15 Secrets of Persuasion to Help You Engage More with Your Audience
Persuasion is convincing someone to do something.
Great persuasion is convincing them it’s their idea to do it.
The human brain can be influenced through its three systems of…
- primal (survival)
- emotions (empathy)
- rationalization (logic)
When marketing is truly working, it’s appealing to all three of these systems simultaneously.
The classic recipe to do this seems almost too simple to work: First, you use images to trigger the primal brain. Second, you use empathy and a good story to engage the emotional brain. And third, you add proven justifications to support the rational brain.
If you were to stop reading here and simply remember to use all three of these ingredients in every piece of your marketing, you would likely enjoy healthy engagement with your message by your audience.
But let’s dig deeper and give you 15 tips and insights to make your marketing even more effective and persuasive:
1: Speed
Always keep in mind that internet consumers want instant gratification and quick fixes. This means they’re not prone to deep thinking or patience. 30-second preamble to your video? Remove it and jump straight into the deep end. Long sales letter? Break it up with plenty of subheadlines and make it easy on the eyes to read. Long blogpost? Break it up into sections and add images and illustrations.
2: Never be boring
Goldfish supposedly have longer attention spans than humans (less than 8 seconds). If any part of your presentation is boring, you risk losing their attention. See #1 above.
3: Get in their heads
Know exactly who your target market is and speak directly to their emotional needs and desires. What scares them, why does it scare them and how will your solution make them feel?
4: Go to them
How does your audience like to communicate? How do they like to receive their info? Where are they found online? Don’t think they will hunt for you. You’ve got to go to where they already are, and when you get there you’ve got to speak their language.
5: Dig and deliver
Discover what your clients want (not necessarily what you think they should want). Then promise them what they want and deliver it in the most efficient way possible. Think of how easy it is to purchase something on Amazon (one or two clicks) and how fast it’s delivered with zero hassle and you get the picture.
6: Give to get
Robert Cialdini teaches the first principle of persuasion as reciprocity, giving something so that the recipient feels motivated to return the favor. Those lead magnets we offer to get someone on our email list are a classic example. In fact, if you continue to give away free reports to your email subscribers, they will be more likely to open, read and act upon your emails well into the future. You are reading this, right?
7: Reciprocity II
Giving to get also takes the form of treating others as they like to be treated — so that they treat you the same way. For example, treating your customers with respect and as equals will help them to treat you the same way.
8: Commitment and consistency
When someone joins your list to learn how to lose weight, you can remind them of their commitment to weight loss. This reminds them to be consistent in their actions and follow through by using the product that will help them stay consistent with their commitment.
9: Social proof
There’s a reason so many websites use reviews from product buyers, and it’s because people want to know about the experiences of others, good and bad. Believe it or not, even bad reviews can sometimes sell a product because the very thing the bad review is decrying might be exactly what someone else is looking for. That said, you still need a majority of good reviews and positive testimonials that far outweigh the negative reviews.
10: Likeability
This one confuses people because they think they have to make EVERYONE like them in order to influence people. However, when you try to please everyone, you please no one. Instead, be yourself, and don’t be afraid to state your opinions (within reason, of course) and your point of view. This will indeed alienate some people, but it will also make your committed ‘tribe’ respect you and follow you. These people will become not only your loyal customers but also your advocates.
11: Authority
Oprah is a master at authority. If she says to buy some obscure book, that book suddenly shoots to #1 on the bestseller list. But what if you’re not Oprah? You can establish authority over time with your useful content and your vast knowledge of your niche. Or you can borrow authority by interviewing experts and also using expert reviews and testimonials on your blog, your products, and anything else you offer.
12: Scarcity
The less there is of something, the more valuable it is. Personally, I’ve probably bought more things because of scarcity than all of these other principles combined. If you’re selling digital items, then your scarcity will likely be in the form of a limited-time offer or limited copies of a very special bonus.
13: Repetition of contact
If you want to persuade in person, then the more time you spend with someone the more likely you are to influence them. Online is a little different in that you’re not with them in person. But if they see your blog posts, social media posts, guest posts, videos, and emails, pretty soon they feel they know you, like you, and can trust you. That’s why when you get someone new on your list you continue to email them regularly for essentially as long as it takes to either encourage their engagement with your message or product or get them to leave your list — either of which is a positive outcome. Remember, you’re not right for everyone, and not everyone is right for you. You are continually in search of your tribe because those are the folks who will grow to love you and engage with your program.
