example of persuasive essay about selling a product

Example of a Persuasive Letter to Sell Something

• Small Business
• Setting Up a New Business
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How to Write High-response Sales Letters

How to draft sales promotion letters, how to expand customer base.

• How to Write a Sales Marketing Script
• How to Write an Effective Business Proposal/Letter

Many of the letters you write in business are designed to influence the ideas or behaviors of others. Persuasive letters to sell something should have a unique formula, immediately grabbing a reader’s attention, creating interest and offering information on how to obtain what you're offering. Focus on your key sales message rather than overusing information. Write with a friendly, informed tone that avoids jargon and overbearing language.

Header to Attract the Eye

A well-written sales letter has no effect if it doesn't reach the right people. Find out the names and titles of those in charge of purchasing decisions. Though the Internet is a good resource for your research, call the company or residence to confirm spelling and other contacts. If your letter isn't addressed to a specific person or if a person’s gender is unclear, address it generically.

For example: “Purchasing Director Edwards” or “The Homeowner at 526 Jefferson Lane” might work without gender-specific information. If you're using mail-merge technology, check all salutation information as technical mishaps can happen in that area.

Appealing Introduction

The introduction is your first real opportunity to draw in the reader. Attention-grabbing techniques include asking a question, offering a powerful statistic or sharing a brief anecdote.

For instance: “Did you know that most of today's businesses could not operate without computer virus protection software? While most companies focus on purchasing technology systems or operating software, without antivirus protection all of their activities are at risk of a malicious attack 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Fortunately, there are many security options in the software market. That’s where we come in.”

Succinct and Useful Body

Increase the reader’s interest in what you're selling in the body of your persuasive letter. Briefly introduce your business, provide details about your service or product and explain why your offer is a good potential fit for the reader’s needs. Use clear, powerful language that avoids jargon at all costs.

As an example: “The Synch Group is dedicated to providing first-rate computer protection options to companies and residences throughout the West Houston area. We specialize in software that's tailored to meet your needs. You may choose from a range of options including standard antivirus protection, Internet security, VPN privacy protection and mobile security. We are confident that we can meet your unique needs and we've enclosed a coupon for 15% off your initial purchase.”

Closing and Call to Action

Encourage the reader to take immediate action at the conclusion of your letter, but keep it to just one ultimate message, says Hubspot . Include information on how you'll make it easy to take next steps. For instance: “The Synch Group also offers free one-on-one consultations. We look forward to discussing specific ways our company can support your business. Please use the enclosed contact information to schedule a session at our service center.” After you sign off, you may add a PS line to repeat your main point or to make a special offer or guarantee. For example: “PS: Bring this letter to your consultation we will add a 5% discount to your coupon.”

Keep in mind that sales is often a numbers game. Though you will want to be targeted with your approach, Rocket Print & Mail advises that you do not get discouraged and be consistent with your mailings. They also offer some persuasive selling examples, including persuasive letters to customers to buy a product, if you would like to check out further reading.

• Rocket Print & Mail: 7 of the Best Direct Mail Sales Letters of All Time for Inspiration
• Hubspot: How Hubspot's Sales Team Writes Sales Letters
• WriteExpress: Free Sample Sales Letters

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19 Persuasive Marketing Techniques For Product Descriptions That Sell

Darren DeMatas

November 30, 2023

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In addition to receiving commissions generated through affiliate marketing, we are able to fund our independent research and reviews at no extra cost to our readers. Learn more.

People don’t read online; unless they’re about to spend money—then they scrutinize each word.

Design, SEO , and advertising  can only get you so far. If you want to accelerate sales online, you need persuasive copy. According to Harvard Business professor Gerald Zaltman,  95% of our purchase decision  occurs in the subconscious mind. Most marketers ignore how our brains work and fight against human psychology.

With a few persuasive writing techniques, you’ll be able to write compelling copy quickly and sell more products.

“The principles of psychology are fixed and enduring. You will never need to unlearn what you learn about them.” Claude C. Hopkins

This is a mammoth post, so I added links to sections for you TL;DRs out there.

• Use Repetition To Make Your Claims Believable
• Use Maslow To Match Search Intent
• Turn Shoppers Into Buyers With Benefit-Focused Copy
• Use Forum Research To Get Inside Your Buyers’ Mind
• Use Sensory Words To Connect With Your Buyer’s Subconscious
• Use Scarcity To Boost Sales
• Use Micro Commitments To Turn New Customers Into Big Spenders
• Use The Blemishing Effect To Increase Trust
• Amplify Your Top Pages With Power Words
• Improve Ad Performance by “Borrowing” from Tested Copy
• The Disrupt and Reframe Technique (DTR)
• Use Buyers’ Words to Build Brand Preference
• Use the Endowed Progress Effect To Build Customer Loyalty
• Sway Buyers On The Fence With A Rhyming Sequence
• Be Ultra Specific
• Use Social Influence To Lift Conversions
• Use Mini Stories to Fascinate Readers
• Improve Message Recall with The Serial Position Technique
• Use The Priming Technique to Make Your Marketing Their Idea

1. Use Repetition To Make Your Claims Believable

Repetition is one of the easiest persuasive writing techniques. The more someone hears your message, the more believable it is.  This psychological concept is known as the ‘ illusion of truth ‘.

This technique is most effective when people are least attentive. Since the  average online attention span is 8 seconds  –  you better be repeating your benefits throughout your product page.

Step 1: Determine The Biggest Benefit Of Your Product

Hopefully, you’ll take me up on Tip 3 and create a feature/benefit list for your product. If not, don’t overthink it.  Go for the most obvious benefit.

The most obvious benefit for a jacket is weather resistance.

Step 2: Repeat The Biggest Benefit 3-5 Times

Most people will scan first before reading. So make sure you include your #1 benefit throughout your page layout. Include it in your headline, intro, subheads, bullet points and conclusion.

Take a look at this Calvin Klein jacket. Macy’s wants you to believe this jacket is weather-resistant. The product page gets the point across, without mind-numbing repetition.

2. Use Maslow To Match Search Intent

Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs from college? Maybe you forgot because you didnt get enough good sleep . Every time your prospect uses Google search it’s out of a deep psychological desire.

Your job as a marketer is to understand that need. Your copy will be much more persuasive, and it will rank significantly better in a Google search.

Step 1: Determine The Psychological Need Of Your Product

Your job here is to address the primary psychological need behind a search for your product. Some products can meet two. But we want to keep it simple and actionable, so pick one.

• Are you selling make-up or jewelry? Esteem.
• Are you selling organic food? Physiological.
• Are you selling antivirus software? Safety and security.

Step 2: Use Words Suited For That Mental State

Tone matters a lot in writing. Once you are through with step 1, add some words from this article  to your product page.

Step 3: Anticipate Questions About Your Product

Use the keyword research to find questions about your products. This will help you match search intent from a potential customer.

• Plug Your Product Page Into Google Keyword Planner
• Include When, Where, Why, What and How As Required Words
• Look for Concerns You Can Address On Your Product Page

Your goal with step three is to find concerns related to your product that you can address on your product page. If you still can’t find real product questions try this Twitter research trick  from Ann Smarty.

