1. persuasive messages
Chapter 8: An Overview

2. Persuasion is the attempt to change an audience’s attitudes, beliefs, or actions.
When you are convincing your boss to open a new office or encouraging potential customers to try your products, you’ll use many of the some techniques of persuasion.

3. The ability to persuade is a key factor in the success you achieve in your business messages, in your career, and in your interpersonal relations.
Persuasion is necessary when resistance is anticipated.
The writer lays a logical foundation before the request is delivered.

4. Persuasion is not about trickery or getting people to act against their own best interest.
It’s about letting audiences know they have choices and presenting your offering in the best possible light.
Persuasive messages are more challenging to write.

5. You will usually choose the indirect approach in order to establish awareness and interest before asking the audience to take action.
Persuade with logic, evidence, and compelling narratives, rather than trying to press with high-pressure, “hard-sell” tactics.

6. Frame the Argument Attention Interest Desire Action
Many persuasive messages follow some variation of the indirect approach. One of the most commonly used variations is called the AIDA model, which organizes your presentation into four phases:
Attention. Your first objective is to encourage your audience to want to hear about your problem, idea, or new product—whatever your main idea is. Be sure to find some common ground on which to build your case.
Interest. Provide additional details that prompt audience members to imagine how the solution might benefit them.
Desire. Help audience members embrace your idea by explaining how the change will benefit them and answering potential objections.
Action. Suggest the specific action you want your audience to take. Include a deadline, when applicable.
The AIDA model is tailor-made for using the indirect approach, allowing you to save your main idea for the action phase. However, it can also work with the direct approach, in which case you use your main idea as an attention-getter, build interest with your argument, create desire with your evidence, and emphasize your main idea in the action phase with the specific action you want your audience to take.
While the AIDA model does have limitations, it is still a valuable tool for the right purposes. As you’ll read later in the chapter, however, a more conversational approach is better suited for today’s social media.

7. One vital method for framing your arguments is the AIDA model—Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.
Persuasive business messages combine emotional appeals and logical appeals.
To reinforce your position, add convincing evidence, quotations from experts, or other support material.

8. The most common types of persuasive messages are:
i. Requests for action– you ask recipients to make a decision or engage in some activity
ii. Presentations of ideas– you want the audience to consider a different way of looking at a particular topic
iii. Claims and requests for adjustments– you want the recipient to give your case fresh consideration.

9. Requesting Favors and Actions
When is persuasion necessary?
Requests for time, money, information, special privileges, and cooperation require persuasion.
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10. Persuasive Invitation: “Before Revision”
Dear Dr. Thomas:
Because you’re a local Atlanta author, we thought it might not be too much trouble for you to speak at our GSU Management Society banquet May 5.
Some of us business students here at Georgia State University admired your book Beyond Race and Gender, which appeared last spring and became such a hit across the nation. One of our professors said you were now the nation’s diversity management guru. What exactly did you mean when you said that America is no longer a melting pot of ethnic groups–it’s an “American mulligan stew”?

11. Persuasive Invitation: “Before” Version
Because we have no funds for honoraria, we have to rely on local speakers. The Reverend James R. Jones and Vice Mayor Rebecca A. Timmons were speakers in the past. Our banquets usually begin at 6:30 with a social hour, followed by dinner at 7:30 and the speaker from 8:30 until 9 or 9:15. We can arrange transportation for you and your guest, if you need it.
We realize that you must be very busy, but we hope you’ll agree. Please let our advisor, Professor Alexa North, have the favor of an early response.
Sincerely yours,

12. Persuasive Invitation: “After Revision”
Dear Dr. Thomas:
Your book Beyond Race and Gender stimulated provocative discussion across the nation and on our campus when it appeared last spring.
Business students at Georgia State University now consider you the nation’s diversity management guru, and for that reason they asked me to use all my powers of persuasion in this invitation. Because we admire your work, we’d like you to be our keynote speaker at the GSU Management Society banquet May 5.
As students at an urban campus in a metropolitan area, we’re keenly aware of diversity issues. In your words, America is no longer a melting

13. pot of ethnic groups; it is now an “American mulligan stew
pot of ethnic groups; it is now an “American mulligan stew.” We’d like to hear more about the future workforce and how managers can maximize the contribution of all employees.
Although we can’t offer you an honorarium, we can promise you a fine dinner at the GSU Faculty Club and an eager and appreciative audience of over 100 business students and faculty. Speakers in the past have included the Reverend James R. Jones and Vice Mayor Rebecca A. Timmons.
The evening includes a social hour at 6:30, dinner at 7:30, and your remarks from 8:30 until 9 or 9:15. So that you won’t have to worry

14. about transportation or parking, we will arrange a limousine for you and your guest.
Please make this our most memorable banquet yet. Just call our adviser, Professor Alexa North, at before April 1 to accept this invitation.
Sincerely yours,

15. AIDA Writing Plan for a Sales Letter
Opening
Body
Closing
Capture the ATTENTION of the reader.
Offer something valuable, promise a benefit, ask a question, provide a quotation, and so forth.

