Chapter 8 Lecture Notes ● 1
Chapter 8 LECTURE NOTES
Persuasive Messages
CHAPTER SYNOPSIS
Chapter 8 focuses on using the indirect strategy to persuade. As students learned earlier, the
indirect strategy is appropriate in making persuasive requests when overcoming resistance may
be necessary. Reasons and explanations should precede the main idea. In this chapter students
learn writing plans for persuasive requests including asking for favors and for actions. They learn
to use the indirect strategy to persuade within organizations. Chapter 8 also explains how to write
claim (complaint) letters, an important skill for both business and personal use. The last part of
the chapter is devoted to sales messages. Sales letters use the indirect strategy in gaining
attention, building interest, reducing resistance, and motivating action. The chapter also covers
writing electronic sales messages and social media to reflect shifts in advertising and e-
marketing. An important Communication Workshop for this chapter provides advice on ensuring
that sales letters are legal.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Explain digital-age persuasion and identify time-proven persuasive techniques.
2. Craft persuasive messages that request actions.
WHAT’S NEW IN THIS CHAPTER
The authors made the following changes and improvements:
• Meaningfully reorganized and boosted the discussion of professionalism on the job and
online to communicate to students the importance of maintaining a good reputation.
• Included new relevant and authentic model documents to demonstrate to readers persuasive
e-mail marketing messages and present-day sales letters.
Chapter 8 Lecture Notes ● 2
• Inserted three new documents for revision as well as 80 percent new chapter review
questions to provide to students ample opportunity to practice important chapter concepts.
LECTURE OUTLINE
I. Understanding Persuasion in the Digital Age (p. 231)
A. How Has Persuasion Changed in the Digital Age?
• The volume and reach of persuasive messages have exploded.
• Persuasive messages spread at warp speed.
• Organizations of all stripes are in the persuasion business.
• Persuasive techniques are more subtle and misleading.
• Persuasion is more complex and impersonal.
B. How to Persuade Effectively
1. Establish credibility.
2. Make a reasonable, specific request.
Figure 8.1 Effective Persuasion Techniques
II. Planning and Writing Persuasive Requests (p. 233)
A. Writing Plan for a Persuasive Request
• Opening: Capture the reader’s attention and interest. Describe a problem, state
something unexpected, suggest reader benefits, offer praise or compliments, or ask
a stimulating question.
Chapter 8 Lecture Notes ● 3
B. Crafting an Effective Persuasive Message
• Convincing someone to change a belief or to perform an action when that person
Figure 8.2 Persuasive Request
III. Writing Effective Persuasive Claims and Complaints (p. 234)
• Strive for logical development in a claim message.
• Explain precisely what happened or why your claim is legitimate.
Figure 8.3 Persuasive Claim (Complaint) E-Mail
IV. Crafting Persuasive Messages in Digital-Age Organizations (p. 237)
• Instructions or directives from superiors to subordinates use the direct strategy with
the purpose immediately stated.
Figure 8.4 – Persuasive Message Flowing Upward
V. Creating Effective Sales Messages in Print and Online (p. 238)
• Sales messages encourage consumers to read and act on sales messages.
Figure 8.5 Persuasive Sales Techniques in the Digital Age
Figure 8.6 Channel Choice: Direct Mail and Social Media
A. Writing Plan for a Sales Message: AIDA
• Opening: Gain attention. Offer something valuable; promise a benefit to the
reader; ask a question; or provide a quotation, fact, product feature, testimonial,
startling statement, or personalized action setting.
Chapter 8 Lecture Notes ● 4
Figure 8.7 – AIDA Strategy for Sales Messages
1. Gaining Attention in Sales Messages
a. Offer: Take your old cell phone to one of our collection centers, and we’ll
recycle it and donate a portion of the proceeds to charity.
b. Promise: Preorder your Broadway Series tickets and save $200.
c. Question: Microsoft has evolved. Have you?
2. Building Interest With Rational and Emotional Appeals
• Make rational appeals: focus on making or saving money, increasing efficiency,
or making good use of resources.
Example: The Signature Air Purifier uses an electronic filter that never needs
replacing. Just rinse it off, and it’s as good as new. No costly replacement filters
means that the unit will literally pay for itself.
3. Reducing Resistance and Building Desire
• Testimonials
• Names of satisfied users (with permission, of course)
4. Motivating Action at the Conclusion of a Sales Message
• Offer a gift.
Chapter 8 Lecture Notes ● 5
• Promise an incentive.
