Guffey and Loewy EBC 12e PPT Ch8 Final

Chapter 8
Persuasive Messages
Guffey and Loewy, Essentials of Business Communication, 12th Edition. © 2023 Cengage. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or
posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part. 1
Icebreaker: Practicing Persuasion
1. On a piece of paper, create a list of products you’ve purchased and/or

restaurants in the last year.
2. Put a star by your favorite product or restaurant.
3. Take a second to consider the demographics of your class (age, gender, race,
class, etc.).
4. Similar to a Tweet, use 140-280 characters to persuade your classmates to
purchase the product or restaurant you chose in step 2.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

8-1 Identify digital age persuasion as well as time-proven persuasive
techniques.
8-2 Craft persuasive messages that request actions.
8-3 Write compelling claims and successful complaints.
8-4 Compose persuasive messages within organizations demonstrating your
knowledge of interpersonal persuasion at work.
8-5 Create effective and ethical direct-mail and e-mail sales messages.
8-1
Understanding Persuasion in the Contemporary
Workplace
8-1 Understanding Persuasion in the Contemporary
Workplace (1 of 6)
• Social media users have the tendency to congregate with like-minded people
online and, as a result, may be susceptible to confirmation bias typical of echo
chambers or opinion bubbles.
• Richard M. Perloff defines persuasion as “a symbolic process in which
communicators try to convince other people to change their attitudes or
behaviors regarding an issue through the transmission of a message in an
atmosphere of free choice.”
Workplace (2 of 6)
• Perloff’s definition of persuasion has five components:

1. Persuasion Is a Symbolic Process.
2. Persuasion Involves an Attempt to Influence.
3. Persuasion Is Self-Persuasion.
4. Persuasion Involves Transmitting a Message.
5. Persuasion Requires Free Choice.
Workplace (3 of 6)
• Most people respond to pressure with what psychologists call reactance, a

defensive strategy of resistance that humans adopt when feeling cornered,
robbed of their autonomy, or restricted in their options by others.
• Robert B. Cialdini outlined six psychological triggers that aid persuasion:
1. Reciprocation. If someone does us a favor, most of us feel obligated to
return the favor.
2. Commitment. We believe in the correctness of a difficult choice once we
make it. We want to keep our thoughts and beliefs consistent with what we
have already decided.
Workplace (4 of 6)
3. Social Proof. To determine correct behavior, we try to find out what other
people think is correct. We see an action as more acceptable when others
are doing it.
4. Liking. We are more likely to accept requests of people we know and like
or those who say they like us.
5. Authority. People exuding authority, even con artists, can trigger our
mechanical, blind compliance.
6. Scarcity. We tend to regard opportunities as more valuable when their
availability is restricted.
Workplace (5 of 6)
• Effective Persuasion Techniques:

− Establish credibility.
 Show that you are truthful, experienced, and knowledgeable.
 Use others’ expert opinions and research to support your position.
− Make a reasonable, specific request.
 Make your request realistic, doable, and attainable.
 Be clear about your objective. Vague requests are less effective.
− Tie facts to benefits.
 Line up plausible support such as statistics, reasons, and analogies.
 Convert the supporting facts into specific audience benefits.
Workplace (6 of 6)
• Effective Persuasion Techniques:

− Recognize the power of loss.
 Show what others stand to lose if they don’t agree.
 Know that people dread losing something they already possess.
− Expect and overcome resistance.
 Anticipate opposition from conflicting beliefs, values, and attitudes.
 Be prepared to counter with well-reasoned arguments and facts.
− Share solutions and compromise.
 Be flexible and aim for a solution that is acceptable to all parties.
 Listen to people and incorporate their input to create buy-in.
Group Activity
1. Similar to a Tweet, use 140-280 characters to create a persuasive message,

encouraging your classmates to purchase a product or visit a local restaurant.
2. Form a team with two or three other students.
3. One at a time, share the messages you created in step 1.
4. As a team, evaluate each tweet in turn.
• Which persuasive techniques does the writer employ?
• What are the strengths of the tweet?
• What are the weaknesses?
Group Activity Debrief
1. What did you learn from evaluating your own writing?