14: Like your customers
We spoke about getting people to like you by showing them the real you. But you’ve also got to like them. If you don’t, it will show in your emails, videos, and blogposts. Even your photo has to be friendly and likable. Have you ever instantly disliked someone online because they look smug or unfriendly in their photo? Of course. Before you write or video record anything, get in the frame of mind that you are about to have a chat with your best friend.
15: Overcome objections
Whatever it is that you’re trying to persuade them to do, there will be objections. If you don’t overcome these in your email, your sales letter, or video, you won’t make the sale or get engagement with your message. What are the reasons people don’t buy your product? If you don’t know, find out. Then be open and honest about these reasons. If you’re not sure how to do this, just remember “Feel, Felt, Found”. For example: “I understand that some people watching this video will feel this is scary. I know because I felt the exact same way. But what I found was that once I got started, it was much easier than I ever imagined.”
How to Write Killer Bullets
If you mastered only ONE element of a sales letter, and you used nothing but that one element to sell, you could still be super successful if that element happens to be bullets.
Think of the last sales or fundraising letter you read. Take away everything but the headline, the bullets, and the buy/donate now button. Odds are you would still know enough about the product AND be enticed enough to get your credit card out, too.
When done correctly, bullets are SUPER powerful at evoking curiosity, demonstrating benefits, and compelling the reader to TAKE ACTION NOW.
Even the headline itself can be considered a bullet point.
Think of bullets this way: A mini headline followed by a strong supporting sentence that teases and entices the reader.
When someone is scanning a sales or fundraising letter, what do they read?
The bullets.
What don’t they read? Everything else, unless one of those bullets is positioned as a sub-headline to draw the reader into a story.
Bullet points catch the eye and are easy to read, while paragraphs of copy are ignored while the reader searches for something easier to digest.
I simply cannot emphasize enough how important bullet points are, so let me demonstrate.
We’ll compare a paragraph of sales copy to the corresponding bullet points. First the paragraph:
“I will show you the eleven steps you need to roll out your next marketing campaign. Of course, you first need to know that you have a winning, profitable campaign. And I’ll show you how to maximize results, too, while keeping your problems to a minimum. In fact, I know a strange but effective way to find affiliates who are the perfect fit for your campaign, and how to approach those affiliates and get them on board. I’ll even show you the exact words to use when recruiting the affiliates. And here’s something else to keep in mind: The wrong guarantee can reduce sales, while the right money-back guarantee can increase sales while simultaneously reducing refunds.”
I’ve greatly reduced that last paragraph to its core message, but as you can see it’s still not all that easy to read and it certainly doesn’t catch the eye.
Compare that with these bullets that give the same information:
The moment you join and dive into the first few videos, you’ll discover this program:
- Saves you weeks of discouragement and hair-pulling frustration – Your breakthrough will happen immediately when you see the 3 simple steps to rolling out your next campaign and gliding straight through the process in just one day.
- Saves you thousands of dollars and the red-faced embarrassment of a failed campaign – You’ll know for an absolute fact that your funnel is a winner before you spend your first dime on implementation or promotion.
- Increases your profits exponentially - How to maximize your campaign to dramatically increase conversions of even the most skeptical prospects and drive JV Partners to promote your funnel like their lives depend on it.
- Brings affiliates running to you and begging you to let them promote your product – I’ll show you the exact method to find the perfect affiliates for your campaign as well as the exact words to make them drop everything else and promote your product 24/7 for an entire week or more.
- Radically reduces refunds – You’ll get the exact proven money-back guarantee that increases sales by 30% AND reduces refunds by half or more.
You have to admit it’s easier to read, isn’t it? And if someone were scanning the page, the bullet points would pop out to them and scream to be read, unlike blocks of text.
How then, do you write a good bullet point? You might start with these 5 tips:
1: Be specific
If you can add facts, studies, and figures to your bullets, they’ll come across as factual and up to the minute.
Use exact numbers, such as 4,827 instead of ‘almost 5,000’ and 50.4% instead of ‘over half’.