16. Gaining Attention Offer
Take your old cell phones to one of our collection centers, and we'll recycle it and donate a portion of the proceeds to charity.
Benefit
You'll help our environment and help your neighbors in the process.

17. Gaining Attention Question Microsoft has evolved. Have you?
Quotation or proverb
Opportunity seldom knocks twice.
Related fact
A virus is a computer program written to perform malicious tasks.

18. Gaining Attention Testimonial
"I never stopped eating, yet I lost 107 pounds."—Tina Rivers, Greenwood, South Carolina
Startling Statement
Drunk drivers injure or cripple more than 500,000 victims every year.

19. AIDA Writing Plan for a Sales Letter
Opening
Body
Closing
Build INTEREST.
Emphasize a central selling point. Make rational and emotional appeals.
Build INTEREST.
Emphasize a central selling point. Make rational and emotional appeals.
To learn more, click icon:

20. AIDA Writing Plan for a Sales Letter
Opening
Body
Closing
Elicit DESIRE.
To reduce resistance, use testimonials, money-back guarantees, free samples, performance tests, or other techniques.
Elicit DESIRE.
To reduce resistance, use testimonials, money-back guarantees, free samples, performance tests, or other techniques.
To learn more, click icon:

21. AIDA Writing Plan for a Sales Letter
Opening
Body
Closing
Motivate ACTION.
Offer a gift, promise an incentive, limit the offer, set a deadline, or guarantee satisfaction. Include a P.S. with a special inducement.

22. Hook a reader’s attention.
Offer: A free trip to Dubai is just the beginning!
Pertinent Question: Did you sleep well at night? Are you satisfied with the amount of money you save?
Fact: The Greenland Eskimos ate more fat than anyone in the world. And yet … they had virtually no heart disease.

23. Hook a reader’s attention.
Quotation or Proverb: Proverbs go directly to the heart:
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Time and tide wait for no man.
Make hay while the sun shines.
Startling or Impressive Statement:
Let the poor and hungry feed themselves!
Some say good, some say not good but good is always good.

24. Hook a reader’s attention.
Courteous Command:
Do not burn yourself in the office when you can enjoy the cool comforts of air-conditioning.
Have an Aladdin’s lamp in your house!

25. Hook a reader’s attention.
We can reach the minds of the people by the appeal to emotions and the appeal to reason.
Many clever sales messages combine both.
Desire can be created by the following way:
By stressing the need of the commodity or service
By showing how it can satisfy the need

26. Hook a reader’s attention.
Rational appeals are appropriate when a product is expensive, long-lasting, or important to health, security, and financial success.
Emotional appeals relate to status, ego, and sensual feelings. Appealing to the emotions is sometimes effective when a product is inexpensive, short-lived, or nonessential.

27. Hook a reader’s attention.
Rational Appeal:
“You can buy the things you need and want, pay household bills, pay off higher-cost loans and credit cards--- as soon as you’re approved and your Credit-Line account is opened.”

28. Writing Plan for a Persuasive Request
Opening
Body
Closing
Motivate action.
Ask for a particular action.
Make it easy to respond.
Show courtesy, respect, and gratitude.

29. Hook a reader’s attention.
Testimonials:
“I learned so much in your language courses that I began to dream in French.” Holy Franker, Beaumont, Texas
“The Journal surprises, amuses, investigates, and most of all educates.”
The New Republic commenting on the Wall Street Journal

30. Hook a reader’s attention.
Money-back guarantee or warranty:
“We offer the longest warranties in the business-all parts and service on-site for two years.”
Free trial or sample:
“We’re confident that you’ll like our new accounting programs that we want you to try it absolutely free.”

31. Hook a reader’s attention.
When price is an obstacle, consider these suggestions:
Delay mentioning price until after you’ve created a desire for the product.
Show the price in small units, such as the price per issue of a mag.
Demonstrate how the reader saves money, for instance, by subscribing for two or three years.
Compare your price with those of a competitor.

32. Hook a reader’s attention.
Motivating Action:
All the effort put into a sales message is wasted if the reader fails to act.
Make it easy for readers to act:
Provide a postage-paid reply card, a stamped and preaddressed envelope, a toll-free telephone number, an easy website, or a promise of a follow-up call.

33. Hook a reader’s attention.
Because readers often need an extra push, consider the following additional motivators
Offer a gift: You’ll receive a free i-phone with the purchase of any new car.
Promise an incentive: With every new paid subscription, we’ll plant a tree.
Limit the offer: Only the first 100 customers receive free checks.

34. Hook a reader’s attention.
Guarantee satisfaction:
“We’ll return your full payment if you’re not entirely satisfied----no questions asked.”
Stress the action: “Fill in the form or visit the shop.”
Most sales letters also include postscripts because they make irresistible reading.