Step 4: Connect Questions to Product Features

Some shoppers might be concerned about cleaning a leather jacket before buying.  Your sales page should briefly address that concern. The solution is easy. Add a simple bullet that turns the question into a benefit.

Ex: “Top-grain leather that cleans easily with a microfiber cloth.”

Your updated page meets psychological, emotional needs and overcomes objections a buyer might have. Sounds like a slam dunk to me. 🙂

3. Turn Shoppers Into Buyers With Benefit-Focused Copy

No matter what product you are selling, the benefit to your customer is a  better version of themselves.   This is why it is so important to understand who your ideal customer is, what questions they have, and how you can help them. You’ll be wasting your time if you jam persuasive tricks into your copy. Even worse, you might come off like a manipulative idiot.

Here is a 3-step process to write benefits-focused, persuasive copy.

• Make a list of your product features.
• List actual benefits of using the product.
• List out how those benefits make your customer’s life better OR avoid problems.

Henneke Duistermaat has an entire ebook that goes into more depth about writing benefits-focused sales copy .  You can grab a copy .

4. Use Forum Research To Get Inside Your Buyers’ Mind

Would you be able to sell more products if you knew someone’s thoughts before they buy something? Of course you would!

You don’t have to do exhaustive primary research to find the right words to use, but you do  you need to find out why people buy your product and use that language on your product or category page. Here’s how:

Step 1: Find Conversations about Buying Your Product

There is an online forum for just about any topic. A lot of times you, can find people who just bought a similar product, and you can see who they are and what they are chatting about. Type the following searches into Google.  Just replace  “keyword” with your product and “niche” with your industry.

• “keyword” OR “niche” “just bought” inurl:forum
• “keyword” OR “niche” “should I buy” inurl:forum
• “keyword” OR “niche” “should i buy” “because” inurl:forum
• “keyword”OR “niche” “just bought” “because”  inurl:forum
• “need help with” “keyword” OR “niche”

The search term, “racing tires” “should I buy” inurl:forum  surfaced 455 car enthusiasts talking about buying racing tires. This is like eavesdropping on a conversation between friends. No focus group needed. How’s that for marketing research?!

 Step 2: Read The Threads and Create a Quick and Dirty Persona

In this step, your goal is to create one (yes, only one) buyer persona.

• Open up a forum thread from Google search.
• Click on a commenter’s profile link.

If you can’t find info about their age, location, hobbies and profession take an educated guess. Your persona should also have a name.

Step 3: Collect Answers To The 5 Questions Below:

As you research the forum threads copy and paste answers to these questions.

• Why did they buy?
• What are their pain points?
• What concerns did they have before buying?
• What is important to them when buying this product?
• What do they use the product for?

Step 4: Update Your Pages

It’s easy to forget that you are writing for a person when writing on the web. Understanding the mental state of potential buyers is the most powerful market research you’ll ever do. As you update your product pages, keep James Holley in mind. He is probably anxious to burn some rubber after a long week selling insurance.  

5. Use Sensory Words To Connect With Your Buyer’s Subconscious

I’m not talking about fluffing your copy up with phony adjectives. Meaningless words like “high quality” or “state of the art” send your reader’s brain into glazed state. Sensory words describe and create a feeling.

Our subconscious collects sensory data (taste, smell, sight, hearing, touch). When information is registered, sensory areas of the brain are activated .

Step 1: Observe Your Product And Create A List Of Concrete Words

Create a table in Excel with sound, sight, touch, smell and taste as headers.  Observe the sensory details of your product. Don’t overthink this. If you can’t imagine it, it is not concrete. You don’t need to appeal to all five senses, and you don’t need a mega list.

Step 2: Read Customer Reviews To Find Sensory Words

In this step, you are looking for words that describe your product and the environment of how it’s used. While reading reviews, I noticed people use Crocs at the beach and inside their house.

You don’t have to make this a grind. To combat information overload, sort the reviews by most helpful. Spend a few minutes on this step, no more.  After reading the first two pages of product reviews, you’ll be able to add some words that you hadn’t thought of.

Step 3:  Add Sensory Words To Your Product Description

When you tackle this step, give context to the words you use. For example, “blisters” is a very concrete, sensory word, but it is also negative. So your copy could say  “ A flexible sole helps avoid foot pain and blisters from walking on hard tile floors.”

Compare our quickly crafted sentence with Kohl’s product description: “Crocs shoes are great for outdoor adventures.” (Yawn). No one buying shoes is looking for an “outdoor adventure.”

6. Use Scarcity To Boost Sales

Cialdini’s principle of scarcity states that desire to obtain something increases when there is a perception of limited availability.  Research shows that scarcity increases impulse buying.

Don’t burn bridges like CoffeForLess  with fake scarcity. Use this technique when you actually have a limited time offer or limited quantity.

Step 1: Create A Time Sensitive Sale

Select high margin or popular products. Install a countdown timer plugin, email your list and run a sale. There are a lot of plugins that can do this. Here are a few of them:

• Sales Countdown For Woo Commerce
• Sales Countdown For Open Cart 
• Price Countdown For Adobe Commerce
• Page Expiration Robot – Countdown Timer For WordPress
• Shopify Countdown Timer

Step 2: Add A Limited Quantity Alert On Product Pages

Use a plugin to show visitors a message when your inventory is low.  Phrases like “Hurry! Only 1 left!” can help move customers to action.  People get a thrill when they snag the last one. I know I do 🙂

Never pressure people to PUSH them into purchasing. Instead, use pressure to PREVENT them from procrastinating. There is a fundamental difference between the two. – Michel Fortin 

Thinking about using scarcity tactics on your product page?  Check out this in-depth article  and be sure to take a  non-scuzzy approach .

7. Use Micro Commitments To Turn New Customers Into Big Spenders

A high dollar sale on the first visit can be a big ask. Instead, use the principle of commitment and consistency . People want to be consistent. Once someone commits to something small, they are more inclined to continue the process.

How can you use this to increase sales?

Step 1: Ask New Customers if They Are Likely to Buy from You Again

Customers love getting an order confirmation emailed to them. Turn it into a marketing opportunity. Use automated email software like  Klaviyo to add this question to the bottom of the order confirmation email:

“Are you likely to buy from us again?  Yes    No.”

Make the responses “Yes” or “No” hyperlinks so you can track if they are clicked.  You don’t want to set up a complicated survey, work it into your regular workflow and make it as easy as possible.

Step 2: Send a Coupon/Promo Code 

Customers who responded positively to your first email are likely to follow through with their original commitment. Incentivize them to be consistent by sending them a coupon to save $10 when they spend $150. The actual numbers will depend on your store. The goal is to turn them into a big spender.

You can even word the email like this:

A few weeks ago you said you would like to buy again from mystore.com. We wanted to send you a quick thanks for your recent order with a promo code to save on your next purchase. You can save $10 when you spend $150. Here are some of our most popular items (show images of products over $150). Promo code is good for 30 days.