But one word of caution… don’t reveal your sources. For example, I found a bullet point online which reads,
“How to turn OFF your fat genes for permanent weight loss! New research from the Human Genome Project identifies 6 fat switches.”
Whoops! Care to guess what some readers will do? They’ll Google “Human Genome Project fat genes weight loss” and they’ll find this information for themselves without purchasing the product.
Instead, this bullet could be changed to…
“How to turn OFF your fat genes for permanent weight loss! Brand new research from this renowned research group identifies 6 fat switches you need to know now.
Just a note here: Using the word “this” instead of “a” makes the reader curious about not only the 6 fat switches but also the unidentified research group.
And when you’re writing bullets, curiosity is a wonderful thing.
2: Be Contrary
If everyone else is telling your prospects to exercise to lose weight, then give them a different option.
No one is going to pay attention to: “Why sit-ups are the miracle cure for belly fat here’s how to do even more of them.”
But what if instead you say…
“No more sit-ups! No more starving! If you want to finally lose that belly fat forever, then don’t do sit-ups and never, ever starve yourself. Use the method that 4 out of 5 Hollywood trainers teach the stars to get a flatter tummy in just 7 days without additional exercise and while eating your favorite foods.”
3: Be Paradoxical
Create intrigue and fascination by telling them “up is down” and “right is wrong”.
“Warning: This drug medicine prescribed to 1 out of 2 heart patients is proven to INCREASE your risk of a second heart attack!”
“Your financial advisor is WRONG: Why buying a home is NOT your best option for long-term wealth and what you should be buying instead to retire by age 50.”
4: Tell them “Why”
People want to know not only what to do, but why it’s important for them.
“Why you should ignore your marketing coach’s best advice and do the opposite to build your business 10 times faster.”
“Why your girlfriend is about to leave you, and you didn’t even see these 10 signs that she’s unhappy.”
“Why you can’t prevent that heart attack that’s coming your way unless you start doing these 3 things immediately.”
5: Create Curiosity
Any time you can show something strange, weird or offbeat that helps your prospect accomplish their goal, you’ve got their undivided attention.
“How to reduce your joint pain and start feeling better in 12 hours with a weird combination of three simple foods you probably have in your kitchen.”
“How to increase your home’s value by $5,000 using just $100 worth of materials found at your hardware store and 2 hours of your time.”
“How to train your dog to obey your every command using just a potato, a common cat toy, and a feather duster.”
6 More Bullet Point Tips
1: Just like a headline, each bullet point should express a clear benefit.
2: When possible, keep your bullet points symmetrical. Make them all one line each, or two lines. Use short headlines of 1-4 words for each one, or don’t use headlines, and so forth. This makes it easier on the eyes and easier to read.
3: Keep your bullets clean and uncluttered. Without exception they must always be easy to read, or why even bother using bullet points?
4: Each section of bullet points should have its own theme, and each bullet point should begin with the same part of speech.
In the following example, each bullet point completes the “You can…” sentence and starts with a verb:
When you own XYZ product, you can…
- Regulate your widget activity with pinpoint accuracy
- Divide your widgets by type so you never choose the wrong one again
- Enjoy your new role as widget master of the universe
- Take pride in your ability to signal passing alien spacecraft with your enhanced widget power
5: Bullets and sections of bullets don’t have to be sentences. For example:
The moment you put on your new pair of+ Wonder Shoes, you’ll be…
- A better fighter than 9 out of 10 blackbelts
- Running faster than a speeding bullet
- Looking hotter than a movie star
- Walking on water with confidence
The following example has one complete sentence followed by a single word to bring it home:
“Imagine yourself just 30 days into this program when you’re already scaling up to earn an average of $10,000 of income per month. Wow!”
6: You can make your bullet points stronger by deleting the weakest. Not every bullet point you write will be a home run. Don’t dilute your great bullets by refusing to pull the mediocre bullets. Sometimes less really is more.
Writing bullet points doesn’t come naturally for most people, but with practice, you can master bullets to double and even triple your sales.
Keep a swipe file of the best bullet points you see to give yourself inspiration the next time you write sales copy.
Try incorporating bullet points into everyday content such as blog posts, articles, and emails, too. The practice will make you better and your readers will appreciate the effort.
