Apologies usually follow a notable mistake. However, recently companies have started to apologize in their persuasive communications for committing nothing but a trivial mistake. This article examines whether and why the use of trivial apologies can serve as an effective persuasion technique in direct e-mail campaigns. A field experiment reveals the beneficial impact of a trivial apology on consumers’ behavioral responses. Furthermore, results from three studies show that (1) trivial apologies have a persuasive impact on attitudes and behavioral intentions, (2) a lack of persuasion knowledge activation explains this impact, and (3) disclosing trivial apologies as a persuasion tactic can attenuate this impact. Implications for both marketers and public policy makers are discussed
