigorous digital investments, and through smart and effective leadership of the change. "Leading Digital" offers practical, real-life tested frameworks that can be instantly applied. Case studies include Nike, Caesars, Burberry, Asian Paints, Pages Jaunes, Codelco, and more. Buy Now

FEATURED PRODUCT The Innovator's Method HBS Press Book Have you ever come up with an idea for a new product but didn’t know how to take the next step? Following the breakout success of The Innovator’s DNA—this book shows how to make those ideas actually happen and commercialize them for success. Based on their research inside corporations and successful start-ups, Furr and Dyer developed the innovator’s method, an end-to-end process for creating, refining, and bringing ideas to market. They show when and how to apply the tools of their method, how to adapt them to your business, and how to answer commonly asked questions about the method itself, including: How do we know if this idea is worth pursuing? Have we found the right solution? Whether you’re launching a start-up, leading an established one, or simply working to get a new product off the ground in an existing company, this book is for you. Buy Now

ADVERTISEMENT

HBR.ORG | THE MAGAZINE | BLOGS | BOOKS | CASES | STORE | SUBSCRIBE TO HBR UNSUBSCRIBE | NEWSLETTERS PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT Copyright © 2014 Harvard Business School Publishing, an affiliate of Harvard Business School. All rights reserved. Harvard Business Publishing 60 Harvard Way Boston, MA 02163 CUSTOMER SERVICE: 800-545-7685 (US/Canada) 1-617-783-7600 (outside the U.S. and Canada)