When someone publicly declares they will do something, they are likely to carry through with that statement. This is also called the “ mere-measurement effect .”

Tip: Send the same email to people who also said no. Just remove the first sentence.

8. Use The Blemishing Effect To Increase Trust

Trying to hide the negative features of your product? Researchers from Stanford suggests you shouldn’t.

Customers can tell when you write a product description that’s 100% positive fluff. Adding in a small dose of negativity can make your product more attractive.

We find that as long as the negative information about a product is minor, your pitch [to a consumer] might be more persuasive when it calls attention to that negative, especially if consumers have already learned some positive things,” – Baba Shiv

9. Amplify Your Top Pages With Power Words

A lot has been written about the psychology behind persuasive words . Here are “must have” words for your ecommerce site.

• You: Using this word forces you to focus on how customers will benefit from doing business with you.
• Free: Our brains are hardwired to respond to “FREE .” Don’t overdo it.
• Because : Giving your reader a reason will make your copy more persuasive. Using because helps you trigger action by giving them a specific reason.
• Imagine:  Research suggests that imagining using or owning a product increases the desire to own it.
• New : Using this word activates the brain’s reward center and makes products seem more attractive.

Now that you know the words to use, it is time to put them to work for you.

Step 1: Use Google Analytics to Find Your Top Landing Pages

Don’t try to update all your pages at once. It is too tall of a task. Use Google Analytics to find your top 3-5 product landing pages.

• Log in to Google Analytics
• Click on Behavior
• Click on Site Content
• Click on Landing Pages

Step 2: Update the Copy To Include Those Power Words

Chances are your home page is a top landing page. Be sure to include power words, like “Free Shipping” in global elements like headers.

Use power words at the beginning and end of your product page. Include them in bulleted lists too.

10. Improve Ad Performance by “Borrowing” from Tested Copy

When you’re writing persuasive copy, it’s easy to miss the forest for the trees. If you don’t analyze competitor ad copy, you’re missing out on insights from tested copy.

Step 1: Find Out Who The Big Advertisers Are In Your Niche

Type a keyword from your niche into SEMRush along with (adwords_historical).  In the example below, I used “work boots” (adwords_historical) to see all the companies advertising for that keyword. Look at their ads traffic price to get an idea of how much they are spending each month.

Stick with companies spending more than $10K per month. These companies are smart enough to test their ads and use the best performing ads the most.  Avoid megastores like Amazon or Overstock.com. You’ll get too much data to analyze. You want to write persuasive copy, not analyze data.

Step 2: Review Their Ad Copy

In SEMRush type in the big spenders domain with  (by uniq_ads) to see all of their ads. In the example below, I typed in workboots.com (by uniq_ads) . SEMRush will show you the ads that have the most keywords. For a company spending $10K + on PPC, you can bet that their best ads get the most keywords. Look for common themes within the ads. Pay extra attention to any benefit-focused ads.

Step 3: Update Your Copy

Your competitors spend a boatload of cash figuring out which ads sell the most products. People who shop for work boots care about new styles and slip resistance. Focus on those points when updating your copy. Also consider following these copywriting tips.

11. The Disrupt and Reframe Technique (DTR)

If you want a fast and effective method for influencing people , DTR is it.

Most of us go into auto-pilot mode when surfing the web. By disrupting your readers’ understanding on a typical phrase, you can knock them out of auto-pilot and reframe their thought process to give new meaning to the confusing phrase.

Apple’s entire marketing strategy is based on DTR.

Here is how you can do it:

• Add a bizarre or confusing statement in your copy: “Retina re-envisioned”
• Reframe it to give new meaning: “The moment you open the new MacBook, its gorgeous 12‑inch Retina display with edge-to-edge glass brings everything into focus. Every photo leaps off the screen in rich, vibrant detail.”

12. Use Buyers’ Words to Build Brand Preference

Have you ever bought a product because your friend told you it was “high performance” or “innovative”? No.

This is why you need to eliminate marketing speak and write for your ideal buyer.

Professional copywriters know that the most persuasive language comes directly from the customer ( see Tip #28 ).  But why?

According to the Kellogg Marketing Faculty at Northwestern University , consumers seek comfort and self-expression in the brands they choose. By using your customers’ own words you can shortcut the persuasive writing process and help readers self-identify. Joanna Wiebe explains how to do this in her post , but here is the gist:

• Search for customer reviews for your product on Google, Amazon or forums.
• Copy memorable phrases directly from customers.
• Paste them into your product pages.

Don’t copy entire paragraphs. You’re looking for emotionally charged phrases to leverage into your copy. Here are some examples from racing tires:

• “quicker acceleration, better braking, smoother ride, less wear on shocks”
• “Lower weight is important, but traction is more important”
• “meaner tire, they have great wet traction, they stick, lots of dry traction”
• “Some people whine about them on wet roads, but I had zero hydroplaning issues and I drove them through winter here in the metroplex”
• “with fresh rubber”
• “I love spirited driving”

You want to sound like a customer, not a marketing company. Check out some more examples here.

13. Use the Endowed Progress Effect To Build Customer Loyalty

You’ve worked super hard to get a customer, use the endowed progress effect to keep them buying from you.

Reward programs give your customers a sense that they are working towards a goal. By giving them a few extra free points, they will be more likely to buy from you again. Check out this study from USC.

To create an effective program you need:

• Reward program technology. Like a plugin or points system.
• A persuasive autoresponder email chain to let customers know they’re close to a reward.

Please don’t just use the boilerplate copy from the plugin. Be sure to cater it to your audience.

14. Sway Buyers On The Fence With A Rhyming Sequence

Research suggests that rhyming phrases are more believable .  I am not suggesting that your product pages sound like nursery rhymes, but the “rhyme as reason” effect can help persuade people who are on the fence.

Johnny Cochran, O.J. Simpson’s lawyer, knew about this cognitive bias.

If the glove does not fit, you must acquit.

Rhyming makes copy easier to remember and ideas easier to digest. This concept is also known as the fluency effect . Rand Fishkin has an excellent white board on this topic.

Here is how you can incorporate rhyming today:

• Boil your product or benefit down to the simplest word (ex. Weather Proof Jacket = rain)
• Go to  Rhymer.com
• Find a word that rhymes with your product or benefit (ex. main)
• Add the rhyming phrase to the start or end of your product description   (ex. The Calvin Klein hooded windbreaker will be your main jacket to project against the rain.)

This exercise can be a lot of fun, and it will make your benefits more persuasive.  Don’t overdo it, Mother Goose.

15. Be Ultra Specific

Copy has to be credible to be persuasive. We are all bombarded with generic marketing claims all day long.  Precise details turn your ho-hum headlines, taglines and slogans into believable messages.

When it comes to selling products, details about problems or benefits make your copy trustworthy. Notice how the details describe the benefits of the raincoat material.

Constructed with durable, water-resistant, urethane-coated nylon taffeta and rustproof snaps; watertight bound seam construction. – REI

Ask yourself these questions to help you pull out the relevant details for your product page:

• What is your product made of?
• Where is your product made? 
• How is your product made?
• How many people have used it?
• Are there quantifiable features?
• Are size dimensions relevant?

