Everything has changed and today we find ourselves in a world in which communication, to be effective, one must leave classical theories behind and must increasingly orient itself towards persuasion.
For what reason?
Today we are exposed to a high dose of information, of visual stimuli, which is why we need something effective that can differentiate the message from the mass.
A mass of discounted messages, that’s why as soon as you apply some trick of persuasion on a text within a web page, in an email or in an advertising message, the results are not slow in coming.
In marketing persuasive communication tries to motivate users, people, to perform a specific action, whether this is the purchase of a product or the completion of a form.
What #communication are you prepping? Want people to #listen #read #watch it? Replace #INFObesity with TRUE EXAMPLES of people who have “been-there, done-that.” Nothing is more #powerful #persuasive than a #RealLife #success #story https://t.co/eCltQ3Hfw8 #storytelling #stories pic.twitter.com/GF9XwlakFc
— Sam Horn (@SamHornIntrigue) June 18, 2019
Professor Robert, now considered one of the most important social psychologists, published a manual in 1989 that is still considered the “Bible” of Persuasion.
Often when we read messages or when we listen to a good salesman we do not realize the techniques that he has put in place to be able to convince us but, with this post, let’s see together what all these techniques are, both to exploit them but also to be prepared!
There are 6 levers to use if you want to build a really effective persuasive message, let’s discover them together.
The 6 rules for creating an effective persuasive text.
1. Rule of Reciprocity
We have an innate need that drives us to return a favor received. This does not mean that you have to give everything, but keep in mind that if you want to get something – be it filling out the form or buying a product – you have to try to offer something in return.
Inbound Marketing has perfectly embraced this theory and the Hubspot site confirms this given the amount of free content that users can download. You too can put this rule into practice without problems by building web pages offering coupons, free ebooks, discount codes, checklists, and datasheets.
2. Rule of Commitment and Consistency
You can put this rule into practice to get the most contact information. By creating landing pages with Hubspot we are much more fortunate to do this because the forms are smart and therefore we can increase the number of fields to be filled based on the data we already have in the contact database.
For example, if you have a form and you want to collect in one go: name, surname, email, telephone, etc., the user will have difficulty giving you all his data immediately.
The technique is therefore to create more cascading pages in which the fields gradually increase so that the user who sees the fields he has already filled in (when he is in the new form) will be much more inclined to proceed with the download.
3. Rule of Social Proof
This is one of the most used rules perhaps because it is apparently the simplest one. It is based on a very simple principle, that of imitation.
For example, if a product or room has already been chosen by many people the person will not think twice about buying it or going to that place.
TripAdvisor has based its business strategy on this and today is the site most consulted before buying a vacation at a particular hotel or before going to a restaurant for dinner.
In a website, the number of downloads of an Ebook or the number of customers who have already taken a certain action is a very high incentive.
You can also give social proof by letting yourself be found at the top of Google’s results, which are very much considered by network users.
4. Rule of Sympathy
Are you more inclined to listen to a nice person or a not so friendly person?
If the person or message you find in front of you is nice or pleasant the attention will immediately fall back on the text.
On the contrary, if the message is provocative or offensive, the reaction will be complete closure.
This rule is much simpler to understand if applied to everyday life since we like to surround ourselves with people whom we consider pleasant.
On the web, sympathy is transformed and becomes empathy, we need to make the user understand that he or she is reading the message that we understand his situation perfectly because we are on the same wave line.
5. Rule of the Authority
Distrust is part of our being, that’s why we listen or we trust mainly people we consider authoritative like professors, doctors, specialists in certain subjects, etc.
Your communication to be persuasive must respect this rule, it is fundamental, because if you are perceived as an authoritative source, you will not have problems emerging on the web among the various competitors.
How to respect this rule?
If you are new to the market and have not yet gained authority, look for someone of authority who speaks ion you, testimonials are therefore very useful for solving this problem.
6. Rule of Scarcity
The last rule is linked to the principle of scarcity, among all of them it is perhaps the most used because it is really very powerful.
If we need to buy a certain product, the fact that tomorrow it will no longer be available will prompt us to make the purchase as soon as possible. You can take advantage of this rule by applying it in 3 different forms:
· Product shortage: when only a few items are available (Booking.com is unbeatable in this)
· Shortage of time: there is little time to make the purchase at a great price
· Access Shortage: the discount or product is reserved for registered users only
These are the rules for building effective content, which leads the user to take a specific action.
Don’t stop here, in our free EBook I’ll explain how to structure the whole online marketing strategy to get new visits and convert them into contacts thanks to Inbound Marketing.
Angela Martin is a senior Digital Marketing Professional and a writer at a leading corporate video production services provider in Dubai. She is a self-made lady, who has a Master degree in Business Administration. She is independent, ambitious, bold, and liberal. She is a hardworking young girl who is generous with her job and has good command over Digital Marketing.
