I don't have the source or exact words on hand but I read there were A/B tests done on phrasing in infomercials. The phrase "operators are standing by" fared o

I don't have the source or exact words on hand but I read there were A/B tests done on phrasing in infomercials. The phrase "operators are standing by" fared overwhelmingly worse than "if the lines are busy, keep trying" which implied that they were typically so busy with orders that they could hardly staff enough operators. [EDIT: thanks to ironkeith for the Cialdini link ... it was a book by him and it was in a section devoted to the "Social Proof" research]