When you start adding irrelevant details like the number of grooves on a pen grip, you’ve gone way too far.

Online shoppers are skeptical . Adding details helps people understand you are telling the truth.

16. Use Social Influence To Lift Conversions

As we saw in Maslow’s pyramid, belonging is a basic psychological need. This is why peer pressure works. Our ideas are validated when similar people share them: this is especially true for shopping online.

71% of online shoppers read reviews before buying.

Here are two surefire ways you can use social influence on your ecommerce site:

1. Add Product Reviews

Reviews help validate your claims. It is one thing for you to say “This backpack is durable.” It’s more impactful when a customer says the same thing. By simply adding a reviews widget, Express Watches  increased conversions by 58% .

It is not enough to add a widget; you have to be proactive about getting them. Once you add the widget:

• Email customers who purchased your top selling products
• Offer them a discount or points for leaving a review
• Add an automated email asking people for a review a few weeks after receiving the products

2. Add a Recommended Products Widget

When people get stuck on a decision, they look to see what other people do. This is why a recommended products widget can help lift conversions.  When people don’t find what they want, they leave. Providing additional suggestions to them might persuade them to check out other products.

17.  Use Mini Stories to Fascinate Readers

Stories that relate to your audience strengthen your brand position. If your story doesn’t, your copy will come off cheesy.

Do you remember James Holley from Tip #4? He will probably appreciate a mini story about peeling out in the office parking lot on a Friday night.  This story works because it’s:

• Relevant to our ideal buyer and product
• Simple and concise
• Imagery is concrete and vivid

This mini-story would be a huge turnoff to Donna, 57, in New York City. She values safety and style when buying luxury tires.  Burning rubber would run her off your site. You’re job is to tell an unexpected story that will entertain your ideal customer. Something they won’t read on an Amazon product description.

Retailer J. Peterman is known for their unique product descriptions. Check out this one.

18.  Improve Message Recall with The Serial Position Technique

People remember what they saw first (primacy effect) or last (recency effect). Use this to your advantage. Put your best copy where it matters most.

Step 1: Begin with an Ultra Short, Benefit-Rich Product Summary

When you write copy for product pages, you have to consider the design. Once you see how the information is  layered on the page , make sure to put your most persuasive copy right at the beginning. Keep it short and uncluttered.

Bonus SEO tip : Use your, ultra-short persuasive intro as the meta description to improve your click-through rate from searches.

Step 2: Rearrange Your Bullets

Readers love bullet points. Don’t rattle off a bunch of product features. Make sure that your bullets are a list of benefits. Give extra love to the first and last two bullets.

Step 3: End Your Product Description with a Persuasive Message

If someone reads your entire product description, chances are they are almost ready to buy. Don’t fizzle out at the end. Give them one simple, memorable reason why they should buy this product.

19. Use The Priming Technique to Make Your Marketing Their Idea

Priming is similar to the principle of commitment and consistency Both are used to influence subsequent behavior. The main difference is that priming is the process of tapping into the  subconscious mind.

Numerous studies show the priming effect in action . For example, three groups were primed with different words (rude, polite, and neutral). The group shown rude words were most likely to interrupt the interviewer. In another study ,  people who were shown sad faces 🙁 preferred mood-enhancing content.

Because people are influenced subconsciously, primes are perceived to be their own ideas. Remember the movie Inception? Same thing. When people think they are being “marketed to”, all bets are off.

Here are two ways you can use priming for your ecommerce site:

• Use homonyms to influence buying
• Use price priming to position your best products

Using Homonyms To Influence Purchase Behavior

A study from the University of Miami revealed that adding the words “bye-bye” in the web copy increased sales. This is because the word sounds like “buy.” You can use this on your product pages easily by using a sentence formula: “Say bye-bye to [problem] with [feature] that [benefit].”

Fuel can example: Say bye-bye to spilled gas with the locking nozzle that won’t leak.

As University of Chicago points out, you can also say “Good-Bye” on your order confirmation page to subconsciously influence that a “good buy” was made.

Don’t go overboard. If you use this on every page, it will lose its effect.

Using Price Priming To Sell More of Your Popular Products

This is not really a “copy writing” technique, but it can improve your sales. You can influence customers’ value perception by placing your top products next to super expensive products.

A $600 watch seems less expensive when placed next to a $2500 watch. This subconsciously influences your visitor to think the $600 watch isn’t that expensive. This is the reason why the default price setting on many ecommerce sites is “high to low.”

Another strategy is to implement a “featured” area on your category page.

You can also use colors, images, and metaphors for priming .

Ready for More Sales?

Persuasive writing means marketing to the subconscious. This is where purchase decisions are made. We’ve gone through a long list of persuasive writing techniques. You don’t have to tackle them all at once. Pick one technique, and you’ll be on your way to improving product sales. Remember, moderation is key.

Enjoy this article? You’ll love my free ecommerce marketing course .

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What is Persuasion Selling? (Explained With Examples)

Apr 24, 2024

In the competitive world of sales and marketing, persuasion is a crucial skill that can make all the difference in closing deals and achieving success. Persuasion selling, also known as persuasive selling, is a sales technique that focuses on influencing customers and convincing them to make a purchase. In this article, we will explore the concept of persuasion selling in detail and provide several real-world examples to illustrate its effectiveness

1. What is Persuasion Selling?

Persuasion selling is a sales approach that goes beyond simply presenting product features and benefits. It involves understanding customers' needs and desires, building emotional connections, and using various persuasive techniques to motivate them to take action. Rather than relying solely on rational arguments, persuasion selling taps into the psychological aspect of decision-making, appealing to customers' emotions and leveraging their desires.

In today's competitive market, where customers are bombarded with countless options, persuasion selling has become an essential skill for sales professionals. By mastering the art of persuasion, salespeople can effectively influence customers' beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, ultimately leading them towards a buying decision.

1.1 Definition of Persuasion Selling

At its core, persuasion selling is about influencing customers' beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors to lead them towards a buying decision. It involves constructing persuasive messages tailored to individual customers, highlighting the value proposition, and addressing any objections or concerns they may have. Persuasion selling seeks to create a sense of urgency and excitement, compelling customers to act now rather than later.

One key aspect of persuasion selling is understanding the psychology behind decision-making. By tapping into customers' emotions, salespeople can connect with them on a deeper level. This emotional connection helps build trust and rapport, making customers more receptive to the salesperson's message.

1.2 Advantages of Persuasion Selling

Persuasion selling helps you close more deals in your sales pipeline.

Persuasion selling offers several advantages over traditional sales techniques. Firstly, it allows salespeople to establish stronger connections with customers by appealing to their emotions. By understanding customers' motivations and desires, salespeople can tailor their approach to resonate with their target audience, boosting engagement and rapport.

Secondly, persuasion selling is an effective way to differentiate oneself in a competitive market. With so many similar products and services available, it can be challenging for customers to make a decision. However, by effectively showcasing the unique value of a product or service, salespeople can stand out and persuade customers that their offering is the best choice.

