LECTURE NOTES

CHAPTER 11--WRITING PERSUASIVE MESSAGES

MOTIVATING WITH PERSUASIVE MESSAGES

• How to set the course for effective persuasion:
  • State the problem (preferably in one sentence)
  • Identify the audience
  • Determine the desired outcome
• Four strategic elements:
  • Needs and appeals
  • Emotion and logic
  • Credibility
  • Semantics
• In general, only after more basic needs have been met will an individual strive to meet higher-level needs (Maslowe's Heirarchy of Needs)
• Various audiences have different needs and therefore respond to different appeals
• People respond emotionally when their needs are not being met
• Logic provides justification for and reinforces emotional decisions
• Audiences resist those who lack credibility
• Facts that build credibility:
  • Testimonials
  • Documents
  • Guarantees
  • Statistics
  • Research results
• Qualities that enhance personal credibility:
  • Enthusiasm
  • Objectivity
  • Sincerity
  • Expertise
  • Good intentions
  • Trustworthiness
  • Similarity
• Word choice also affects the credibility of a message
• Semantics: the meaning of words and other symbols
• Abstractions (words with many connotations) permit many interpretations and often have broad appeal
• Specifics help prevent misinterpretation of abstractions

ORGANIZING PERSUASIVE MESSAGES

• Use an indirect approach for organizing persuasive messages
• One four-part plan commonly used is the AIDA plan:
  • Attention
    • Spark audience's curiosity
    • Avoid extravagant claims and irrelevancies
  • Interest
    • Relate message to audience's needs
    • Provide factual description of item or service
    • Mention benefits to audience
  • Desire
    • Provide evidence to back claims
    • Draw attention to enclosures
    • Build audience's willingness to take action
  • Action
    • State desired action
    • Summarize benefits
    • Make action easy
  • Action ending: close of persuasive message that suggests a specific step the audience may take

WRITING PERSUASIVE REQUESTS FOR ACTION

• Need for such messages:
  • Motivate inside audiences to change policies, approve investments, promote individuals, protect turf Motivate outside audiences to provide funds or perform favors
• Two-fold challenge:
  • Must motivate someone who is busy and may not receive any tangible reward
  • Must compete with many othe requests
• Key to success: highlight direct and indirect benefits
• The attention-getter reflects an understanding of the audience's interests
• The middle section establishes credibility and convinces the audience of the value of your cause
• Keep the request within bounds