2. What did you learn from evaluating the writing of your teammates?
3. Be prepared to share your answers with the class.
8-2
Planning and Writing Persuasive Requests
8-2 Planning and Writing Persuasive Requests (1 of 3)
• Persuasive requests are generally more effective when they are indirect.
• The following Writing Plan provides an effective outline for persuasive requests:
− Opening. Capture the reader’s attention and interest.
 Describe a problem.
 Make an unexpected statement.
 Suggest reader benefits.
 Offer praise or compliments.
 Ask a stimulating question.
− Body. Build interest.

 Explain logically and concisely the purpose of the request. Prove its
merit.
 Use facts, statistics, expert opinion, examples, and specific details.
 Focus on the reader’s direct and indirect benefits.
 Reduce resistance.
 Elicit a desire to comply.
 Anticipate objections, offer counterarguments, establish credibility,
demonstrate competence, and show the value of your proposal.
− Closing. Motivate action.

 Ask for a particular action.
 Make the action easy to take.
 Show courtesy, respect, and gratitude.
• A written request may require more preparation than a face-to-face request, but
it can be more effective.
Knowledge Check 1
Multiple Choice:
1. All of the following are effective ways to 2. All of the following are effective ways to
open a persuasive request and capture close a persuasive request and
the reader’s attention EXCEPT: motivate action EXCEPT:
A. Describe a problem. A. Ask for a particular action.
B. Reduce resistance. B. Make the action easy to take.
C. Offer praise or compliments. C. Show courtesy, respect, and
gratitude.
D. Ask a stimulating question.
D. Use facts, statistics, expert opinion,
examples, and specific details.
8-3
Writing Effective Persuasive Claims and
Complaints
8-3 Writing Effective Persuasive Claims and
Complaints (1 of 3)
• Complaints deliver bad news.

• Persuasive claim and complaint messages may involve damaged products,
mistaken billing, inaccurate shipments, warranty problems, limited return
policies, insurance snafus, faulty merchandise, and so on.
• The direct strategy is best for requesting straightforward adjustments. When you
can assume that your request is justified and will be granted, use the direct
strategy.
• If a past request has been refused or ignored, or if you anticipate reluctance,
then the indirect strategy is appropriate.
Complaints (2 of 3)
• An effective claim message makes a reasonable and valid request, presents a
logical case with clear facts, and has a moderate tone.
− Developing a Logical Claim Message.
 Open with sincere praise, an objective statement of the problem, a point of
agreement, or a quick review of what you have done to resolve the
problem.
 Explain precisely what happened or why your claim is legitimate.
 Enclose copies of relevant invoices, shipping orders, warranties, and
payments.
 Close with a clear statement of what you want done: a refund, replacement,
credit to your account, or other action.
Complaints (3 of 3)
• Anger and emotion are not effective persuaders.

− Using a Moderate Tone.
 Don’t suggest that the receiver intentionally deceived you or intentionally
created the problem.
 Appeal to the receiver’s sense of responsibility and pride in the
company’s good name.
 Calmly express your disappointment.
Self-Assessment
1. Divide a piece of paper into two columns.

2. Label the first column “Developing a Logical Claim Message.”
3. Under this first heading, list the steps one would take to develop an effective
claim message.
4. Label the second column “Using a Moderate Tone.”
5. Under this second heading, list some of the characteristics of a moderate
tone.
6. Be prepared to share your answers with the class.
8-4
Crafting Persuasive Messages in Digital Age
Organizations
8-4 Crafting Persuasive Messages in Digital Age
Organizations (1 of 5)
• Because technology has empowered rank-and-file employees, who can turn to

their companies’ intranets, managers no longer need to be information
providers.
• To reduce churn, or turnover, many workplaces are adopting a more open and
egalitarian organizational structure.
• This shift in authority is affecting the writing strategies and the tone of workplace
persuasive messages.
• Today’s executives increasingly bank on persuasion to achieve buy-in from
subordinates.
• Persuading Employees: Messages Flowing Downward