Finally, persuasion selling has the potential to generate higher sales volumes. The persuasive techniques employed can lead customers to make faster and more frequent purchases. By creating a sense of urgency and excitement, salespeople can motivate customers to take immediate action, resulting in increased sales and revenue.

1.3 Disadvantages of Persuasion Selling

While persuasion selling can be highly effective, it is essential to recognize its limitations and potential drawbacks. One potential disadvantage is the ethical aspect of persuasion selling. As the salesperson aims to influence customers' decisions, it is crucial to ensure that the techniques employed are honest and transparent, avoiding any manipulative tactics that may erode trust.

Additionally, persuasion selling may not be suitable for all types of products or services. Some industries, such as those focused on providing professional advice or consulting services, may require a more consultative approach rather than relying solely on persuasion techniques. In these cases, building trust and credibility through expertise and knowledge may be more effective in winning over customers.

It is also important to note that not all customers respond equally to persuasion techniques. Some individuals may be more resistant to persuasion or may have specific preferences that require a different approach. Salespeople must be adaptable and able to tailor their strategies to the unique needs and preferences of each customer.

Despite these potential disadvantages, when used ethically and appropriately, persuasion selling can be a powerful tool for sales professionals. By understanding the psychology of decision-making and leveraging persuasive techniques, salespeople can effectively influence customers and drive sales success.

2. Examples of Persuasion Selling

Now that we have explored the concept of persuasion selling, let's dive into some real-world examples to better understand how it works and its effectiveness in different contexts.

2.1 Example in a Startup Context

Imagine a startup that has developed an innovative software solution for small businesses to streamline their operations. To persuade potential customers to adopt their product, the startup's sales team might focus on highlighting the time and cost savings the software can provide.

They would delve into the specific pain points of small business owners, such as the challenges of managing multiple tasks and processes manually. By addressing these pain points, the sales team can effectively demonstrate the value proposition and long-term benefits of the product.

Additionally, the sales team might emphasize the ease of implementation and user-friendly interface of the software. They could provide detailed examples of how the software has helped other small businesses increase efficiency and productivity, ultimately leading to higher profits.

By tailoring their messaging to resonate with the target audience, the startup's sales team can effectively persuade potential customers to adopt their innovative software solution.

2.2 Example in a Consulting Context

In the consulting industry, persuasion selling plays a vital role in showcasing expertise and securing client engagements. A consulting firm may leverage case studies and success stories to demonstrate their track record, persuading potential clients that they have the skills and knowledge to solve their specific business challenges.

For instance, a consulting firm specializing in supply chain optimization may present a case study where they helped a client reduce costs and improve efficiency by implementing new logistics strategies. They would highlight the specific challenges the client faced and how their tailored solutions resulted in significant improvements.

Furthermore, the consulting firm might provide testimonials from satisfied clients, emphasizing the positive impact their services had on their businesses. These testimonials would serve as social proof, reinforcing the consulting firm's credibility and persuading potential clients to choose their services.

By tailoring their messaging to address client concerns and providing concrete examples of their past achievements, the consulting firm can effectively persuade clients to choose their services and trust in their expertise.

2.3 Example in a Digital Marketing Agency Context

In the digital marketing agency world, persuasion selling is instrumental in winning clients and securing marketing contracts. A digital marketing agency may use persuasive techniques such as social proof, showcasing testimonials and client success stories, to persuade potential clients of their expertise and proven results.

For example, a digital marketing agency might highlight a case study where they helped a client increase their online visibility and generate significant revenue through targeted advertising campaigns. They would provide detailed metrics and analytics to demonstrate the measurable business growth achieved.

The agency might also leverage the power of social media by showcasing the number of followers, likes, and engagement their clients have gained through their strategic social media marketing efforts. This social proof would persuade potential clients that the agency has the knowledge and skills to achieve similar results for their businesses.

By demonstrating how their strategies have generated measurable business growth for other clients, the agency can build trust and convince prospects that they are the right partner to achieve their marketing goals.

2.4 Example with Analogies

Analogies can be powerful tools in persuasion selling. For example, a car salesperson might compare the performance and features of a sports car to a powerful race car. By drawing parallels between the two and highlighting the exhilarating experience of driving a sports car, the salesperson taps into the customer's desire for excitement and adrenaline.

The salesperson might explain how the sports car's engine, aerodynamics, and handling capabilities resemble those of a race car, creating a thrilling driving experience. They could also emphasize the prestige and status associated with owning a sports car, appealing to the customer's desire for social recognition.

Furthermore, the salesperson might highlight the advanced safety features of the sports car, ensuring the customer that they can enjoy the exhilaration while still prioritizing their well-being.

By using analogies and appealing to the customer's emotions, the salesperson can ultimately sway the customer to make the purchase and fulfill their desire for excitement and luxury.

In conclusion, persuasion selling is a persuasive sales technique that focuses on understanding customers' emotions and motivations to influence their decisions. By employing various persuasive techniques and tailored messaging, salespeople can effectively connect with customers, differentiate themselves in the market, and ultimately close more deals.

Through real-world examples, we have seen how persuasion selling can be applied in different contexts to achieve outstanding results. When executed ethically and transparently, persuasion selling can be a powerful tool in the sales arsenal, leading to increased success and growth for businesses.

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Persuasive Essay Guide

Persuasive Essay Examples

30+ Persuasive Essay Examples To Get You Started

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Are you looking to improve your persuasive writing skills?

One of the best ways to do that is by reading persuasive essay examples. These examples can show you how to structure your arguments effectively.

But finding good examples can be a challenge. Don't worry, though – we've gathered some helpful persuasive essays for you right here!

So, if you're in search of persuasive essay examples to help you write your own, you're in the right place. 

Keep reading this blog to explore various examples!

• 1. Persuasive Essay Examples For Students
• 2. Persuasive Writing Example For Elementary Schools
• 3. Persuasive Essay Examples Middle School
• 4. Persuasive Essay Examples High School
• 5. Persuasive Essay Examples for College Students 
• 6. Persuasive Essay Examples For University
• 7. Persuasive Essay Examples for Different Formats
• 8. Basic Persuasive Essay Structure  
• 9. Catchy Persuasive Essay Topics

Persuasive Essay Examples For Students

A persuasive essay aims to convince the reader of the author’s point of view. 

To find the right path for your essay, it's helpful to go through some examples. Similarly, good essay examples also help to avoid any potential pitfalls and offer clear information to the readers to adopt.

Let’s take a look at 2 short persuasive essay examples, focusing on current and relevant issues:

Example 1: 

If you are looking for longer examples, below are some persuasive essay examples pdf for different academic levels. Read them for free.

Persuasive Writing Example For Elementary Schools

Here are provided some sample essays to further explain the concept of persuasive writing for students.

3rd-grade Persuasive Essay Example

4th-grade Persuasive Essay Example

Persuasive Essay Example 5th-grade

Persuasive Essay Examples Middle School

Check out these persuasive essay examples for middle school to get a comprehensive idea of the format structure. 