B. Writing Successful E-Mail Sales Messages
• Craft a catchy subject line.
• Keep the main information “above the fold.”
Figure 8.9 – Wholesome2Go Engages the Audience With Social Media
C. Writing Short Persuasive Messages Online
• In persuasive tweets and posts, writers pitch offers, prompt specific responses, or
draw the attention of their audiences to interesting events and media links.
• The compact format of a tweet requires extreme conciseness and efficiency.
Figure 8.10 Analyzing Persuasive Tweets
Critical Thinking Discussion Guide
11. Recline in your first-class seat and sip a freshly stirred drink while listening to 12
channels of superb audio, or snooze is an example of what type of persuasive appeal?
How does it compare to the following: Take one of four daily direct flights to Europe on
our modern Airbus aircraft, and enjoy the most legroom of any airline. If we are ever
late, you will receive coupons for free trips. (Obj. 5)
The first promotional statement focuses on creature comforts and conjures up feelings of
12. The word persuasion turns some people off. What negative connotations can it have?
(Objs. 1, 5)
Many subconsciously equate persuasion with coercion or force. In fact, both persuasion and
coercion share the same continuum of strategies that seek compliance. When done well,
Chapter 8 Lecture Notes ● 6
13. What motivating impulse may prompt individuals to agree to requests that do not
directly benefit themselves or their organizations? (Obj. 3)
Many people and organizations agree to requests to donate money, time, equipment, and
14. How are direct-mail and e-mail sales messages similar, and how are they different?
(Obj. 5)
Direct-mail and e-mail sales messages are similar in that both use persuasion to attempt to
influence beliefs or motivate action. Many of the techniques of the indirect strategy work for
15. Two students at Cambridge University in England raised more than $40,000 toward
their university tuition by wearing business logos painted on their faces for a day.
Dunlop, however, went to the extreme by offering a set of free tires to those who would
have the company’s flying-D logo permanently tattooed somewhere on their bodies.
Ninety-eight people complied. Is it ethical for advertisers to resort to such promotions
dubbed “skinvertising”? Do you think it’s even effective? Would you participate?
(Objs. 1, 5)
Most Americans would probably recoil from such extreme marketing, as practiced by
Dunlop and others, for reasons of esthetics as well as ethics. People who acceded to
permanent tattoos cited the dire need for money. A Utah mother sold ad space on her
Chapter 8 Lecture Notes ● 7
Activities and Cases
Note: The solutions to the activities and cases for this chapter are located in the Solutions to
Activities section of the Instructor’s Manual.
Communication Workshop (p. 176)
What’s Legal and What’s Not in Sales Messages and Online Reviews
Career Application: Students are asked to collect three sales letters or advertisements and
answer the following questions:
• What are some examples of puffery that you can identify?
• What claims are made in the letters or advertisements? Are the claims substantiated by
reliable scientific evidence? What proof is offered?
Workplace in Focus
Page 232
With expert skill, the student at Our World Neighborhood Charter School started his writing
process by selecting the indirect approach—a writing method that offers reasons and
explanations prior to making a request. Next, in drafting the letter, the boy opened with an
attention-grabbing statement: “A lot of people in our class like Pokémon…I think we can use it
Chapter 8 Lecture Notes ● 8
It is also important to note that the young student used reasoning that would appeal to the
teacher’s self-interest. He argued that Pokémon could help the teacher accomplish her teaching
objectives with a game that students enjoy—a savvy way to emphasize reader benefits.
Page 238
The printed cards and token rings that Taco Bell sent to famous models made for a clever direct
mail piece. Direct mail is a great channel for personalized, tangible messages that are less
invasive than telephone solicitations and less reviled than unsolicited e-mail. Although not as
flashy as social media campaigns, direct mail still works as long as it is personalized and
relevant.
Chapter 8 Lecture Notes ● 9
Additional Writing Improvement Exercises
Strategies
Your Task. For each of the following situations, check the appropriate writing strategy.
Direct Indirect
Strategy Strategy
________ ________ 1. A request from a sales representative to confirm an appointment
for a product presentation
_________ _________ 5. A request for information about new features of a cloud storage
system for your office
_________ _________ 6. A letter to a drug store requesting permission to display posters
advertising a college fund-raising car wash
_________ _________ 7. A request for a refund of the cost of a computer program that does
not perform the functions it was advertised to perform
Chapter 8 Lecture Notes ● 10
Chapter 8 Additional Writing Improvement Exercise – Key
1. Direct 6. Indirect