− Instructions or directives moving downward from supervisors to
subordinates usually require little persuasion.
− Messages such as information about procedures, equipment, or
customer service still use the direct strategy, with the purpose
immediately stated.
− Organizations may ask employees to participate in capacities
outside their work roles. In such cases, the writing plan for
persuasive requests introduced earlier provides a helpful
structure.
• Persuading Employees: Messages Flowing Downward

− Pay attention to tone.
 Use warm words and a conversational tone to convey a
caring attitude.
− Present honest, accurate evidence.
 Present a strong but honest argument, emphasizing points
that are important to the receiver or the organization.
• Persuading the Boss: Messages Flowing Upward

− Providing facts, figures, and evidence is critical when submitting a
recommendation to your boss.
− A request that emphasizes how the proposal saves money or
benefits the business is more persuasive than one that simply
announces a good deal or tells how a plan works.
• Persuading the Boss: Messages Flowing Upward

− Pay attention to tone.
 Use phrases such as "we suggest" and :we
recommend" rather than "you must" or "we should."
 Avoid sounding pushy or argumentative.
 Strive for a conversational, yet professional tone that conveys
warmth, competence, and confidence.
Knowledge Check 2
Fill in the Blank:
1. ________________ is a defensive strategy of resistance that humans adopt

when feeling cornered.
2. ________________ is unsolicited and often unwanted promotional e-mail.
3. ________________ is another word for turnover.
4. Using warm words and a conversational ________________ can convey a
caring attitude.
8-5
Creating Effective Sales Messages in Print and
Online
8-5 Creating Effective Sales Messages in
Print and Online (1 of 13)
• The best sales messages use persuasion to promote products and services.
• Sales letters and other physical mail pieces, such as postcards, flyers, self-
mailers, product samples, and brochures, are called direct mail.
• Neuroscience-based studies show that physical direct mail appears to have a
greater emotional impact than digital ad content.
• Spam is unsolicited and often unwanted promotional e-mail.
• Betting on Highly Targeted, Relevant Direct Mail

− Professionals who specialize in traditional direct-mail campaigns:
 analyze a market
 develop an effective mailing list
 study the product
 prepare a sophisticated campaign aimed at a target audience
 motivate the reader to act
• Betting on Highly Targeted, Relevant Direct Mail

− Direct mail is often derisively called junk mail.
− 79 percent of consumers act on direct mail immediately, whereas only 45
percent deal with e-mail right away.
− Today’s marketers take advantage of technology to connect digital leads and
direct-mail appeals through a process called synergy retargeting, the act of
targeting again the consumers who have previously visited a brand’s
website.
• Considering the Value of Sales Letters

− The most effective messages follow the classic indirect strategy known by
the acronym AIDA:
 Gain attention
 Build interest
 Elicit desire and reduce resistance
 Motivate action.
• The following Writing Plan provides an effective outline for sales messages:
− Opening. Gain attention.
 Offer something valuable.
 Promise a benefit to the reader.
 Ask a question.
 Start with a quotation, proverb or fact.
 Identify a product feature and its benefit.
 Open with a testimonial or startling statement.
 Provide a personalized action setting.
− Body. Build interest.

 Describe central selling points.
 Make rational appeals, selling points associated with reason and
intellect.
 Make emotional appeals, messages relating to status, ego, and sensual
feelings.
 Combine emotional and rational strategies to create a dual appeal.
 Identify features by describing what your product is or does
 Describe benefits by explaining how the audience can use your product.
− Body. Elicit desire. − Body. Reduce resistance.

 Use testimonials.  Delay mentioning price until after you
have created a desire for the product.
 Offer money-back guarantees.
 Show the price in small units, such as
 Include free samples.
the price per issue of a magazine.
 Provide performance tests
 Demonstrate how the reader saves
results.
money—for instance, by subscribing
for two or three years.
 Compare your prices with those of a
competitor.
− Closing. Motivate action.