WRITING SALES LETTERS

• Because sales letters are binding contracts, avoid even implying offers or promises you can't deliver
• Legal problems can result from
  • Making a false statement
  • Misrepresenting price, quality, or performance
  • Using a person's name, photo, or other identity without permission
  • Publicizing a person's private life
• Make every attempt to persuade without manipulating
• Planning involves:
  • Determining selling points and benefits
  • Defining audience
  • Planning format and approach
• Selling points: the most attractive features of a product
• Consumer benefits: particular advantages buyers will realize from those features
• Identify selling points and benefits by analyzing the product and the potential buyer
• Demographic characteristics: age, gender, occupation, income, education
• Psychographic characteristics: personality, attitude, lifestyle
• To define the audience, form a mental image of the typical buyer
• Variables to consider when planning the format and approach:
  • Number of pieces (letter, brochure, sample, response card, and so on)
  • Graphics: type style, color, special symbols, logos
  • Number of pages in sales letter
  • Overall makeup of campaign: one mailing or several, telephone or in-person follow-up
• In general, expensive items and hard-to-accept propositions call for a more elaborate campaign
• Typical attention-getters in a sales letter:
  • Piece of news
  • Appeal to audience's emotions and values
  • Statement of most attractive feature and corresponding benefit
  • Intriguing number
  • Sample of product
  • Illustration with story appeal
  • Specific trait shared by audience
  • Provocative question
  • Challenge
  • Soltion to problem
• Attention-getting format devices for sales letters:
  • Persoanlized salutations
  • Special type
  • Underlining
  • Color
  • Indentions
• Emphasizing the central selling point means focusing on the single most important feature
• Determine the central selling point by asking three questions:
  • What does competition have to offer?
  • What most distinguishes firm's product?
  • What is buyer's primary concern?
• Highlight the consumer benefits associated with the central selling point
• Mention the most important benefit several times, near the beginning and end of the letter
• Refer to other benefits throughout the body of the letter
• Choose words with strong emotional impact, such as verbs and colorful adjectives, but avoid exaggerations that destroy credibility
• The price that customers will pay is related to prices for similar products, the state of the economy, and their psychology
• Pave the way for your price by giving hints like "economical" or "luxurious" before mentioning the specific price
• If the price is low, compare features to the competitor's to show relative value; if price is a major selling point, mention it in a prominent position (first or last or highlighted graphically)
• If the price is high, stress features and benefits to justify it
• To de-emphasize price:
  • Omit reference
  • Mention in accompanying brochure
  • Mention in middle of paragraph, clsoe to end of letter, after explaining selling points
  • Break quantity price into units
  • Compare favorably to some other product or activity
• Typical methods for supporting claims about the product:
  • Samples
  • Testimonials
  • Photographs
  • Examples
  • Statistics
  • Guarantees
• Purpose of sales letter: getting someon to do something
• To motivate action, whether it is making an immediate purchase, requesting more information, or authorizing a representative to call:
  • Stress importance of acting immediately
  • Mention deadline if appropriate
  • Offer discounts, prizes, and special offers for early orders
  • Encourage use of credit cards and toll-free numbers
  • Offer free trial, unconditional guarantee, or no-strings request card
• Five traditional elements of direct-mail packages:
  • Outer envelope telegraphing message
  • Multipage sales letter
  • Brochure (usually color)
  • Order blank
  • Postage-paid return envelope
• One popular alternative to the traditional package is a self-mailer, a single piece of folded paper that can be returned to place na order; another is a simulated telegram or invitation
• Persoanlized letters are often effective but have drawbacks: overexposure and expense
• Long letters (about four pages) are typically more effective than short ones, as long as typographic devices are used to highlight the main points
• One problem with direct mail is finding people who would definitely be interested in hearing about your product; the solution is to select a mailing list that focuses on likely customers
• Three types of mailing lists:
  • House lists: names of previous customers and people who have inquired about product
  • Compiled lists: names obtained from accessible sources, such as phone book and auto registration lists
  • Mail-response lists: names compiled by other companies; often purchased through list brokers

WRITING COLLECTION MESSAGES

• Most people have good intentions about paying their bills
• Two objectives in sending collection messages
  1. To maintain goodwill
  2. To collect debt
• Three factors determine the approach used in a collection message:
  • Amount due, time elapsed, nature of agreement, creditor's attitude
  • Debtor's values, self-esteem, sense of responsibility
  • Debtor's ability to pay and to withstand pressure
• Fair Debt Collection Practices Act of 1978 outlines a number of restrictions
• A positive approach, an emphasis on the benefits of paying, is most likely to defuse the debtor's defensiveness and hostility
• Postive appeals to use in collection messages:
  • Sense of pride
  • Need to belong
  • Sense of fair play
  • Need to follow rules
  • Recognition of mutual effort
  • Need for closure
• If positive appeals fail, politely point out the consequences of failure to pay:
  • Reporting debtor to credit agency
  • Repossessing item
  • Demanding surrender of collateral
  • Turning account over to collection agency
  • Taking matter to court
• The collection series: sequence of messages that get tougher the longer the debtor fails to pay
• The typical collection series includes five messages, although the number and timing of the messages may vary depending on the company and the situation
• Steps in the collection series:
  1. Notification: form letter or card indicating amount due, due date, penalties for late payment
  2. Reminder: brief form letter or copy of notification sent a few days after due date has passed; tone reflects assumption that some minor problem has delayed payment
  3. Inquiry: personalized letter asking customer what's wrong and indicating willingnes to work out solution; avoids suggesting that customer may be dissatisfied with merchandise or service
  4. Urgent notice: personalized letter emphasizing desire to collect payment immediately; often signed by top official; may use negative appeal
  5. Ultimatum: final message, often using direct approach; negative appeal, but businesslike, impersonal tone

Last Update: 4/23/01
Web Author: Angie Chittick
Copyright ©1998 by Angie Chittick - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED