Three marketing principles that will help you persuade users to do exactly what you wanted them to.
There are a lot of theories and ideas that have been developed over the years based on the principles of persuasion and motivation to action, but there are three powerful ideas that every marketing person should be familiar with because they are the foundation of motivation to action.
Aristotle’s theory –
Aristotle, one of the foremost philosophers of antiquity and one of the fathers of rhetorical thinking, divided the principles of rhetoric intended for persuasive communication into three main elements: Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.
(Aristotle)
In order to convince the user to take a certain action, you need to make them believe you. Simple. Ethos – refers to the issue of trust. The foundation of persuasion is a trust-based relationship.
Pathos – the emotional motivation. Creating the right emotion in the user can affect the user’s decision-making mechanism and cause them to take the action you intended. Sophisticated.
Logos – the rational motivation. Using facts, data and numbers will create a sense of security in the user and convince him that you know what you are talking about. Necessary.
Be practical
Data, data and more data – your customer wants to see that it works. They may be emotionally connected to your product or service because you care about planet earth, which is great, but today – more than ever, you need to talk to users about numbers and facts. In an age when everyone has something to say, every service has hundreds of competitors and information is accessible to everyone in a click, assume that your customer is smart, compares prices, reads reviews and is interested in numbers and facts. Be smart too – provide this information yourselves, the customer will find it anyway.
How does all this apply in the digital world?
With all due respect to Aristotle (and we have lots of respect), in 2020, people are thinking less about philosophy and are more focused on conversions. So how is all of that relevant anyway? We will explain with an example. Suppose you are a company that provides mailing services, and we are a customer who wants to send a large amount of mail on a regular basis. I have a need, and you have the answer for us, but how do we know that your solution, out of all the solutions available, is the right solution for us? Well, you have to convince us, and if you’re talking persuasion, you’re talking Aristotle. Think of his three principles and you’re headed the right way!
The marketing funnel- The process of building trust
The first stage is to get the customer to trust your product, and that is something that is done slowly and gradually, or in other words – through a ‘marketing funnel’ – that takes a website user through a complete process where only at the end will the desired result be achieved. Remember that building trust is the foundation of your relationship with the customer, do not rush him to make a purchase before he is ready, and motivate him at every stage to take the right action for him.
Find the emotional connection
One of our strongest motivations as human beings is emotion, and once we know how to connect our product to the customer’s emotional consciousness, we are halfway to a sale. The whole issue of UX and microcopy corresponds exactly to this point that Aristotle, in his wisdom, understood a long time ago – emotional connection is the engine of persuasion. Talk to your customer in the right language, remember his birthday, tell him the right story, be human and give him emotional value beyond the product. This topic is one of the important issues at every stage of your customer’s life.
The bottom line
Be patient and give the customer the time they need to get to know and trust you. Enlist the customer’s emotion in your favor with a storyline for your product, mention relevant events and address your customer in the right gender, but don’t give up on proven data and facts – your customers are smart and should treat them as such.