 Offer a gift.
 Promise an incentive.
 Limit the offer.
 Set a deadline.
 Guarantee satisfaction.
• Putting Together All the Parts of a Sales Message

− Although it’s more expensive than email, direct-mail sales letter is the No. 2
preferred marketing medium because it can be
 personalized
 directed to very specific target audiences
 filled with a more complete message than other advertising media can
• Writing Successful E-Mail Sales Messages

− E-mail marketing can attract new customers, keep existing ones, encourage
future sales, cross-sell, and cut costs.
− E-marketers can create and send a promotion in half the time it takes to print
and distribute a traditional message.
− To reach today’s consumer, marketers must target their e-mails well if they
wish to even get their messages opened.
• Writing Successful E-Mail Sales Messages

− Before sending a sales message through e-mail
 Analyze the purpose by knowing what you want to achieve.
 Adapt to the audience to make your message heard.
− When adapting persuasive requests to your audience, consider these questions that
receivers will very likely be asking themselves:
 Why should I?
 What’s in it for me?
 What’s in it for you?
 Who cares?
• Selling by E-Mail
− Here are a few guidelines that will help you create effective e-mail sales
messages:
 Craft a catchy subject line.
 Place the main information within the first screen.
 Make the message short, conversational, and focused.
 Sprinkle testimonials throughout the copy.
 Provide a means for opting out.
• Writing Short Persuasive Messages Online

− Increasingly, writers are turning to social networks to promote their
businesses, further their causes, and build their online personas.
− Tweets and other online posts can be used to influence others and project a
professional, positive online presence.
− Typically, organizations and individuals with followers post updates of their
events, exploits, thoughts, and experiences.
− In persuasive tweets and posts, writers try to pitch offers, prompt specific
responses, or draw the attention of their audiences to interesting events,
sales, and media links.
Class Discussion
• Consider all that you’ve learned about AIDA.

• In writing, what are the most effective ways to
− gain attention?
− build interest?
− elicit desire and reduce resistance?
− motivate action?
Class Discussion Debrief
• As a class, review the information provided on slides 34-38

• Together, discuss the persuasive elements listed.
− Which persuasive strategies do you find most effective and why?
− Consider social demographics like age, gender, race, class, religious or
political affiliation. What is the most persuasive strategy to use for each
demographic and why?

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Chapter 8

1. On a piece of paper, create a list of products you’ve purchased and/or

By the end of this chapter you should be able to:

• Perloff’s definition of persuasion has five components:

• Most people respond to pressure with what psychologists call reactance, a

• Effective Persuasion Techniques:

• Effective Persuasion Techniques:

1. Similar to a Tweet, use 140-280 characters to create a persuasive message,

1. What did you learn from evaluating your own writing?

− Body. Build interest.

− Closing. Motivate action.

• Complaints deliver bad news.

• Anger and emotion are not effective persuaders.

1. Divide a piece of paper into two columns.

• Because technology has empowered rank-and-file employees, who can turn to

• Persuading Employees: Messages Flowing Downward

• Persuading Employees: Messages Flowing Downward

• Persuading the Boss: Messages Flowing Upward

• Persuading the Boss: Messages Flowing Upward

Fill in the Blank:

1. ________________ is a defensive strategy of resistance that humans adopt

• Betting on Highly Targeted, Relevant Direct Mail

• Betting on Highly Targeted, Relevant Direct Mail

• Considering the Value of Sales Letters

− Body. Build interest.

− Body. Elicit desire. − Body. Reduce resistance.

− Closing. Motivate action.

• Putting Together All the Parts of a Sales Message

• Writing Successful E-Mail Sales Messages

• Writing Successful E-Mail Sales Messages

• Writing Short Persuasive Messages Online

• Consider all that you’ve learned about AIDA.

• As a class, review the information provided on slides 34-38

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