Persuasion involves the ability not just to influence people’s actions, but their attitude as well. In this post we would like to investigate what persuasion is and how we can use persuasion tactics when localising our content.
Persuasion is the act or action of convincing someone about something specific. A persuasive person is a person who masters this facet and who manages to persuade another person effectively.
Nowadays, more than even, persuading the customer is a big challenge for companies. We are bombarded by ads not only on the normal channels but also on social media. Without the ability to persuade others to support your ideas, you won’t be able to attract the support you need to turn those ideas into realities, to turn your business into a successful one.
“FOUL PLAY”
For those who think that using a persuasion strategy with clients is to foul play, let me make one thing clear. By all means, persuading is NOT manipulating. Persuasion is about the receiver of the message having a thought process about our arguments, and deciding whether they want to adopt them as their own or not. On the other hand, to manipulate is to distort the truth to serve one’s own interests (without giving any benefit to the person being manipulated). For this reason, when companies use persuasion to make their business profitable, they should do it so in a completely respectable way keeping in mind the target audience’s values.
PERSUASION: ART OR SCIENCE
Social psychology has studied persuasion from a scientific point of view and has demonstrated principles that allow us to explain, predict and control changes in people. You know that expression that says that people are puppets? Well, in front of the right people, we are. Being usually called “the art of persuasion” it can be said that it is more a science than an art, as it can be analysed from a scientific point of view.
HOW TO PERSUADE YOUR CUSTOMER?
Customer behaviour is systematic and susceptible to persuasion. In this way, we can design our strategy to achieve what target behaviour we want to provoke. Persuasion varies according to the direction of thoughts generated in response to information. For this reason, we need to be careful how we deliver that information. If we want to persuade customers, we must take care of the message.
Imagine you are running down the street and you get a sharp thing stuck through your shoe. While you’re writhing on the ground in pain, a man comes up to you and tells you that this happened because you bought poor quality shoes, but that he makes the best shoes in the world and that you should buy them right now because they’re on sale. What would you do? Would he convince you? Because I’d tell him to go to hell.
A good message should be presented in a way that takes into account the person’s needs.
Now imagine instead a man who sees you, asks you if you are alright, calls an ambulance, and stays talking to you until it arrives. He then tells you that he is a lawyer and that, if you are interested, he can help you file a claim with the local council when you are recovered. That would make a difference, wouldn’t it?
In addition to knowing the person’s needs, we must show empathy, transmit originality and exclusivity, because when someone does something different, they stand out.
On the other hand, we must highlight the benefits they will get, but basing the message on sensations and experiences, we must appeal to emotions and sensations. Therefore, in order to persuade your clients, you have to focus your message on how they will feel when they choose your proposal.
To complete the persuasion strategy, the message should explain what is your USP (UNIQUE SELLING POINT).In addition, there are words that influence our decision-making process more than others. These “persuasive” words (you, free, because, instantly, new…) make your intentions clear to the customer. And, for these words to have the desired effect, they must be adapted to the context of both the customer and your business.
Finally, it is advisable, if the moment allows it, to use descriptive and positive images. A picture is worth a thousand words, you know that, don’t you?
MOTIVATION, CAPACITY AND STIMULUS
Following a strategy based on the above advice will almost certainly lead to success. But, in addition, if we want the customer to use our services, the following variables must be taken into account:
1. Motivation: what moves customers to act in a certain way.
2. Capacity: the difference between the effort that the purchasing behaviour demands from the customer and the availability of those resources.
3. Stimulus: Only with motivation and capability there is no purchase. The right stimulus at the right time can precipitate the purchase. This is the most important and the most complex parameter.
CULTURE IN PERSUASION
The art of persuasion is strongly influenced by culture. Your foreign audience will react in a different way as pointed out in our blog post.
If we take into account the concept of cultural relativity, according to which each culture must be understood on its own terms and underlines the impossibility of establishing a single, universal point of view in the interpretation of cultures, it is impossible for a persuasion strategy to work without taking into account the client’s culture of origin.
According to the book The Culture Map, there are two different styles of reasoning, which will place countries on the Persuading scale. The first is “principles first” reasoning, which relies on general principles and deduction to draw conclusions, questioning the “why”. On the other hand, there is “applications first” reasoning, in which persuasion is driven by practice. Arguments are drawn from practice. This position will help us to establish the strategy we are going to use to persuade our clients and optimising the marketing campaigns.
For example, Anglo-Saxon countries tend to be far right on the Persuading scale (applications first). Latin American and Germanic cultures are more principles-first than the US but much less than Latin American countries. For this reason, the same persuasion strategy cannot be applied to two different cultures.
Would you like to learn more on how to create an international marketing campaign? Reach out to us today!