Persuasive Essay Examples for 6th Grade

7th-grade Persuasive Essay Example

8th-grade Persuasive Essay Example

Persuasive Essay Examples High School

The following are good persuasive essay examples for high school. Having a look at them will help you understand better.

Persuasive Essay Examples Grade 10

High-school Persuasive Essay Example

Examples of Persuasive Essay in Everyday Life

Persuasive Essay Examples for College Students 

Essay writing at the college level becomes more complicated. We have provided you with top-notch college persuasive and argumentative essay examples here. Read them to understand the essay writing process easily. 

11th-grade Persuasive Essay Example

Persuasive Essay Examples College

Higher English Persuasive Essay Example

Persuasive Essay About Smoking

Argumentative and Persuasive Examples

Persuasive Essay Examples For University

It becomes even more challenging to draft a perfect essay at the university level. Look at the examples of persuasive essays below to get an idea of writing one.

University Persuasive Essay Example

Political Persuasive Essay Examples

Persuasive Essay Examples About Life

Persuasive Essay Examples for Different Formats

A persuasive essay can be written in several formats. For instance, you can write the usual 5-paragraph essay, or even something longer or shorter.

Below are a few sample essays in various common formats.

Persuasive Essay Examples 5 Paragraph

Persuasive Essay Examples 3 Paragraph

These examples tell you how to remain convincing and persuasive regardless of the essay format you use.

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Basic Persuasive Essay Structure  

Here's a breakdown of the typical persuasive essay outline , along with an example for each step:

• Introduction (Grab Attention & Introduce the Issue):

Hook your reader with an interesting fact, anecdote, or question-related to the topic. Briefly introduce the issue you'll be arguing for.

For Example:

• Thesis Statement (Clearly State Your Position):

The thesis statement is a one-sentence summary of your entire argument. It should be clear, concise, and specific, and include your main points.

• Body Paragraphs (Develop Your Arguments):

Dedicate each paragraph to a single main point supporting your thesis. Use strong evidence to back up your claims. This can include statistics, research findings, expert opinions, or personal anecdotes. Use clear transitions between paragraphs to show the flow of your argument.

• Counterargument (Acknowledge Opposing Views):

Briefly acknowledge potential objections to your argument. This shows you've considered different viewpoints and strengthens your own position.

• Rebuttal (Address Counterarguments):

Explain why the counterarguments are not strong enough to invalidate your main points. Offer additional evidence to solidify your position.

• Conclusion (Restate & Call to Action):

Briefly restate your thesis and summarize your main points. End with a strong call to action, urging the reader to adopt your perspective or take a specific step.

By following this structure and incorporating strong evidence, you can craft a persuasive essay that effectively convinces your reader to see things your way.

Catchy Persuasive Essay Topics

Now that you have read some good examples, it's time to write your own persuasive essay.

But what should you write about? You can write persuasive essays about any topic, from business and online education to controversial topics like abortion, gun control, and more.

Here is a list of ten persuasive essay topics that you can use to grab your reader's attention and make them think:

• Should the government increase taxes to fund public health initiatives?
• Is the current education system effective in preparing students for college and the workplace?
• Should there be tighter gun control laws?
• Should schools have uniforms or a dress code?
• Are standardized tests an accurate measure of student performance?
• Should students be required to take physical education courses?
• Is undocumented immigration a legitimate cause for concern in the United States?
• Is affirmative action still necessary in today’s society?
• How much, if any, regulation should there be on technology companies?
• Is the death penalty an appropriate form of punishment for serious crimes?

Need more topic ideas? Check out our extensive list of unique persuasive essay topics and get started!

To Sum it Up!

This post gave you a bunch of persuasive essay examples to check out. By reading them, you learned how to build strong arguments, organize your essay, and use evidence to back up your ideas.

Now it's your time to write! Don't worry about being perfect, just give it a shot and make it your own. But if you're still feeling stuck, don't worry. 

Our persuasive essay writing service is here to the rescue!

Our experienced writers specialize in creating top-notch essays on a wide range of topics. Whether it's a challenging persuasive essay or any other type, we've got you covered.

Take advantage of our paper writing service today!

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40 Strong Persuasive Writing Examples (Essays, Speeches, Ads, and More)

Learn from the experts.

The more we read, the better writers we become. Teaching students to write strong persuasive essays should always start with reading some top-notch models. This round-up of persuasive writing examples includes famous speeches, influential ad campaigns, contemporary reviews of famous books, and more. Use them to inspire your students to write their own essays. (Need persuasive essay topics? Check out our list of interesting persuasive essay ideas here! )

• Persuasive Essays
• Persuasive Speeches
• Advertising Campaigns

Persuasive Essay Writing Examples

From the earliest days of print, authors have used persuasive essays to try to sway others to their own point of view. Check out these top persuasive essay writing examples.

Professions for Women by Virginia Woolf

Sample lines: “Outwardly, what is simpler than to write books? Outwardly, what obstacles are there for a woman rather than for a man? Inwardly, I think, the case is very different; she has still many ghosts to fight, many prejudices to overcome. Indeed it will be a long time still, I think, before a woman can sit down to write a book without finding a phantom to be slain, a rock to be dashed against. And if this is so in literature, the freest of all professions for women, how is it in the new professions which you are now for the first time entering?”

The Crisis by Thomas Paine

Sample lines: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.”

Politics and the English Language by George Orwell

Sample lines: “As I have tried to show, modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug.”

Letter From a Birmingham Jail by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Sample lines: “We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed. Frankly, I have yet to engage in a direct action campaign that was ‘well timed’ in the view of those who have not suffered unduly from the disease of segregation. For years now I have heard the word ‘Wait!’ It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see, with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long delayed is justice denied.'”

Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau

Sample lines: “Even voting for the right is doing nothing for it. It is only expressing to men feebly your desire that it should prevail. A wise man will not leave the right to the mercy of chance, nor wish it to prevail through the power of the majority. There is but little virtue in the action of masses of men.”

Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Roger Ebert

Sample lines: “‘Kindness’ covers all of my political beliefs. No need to spell them out. I believe that if, at the end of it all, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime.”

The Way to Wealth by Benjamin Franklin

Sample lines: “Methinks I hear some of you say, must a man afford himself no leisure? I will tell thee, my friend, what Poor Richard says, employ thy time well if thou meanest to gain leisure; and, since thou art not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour. Leisure is time for doing something useful; this leisure the diligent man will obtain, but the lazy man never; so that, as Poor Richard says, a life of leisure and a life of laziness are two things.”

The Crack-Up by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Sample lines: “Of course all life is a process of breaking down, but the blows that do the dramatic side of the work—the big sudden blows that come, or seem to come, from outside—the ones you remember and blame things on and, in moments of weakness, tell your friends about, don’t show their effect all at once.”

Open Letter to the Kansas School Board by Bobby Henderson

Sample lines: “I am writing you with much concern after having read of your hearing to decide whether the alternative theory of Intelligent Design should be taught along with the theory of Evolution. … Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. … We feel strongly that the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing towards evolutionary processes is nothing but a coincidence, put in place by Him. It is for this reason that I’m writing you today, to formally request that this alternative theory be taught in your schools, along with the other two theories.”

