Consider this a reference of sorts. You'll find below a recap of highlights from these 7 persuasion resources. I encourage you to visit them directly as each includes examples and visuals worth experiencing.
What got me started is Nancy Harhut's wisdom in How To Create Persuasive Email Marketing With Nancy Harhut where she touched on:
And.... How To Write A Persuasive Email which touches on:
Since speaking with Nancy, I've started reading Robert Cialdini's Influence: The Science of Persuasion. That will surely get your persuasion wheels spinning.
Meanwhile, I came across these 7 resources that persuaded me to explore them in more depth.
1. The Five-Step Process for Writing Powerful Call-to-Actions By Reverse-Engineering Customer Mindsets recommends the following approach to better understand customers so you can craft better calls-to-action. The steps for uncovering compulsions in your key target audience and craft better calls-to-action from the get-go include:
2. Apply These 12 Secret Neuromarketing Tactics To Increase Conversion recommends the following:
"In short, neuromarketing is the technique of hacking into the minds of consumers to influence their purchasing decisions. The goal is to identify and capitalize on certain psychological quirks that have been shown to influence us. So, how exactly do you use neuromarketing to increase conversion?"
With these 12 tactics:
#1. Use the herd effect to increase conversion
#2. Give small gifts to compel reciprocation
#3. Find excellence by association
#4. Aim to draw on emotion
#5. Publish easy-to-understand content
#6. Ask people for help
#7. Offer fewer choices
#8. Create scarcity
#9. Choose images correctly
#10. Type with the right fonts
#11. Use the right colors
#12. Be confident
3. 8 Persuasion Techniques to Change Anyone’s Mind suggests the following approaches:
4. 6 Principles of Persuasion to Up Your Marketing Game highlights these principles and includes a powerful infographic:
5. I like this version, too, How to Use Cialdini’s 6 Principles of Persuasion to Boost Conversions.
7. 15 Psychological Triggers to Convert Leads into Customers explores these triggers, providing actionable takeaways for each one:
1. The Driving Forces of All Human Behavior
"All human behavior, at its root, is driven by the need to avoid pain and the desire to gain pleasure. Even when we do something that appears to be painful, we do it because we associate pleasure with the action..."
2. Novelty
"We as human beings love novelty... Novelty makes our brains feel like there is a possibility for reward waiting for us just around the corner. That potential for pleasure motivates us to seek it out."
(Think shiny object syndrome...)
3. Explain Why
(This goes hand-in-hand with Nancy Harhut's comment about 'because' being a compliance trigger.)
4. Tell a Story
"Human beings have been telling stories for thousands of years. It is how messages have been passed on from generation to generation...Telling stories activates parts of the brain associated with sight, sound, taste, and movement."
>> See StoryTelling The Business Way With Ron Ploof
5. Simplify Your Solution
"In his bestselling book, Thinking Fast and Slow, Nobel Prize winning psychologist, Daniel Kahneman, says “A general ‘law of least effort’ applies to cognitive as well as physical exertion. The law asserts that if there are several ways of achieving the same goal, people will eventually gravitate to the least demanding course of action. In the economy of action, effort is a cost, and the acquisition of skill is driven by the balance of benefits and costs. Laziness is built deep into our nature.”"
6. Create a Common Enemy
"Create a common enemy and ally with your prospects against it in order to get them fired up to invest in your products and services."
(See Ron Ploof interview in #4.)
7. Inspire Curiosity
"George Loewenstein, a professor at Carnegie Mellon, discovered that when there is a gap between what we know and what we want to know, we will take action to fill that gap. It is referred to as the Information Gap Theory."
8. Build Anticipation
9. Use Social Proof
10. Create References
"Dan Ariely, the bestselling author of Predictably Irrational states that “humans rarely choose things in absolute terms. We don’t have an internal value meter that tells us how much things are worth. Rather, we focus on the relative advantage of one thing over another, and estimate value accordingly.”"
11. Make Your Potential Customers Feel Significant
12. Build a Community
"Build your community by creating a compelling why that drives your business forward and enrolls people into your vision for the world. Do this and your tribe will promote your business without you even having to ask for it.""
13. What Is Hot Off the Press?
"We react to what is most prevalent in our minds."
14. Implement Scarcity
(A corollary to this is Avoiding 'Paradox of Choice' When Connecting With Customers.)
15. Build Controversy
"In his research, Jonah Berger, the ... bestselling author of Contagious, found that too much controversy turns people away, but small amounts draw people in... Mild controversy in your marketing engages your audience. It not only inspires curiosity, but it triggers anger as well."
>> See Crafting Contagious Content Marketing: Jonah Berger's ASPECTS
Ready to apply persuasion to your marketing? Here's some advice from CopyBlogger: 58 Ways to Create Persuasive Content Your Audience Will Love.