35. Hook a reader’s attention.
Even readers who might skim over bypass paragraphs are drawn to a P.S. So, use a postscript to reveal your strongest motivator.
To conclude, facts and figures alone will never convince anyone.
If you can’t connect your facts to the dreams of the client, all the statistics and charts in the world won’t make any impression.

36. Examine This Effective Claim Request
Open letter
by clicking
icon at right.

37. Ineffective Complaint Letter
Open letter
by clicking
icon at left

38. Improved Complaint Letter
Open revised letter by clicking
icon at left.

39. Examine This Effective Sales Letter
Open letter
by clicking
icon at right.

40. Mary Ellen Guffey, Business Communication: Process and Product, 5e
Building Interest
Direct Benefit: If you accept our invitation to speak, you will have an audience of 50 potential customers for your products.
Indirect Benefit: Your appearance would prove your professionalism and make us grateful for your willingness to give something back to our field.

41. Mary Ellen Guffey, Business Communication: Process and Product, 5e
Reducing Resistance
Example: Although your gift to the Neonatal Center is not tax deductible, it would help us purchase an Intensive Care Ventilator that would be put to use immediately in caring for critically ill and premature newborn infants.

42. Motivating Action Ask for specific action confidently.
Mary Ellen Guffey, Business Communication: Process and Product, 5e
Motivating Action
Ask for specific action confidently.
Include an end date, if appropriate.
Repeat a key benefit.
Example: Please respond by May 1 so that we may add your photograph to our announcement.

43. Mary Ellen Guffey, Business Communication: Process and Product, 5e
Gaining Attention
Describe a problem.
Six of our computers were recently infected with the “Hacker” virus, and we lost at least 25 work hours trying to repair the problem.
Present an unexpected statement.
If you checked carefully, you’d probably find that 20 percent of your customers account for 80 percent of your profits.

44. Mary Ellen Guffey, Business Communication: Process and Product, 5e
Building Interest
Example: Our computer-based training program teaches your employees what behavior is acceptable and unacceptable, while showing you steps that can be taken to reduce the risk of employer liability.

45. Mary Ellen Guffey, Business Communication: Process and Product, 5e
Building Interest
Suggest reader benefits.
Now you can immediately protect all your computers from the latest viruses with our online anti-virus program.
Pay a compliment.
Because no one generates as much audience enthusiasm as you do in your presentations, we are asking you to speak

46. Mary Ellen Guffey, Business Communication: Process and Product, 5e
Building Interest
Supply facts and figures.
Currently 30,000 known computer viruses are in existence, and the number increases by 300 to 400 each month.
Give examples.
One company lost valuable data and had no recent backup disks to replace infected files.

47. Mary Ellen Guffey, Business Communication: Process and Product, 5e
Building Interest
Cite expert opinion.
“Hostile code can hit without warning,” says virus specialist Dr. Tony Timm, “so companies must have a virus antidote or they risk all their operations.”
Provide specific details.
In a test comparing six of the leading anti-virus programs, our program was flawless in virus detection, easy to use, and low in ownership cost.

48. Mary Ellen Guffey, Business Communication: Process and Product, 5e
Building Interest
Mention direct benefits.
Our anti-virus program can protect you from subtle corruptions of data that may go unnoticed for months.
Mention indirect benefits.
Your company continues to be a pacesetter in the health care industry by setting an example for other organizations who are bewildered by the growing number of viruses.

49. Mary Ellen Guffey, Business Communication: Process and Product, 5e
Motivating Action
Example: Sign up now and you receive a free 60-day trial. Call, fax, or us today to receive a free demo disk. You can’t lose!

50. Increasing Desire Stress Benefits Focus on Audience Support Claims
To build desire for a product, a service, or an idea, continue to expand on it, and explain how accepting it will benefit the recipient. Think carefully about the sequence of support points and use plenty of subheadings, hyperlinks, and other devices to help people quickly find the information they need. 
Throughout the body of your message, remember to keep the focus on the audience, not on your company or your product. When you talk about product features, stress the benefits and talk in terms that make sense to users.
To increase desire and boost your credibility, provide support for your claims. There are many ways to provide support, including testimonials from satisfied users, articles written by industry experts, competitive comparisons, product samples and free demonstrations, independent test results, and movies or computer animations that show a product in action.

51. Motivating Action Motivate Action Reinforce Benefits Keep It Simple
The final step in the AIDA model is persuading the audience to take action. Whether you want people to pick up the phone to place an order or visit your website to download a free demo version of your software, try to persuade them to do it right away. You might offer a discount, put a deadline on the offer, or remind them that the sooner they order, the sooner they’ll be able to enjoy the product’s benefits. Also, make the task of responding as simple as possible.

52. 1. The shipment has finally arrived
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This advanced technology has been widely publicized and we have been bombarded with inquiries. "When can we get them?" "Our customers are waiting for them."
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The enclosed literature describes all the features.
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Hurry and place your order today. We guarantee a 48-hour turnaround. You don't want to leave your customers out in the cold.

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