Open Letter to the United Nations by Niels Bohr

Sample lines: “Humanity will, therefore, be confronted with dangers of unprecedented character unless, in due time, measures can be taken to forestall a disastrous competition in such formidable armaments and to establish an international control of the manufacture and use of the powerful materials.”

Persuasive Speech Writing Examples

Many persuasive speeches are political in nature, often addressing subjects like human rights. Here are some of history’s most well-known persuasive writing examples in the form of speeches.

I Have a Dream by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Sample lines: “And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

Woodrow Wilson’s War Message to Congress, 1917

Sample lines: “There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts—for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free.”

Chief Seattle’s 1854 Oration

Sample lines: “I here and now make this condition that we will not be denied the privilege without molestation of visiting at any time the tombs of our ancestors, friends, and children. Every part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as they swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch.”

Women’s Rights Are Human Rights, Hillary Rodham Clinton

Sample lines: “What we are learning around the world is that if women are healthy and educated, their families will flourish. If women are free from violence, their families will flourish. If women have a chance to work and earn as full and equal partners in society, their families will flourish. And when families flourish, communities and nations do as well. … If there is one message that echoes forth from this conference, let it be that human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights once and for all.”

I Am Prepared to Die, Nelson Mandela

Sample lines: “Above all, My Lord, we want equal political rights, because without them our disabilities will be permanent. I know this sounds revolutionary to the whites in this country, because the majority of voters will be Africans. This makes the white man fear democracy. But this fear cannot be allowed to stand in the way of the only solution which will guarantee racial harmony and freedom for all. It is not true that the enfranchisement of all will result in racial domination. Political division, based on color, is entirely artificial and, when it disappears, so will the domination of one color group by another. … This then is what the ANC is fighting. Our struggle is a truly national one. It is a struggle of the African people, inspired by our own suffering and our own experience. It is a struggle for the right to live.”

The Struggle for Human Rights by Eleanor Roosevelt

Sample lines: “It is my belief, and I am sure it is also yours, that the struggle for democracy and freedom is a critical struggle, for their preservation is essential to the great objective of the United Nations to maintain international peace and security. Among free men the end cannot justify the means. We know the patterns of totalitarianism—the single political party, the control of schools, press, radio, the arts, the sciences, and the church to support autocratic authority; these are the age-old patterns against which men have struggled for 3,000 years. These are the signs of reaction, retreat, and retrogression. The United Nations must hold fast to the heritage of freedom won by the struggle of its people; it must help us to pass it on to generations to come.”

Freedom From Fear by Aung San Suu Kyi

Sample lines: “Saints, it has been said, are the sinners who go on trying. So free men are the oppressed who go on trying and who in the process make themselves fit to bear the responsibilities and to uphold the disciplines which will maintain a free society. Among the basic freedoms to which men aspire that their lives might be full and uncramped, freedom from fear stands out as both a means and an end. A people who would build a nation in which strong, democratic institutions are firmly established as a guarantee against state-induced power must first learn to liberate their own minds from apathy and fear.”

Harvey Milk’s “The Hope” Speech

Sample lines: “Some people are satisfied. And some people are not. You see there is a major difference—and it remains a vital difference—between a friend and a gay person, a friend in office and a gay person in office. Gay people have been slandered nationwide. We’ve been tarred and we’ve been brushed with the picture of pornography. In Dade County, we were accused of child molestation. It is not enough anymore just to have friends represent us, no matter how good that friend may be.”

The Union and the Strike, Cesar Chavez

Sample lines: “We are showing our unity in our strike. Our strike is stopping the work in the fields; our strike is stopping ships that would carry grapes; our strike is stopping the trucks that would carry the grapes. Our strike will stop every way the grower makes money until we have a union contract that guarantees us a fair share of the money he makes from our work! We are a union and we are strong and we are striking to force the growers to respect our strength!”

Nobel Lecture by Malala Yousafzai

Sample lines: “The world can no longer accept that basic education is enough. Why do leaders accept that for children in developing countries, only basic literacy is sufficient, when their own children do homework in algebra, mathematics, science, and physics? Leaders must seize this opportunity to guarantee a free, quality, primary and secondary education for every child. Some will say this is impractical, or too expensive, or too hard. Or maybe even impossible. But it is time the world thinks bigger.”   

Persuasive Writing Examples in Advertising Campaigns

Ads are prime persuasive writing examples. You can flip open any magazine or watch TV for an hour or two to see sample after sample of persuasive language. Here are some of the most popular ad campaigns of all time, with links to articles explaining why they were so successful.

Nike: Just Do It

The iconic swoosh with the simple tagline has persuaded millions to buy their kicks from Nike and Nike alone. Teamed with pro sports-star endorsements, this campaign is one for the ages. Blinkist offers an opinion on what made it work.

Dove: Real Beauty

Beauty brand Dove changed the game by choosing “real” women to tell their stories instead of models. They used relatable images and language to make connections, and inspired other brands to try the same concept. Learn why Global Brands considers this one a true success story.

Wendy’s: Where’s the Beef?

Today’s kids are too young to remember the cranky old woman demanding to know where the beef was on her fast-food hamburger. But in the 1980s, it was a catchphrase that sold millions of Wendy’s burgers. Learn from Better Marketing how this ad campaign even found its way into the 1984 presidential debate.

De Beers: A Diamond Is Forever

A diamond engagement ring has become a standard these days, but the tradition isn’t as old as you might think. In fact, it was De Beers jewelry company’s 1948 campaign that created the modern engagement ring trend. The Drum has the whole story of this sparkling campaign.

Volkswagen: Think Small

Americans have always loved big cars. So in the 1960s, when Volkswagen wanted to introduce their small cars to a bigger market, they had a problem. The clever “Think Small” campaign gave buyers clever reasons to consider these models, like “If you run out of gas, it’s easy to push.” Learn how advertisers interested American buyers in little cars at Visual Rhetoric.

American Express: Don’t Leave Home Without It

AmEx was once better known for traveler’s checks than credit cards, and the original slogan was “Don’t leave home without them.” A simple word change convinced travelers that American Express was the credit card they needed when they headed out on adventures. Discover more about this persuasive campaign from Medium.

Skittles: Taste the Rainbow

These candy ads are weird and intriguing and probably not for everyone. But they definitely get you thinking, and that often leads to buying. Learn more about why these wacky ads are successful from The Drum.

Maybelline: Maybe She’s Born With It

Smart wordplay made this ad campaign slogan an instant hit. The ads teased, “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.” (So many literary devices all in one phrase!) Fashionista has more on this beauty campaign.

Coca-Cola: Share a Coke

Seeing their own name on a bottle made teens more likely to want to buy a Coke. What can that teach us about persuasive writing in general? It’s an interesting question to consider. Learn more about the “Share a Coke” campaign from Digital Vidya.

Always: #LikeaGirl

Talk about the power of words! This Always campaign turned the derogatory phrase “like a girl” on its head, and the world embraced it. Storytelling is an important part of persuasive writing, and these ads really do it well. Medium has more on this stereotype-bashing campaign.   

