Chapter 5. Persuasion Techniques – Liking,
Consistency, Social Proof, And More.
Part of learning to be a successful copywriter is learning how to be more
persuasive. To do this, it’s necessary to dig into psychological ideas and
understand what makes people tick, and how to motivate them to take action.
Being persuasive isn’t immoral or bad – it’s part of everyday life and how we
interact with people. Becoming more persuasive in your copywriting will be
an eye-opener, a look into the world of salesmanship and, more generally,
how to be persuasive in everyday life.
The power of rhyme.
Ideas that rhyme are more persuasive. For example, it’s more persuasive to
say, “This product is made from great grapes.” Is more persuasive than “This
product is made from amazing grapes.” Of course, this doesn’t mean you
should be speaking poetically all the time. It does mean that sprinkling in
rhymes at key moments of copy can be powerful.
The power of reciprocity.
A great way to persuade people to buy from you is to be the first in providing
value. This is the principle that content marketing is based off. If you can first
solve a small problem for someone, they are more likely to come to you later
and pay you to solve a bigger problem. For example, they come to your
website to learn how they can clean their car in half the time, they then come
to your website to buy car insurance. You’ve solved a small problem, they
feel that they need to reciprocate by paying you for something, so they buy
car insurance.
The power of oddness.
Things that are bizarre and unusual are more compelling than something
bland and ordinary. For example, the tagline “Our laptops are like spaceships
for your mind,” is more memorable than, “our laptops are fast and good for
web browsing.” Again, this doesn’t mean everything needs to become
ridiculous, but as an occasional tool to grab attention and be persuasive, it
works.
The power of authority.