Editorial Persuasive Writing Examples

Newspaper editors or publishers use editorials to share their personal opinions. Noted politicians, experts, or pundits may also offer their opinions on behalf of the editors or publishers. Here are a couple of older well-known editorials, along with a selection from current newspapers.

Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1897)

Sample lines: “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias.”

What’s the Matter With Kansas? (1896)

Sample lines: “Oh, this IS a state to be proud of! We are a people who can hold up our heads! What we need is not more money, but less capital, fewer white shirts and brains, fewer men with business judgment, and more of those fellows who boast that they are ‘just ordinary clodhoppers, but they know more in a minute about finance than John Sherman,’ we need more men … who hate prosperity, and who think, because a man believes in national honor, he is a tool of Wall Street.”

America Can Have Democracy or Political Violence. Not Both. (The New York Times)

Sample lines: “The nation is not powerless to stop a slide toward deadly chaos. If institutions and individuals do more to make it unacceptable in American public life, organized violence in the service of political objectives can still be pushed to the fringes. When a faction of one of the country’s two main political parties embraces extremism, that makes thwarting it both more difficult and more necessary. A well-functioning democracy demands it.”

The Booster Isn’t Perfect, But Still Can Help Against COVID (The Washington Post)

Sample lines: “The booster shots are still free, readily available and work better than the previous boosters even as the virus evolves. Much still needs to be done to build better vaccines that protect longer and against more variants, including those that might emerge in the future. But it is worth grabbing the booster that exists today, the jab being a small price for any measure that can help keep COVID at bay.”

If We Want Wildlife To Thrive in L.A., We Have To Share Our Neighborhoods With Them (Los Angeles Times)

Sample lines: “If there are no corridors for wildlife movement and if excessive excavation of dirt to build bigger, taller houses erodes the slope of a hillside, then we are slowly destroying wildlife habitat. For those people fretting about what this will do to their property values—isn’t open space, trees, and wildlife an amenity in these communities?”   

Persuasive Review Writing Examples

Book or movie reviews are more great persuasive writing examples. Look for those written by professionals for the strongest arguments and writing styles. Here are reviews of some popular books and movies by well-known critics to use as samples.

The Great Gatsby (The Chicago Tribune, 1925)

Sample lines: “What ails it, fundamentally, is the plain fact that it is simply a story—that Fitzgerald seems to be far more interested in maintaining its suspense than in getting under the skins of its people. It is not that they are false: It is that they are taken too much for granted. Only Gatsby himself genuinely lives and breathes. The rest are mere marionettes—often astonishingly lifelike, but nevertheless not quite alive.”

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (The Washington Post, 1999)

Sample lines: “Obviously, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone should make any modern 11-year-old a very happy reader. The novel moves quickly, packs in everything from a boa constrictor that winks to a melancholy Zen-spouting centaur to an owl postal system, and ends with a scary surprise. Yet it is, essentially, a light-hearted thriller, interrupted by occasional seriousness (the implications of Harry’s miserable childhood, a moral about the power of love).”

Twilight (The Telegraph, 2009)

Sample lines: “No secret, of course, at whom this book is aimed, and no doubt, either, that it has hit its mark. The four Twilight novels are not so much enjoyed, as devoured, by legions of young female fans worldwide. That’s not to say boys can’t enjoy these books; it’s just that the pages of heart-searching dialogue between Edward and Bella may prove too long on chat and too short on action for the average male reader.”

To Kill a Mockingbird (Time, 1960)

Sample lines: “Author Lee, 34, an Alabaman, has written her first novel with all of the tactile brilliance and none of the preciosity generally supposed to be standard swamp-warfare issue for Southern writers. The novel is an account of an awakening to good and evil, and a faint catechistic flavor may have been inevitable. But it is faint indeed; novelist Lee’s prose has an edge that cuts through cant, and she teaches the reader an astonishing number of useful truths about little girls and about Southern life.”

The Diary of Anne Frank (The New York Times, 1952)

Sample lines: “And this quality brings it home to any family in the world today. Just as the Franks lived in momentary fear of the Gestapo’s knock on their hidden door, so every family today lives in fear of the knock of war. Anne’s diary is a great affirmative answer to the life-question of today, for she shows how ordinary people, within this ordeal, consistently hold to the greater human values.”   

What are your favorite persuasive writing examples to use with students? Come share your ideas in the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook .

Plus, the big list of essay topics for high school (120+ ideas) ..

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101 Interesting Persuasive Essay Topics for Kids and Teens

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Selling is convincing. 11 Persuasive Writing Techniques

Some people are very good at convincing.

Surely you know someone like that, (or maybe it’s you), that kind of person who almost always gets what he wants.

Persuasion is not innate in everyone, but it can be learnt.

In order to sell, you have to persuade, but you have to do it properly so that people don’t run away from you.

And how do you persuade them?

With arguments.

But with arguments designed for the specific person we want to convince to do something.

Experienced salespeople are experts in persuading and they study the person in front of them before choosing the arguments with which they are going to convince them.

But you don’t have salespeople who are on the road visiting clients, so you have to convince your potential customers with the words you write on your website and social media accounts.

With the copy on your website and with your marketing emails you can convince your visitors and subscribers to do what you want: buy your notebooks, hire you as a coach or do your course online.

Telemarketing and aggressive direct sales no longer work.

People don’t want to be disturbed at their front door or to be called on the phone to hear a pushy monologue on why should they change their telephone carrier.

Do you also wonder how many of these calls are really attended?

99% of people have neither the time nor the desire to listen to this type of shoddy salesmanship, especially because they always seem to call at the most inconvenient moment.

Telemarketing should be history, along with passive gymnastics machines.

Nowadays people want to feel they choose freely , without being harassed, that’s why Inbound marketing and persuasive writing or copywriting are working so well.

Inbound marketing are those marketing techniques that aim to attract, persuade and convert potential customers into real customers.

It’s a matter of subtly attracting by offering valuable content and convincing with arguments, without being a pain.

There are lots of blogs and books to learn how to write with intention, as I call it.

In this post I give you the keys to write more persuasive texts in order to get closer to your potential customers and convince them that your product or service is what they need without sounding like a huckster.

Let’s crack on, shall we?

Get attention

If you don’t have that person’s attention, you’re not going to be able to convince her to keep reading and not go somewhere else.

In this post , I talked about ways to get the attention of the reptilian brain, which is the part of our brain that takes the decisions , so I recommend you to read it when you finish this post.

I don’t think it’s necessary to tell you the number of websites that swarm around and the dozens of emails that we all receive every day.

The first thing you have to think about is: How am I going to make this potential customer dedicate her precious attention to me?

The answer is with a title and an introduction that anticipates something interesting for that person.

And what might interest her?

Basically two things: How to solve a problem or how to feel better.

Now you can tell me “okay, but I sell bags and bags don’t solve any problem”.

Yes and no (I hate this expression but here it fits).

At first sight, it might seem that we don’t need a bag to survive but we might want a bag to feel better because with that bag we will belong to the group of people who dress well according to our taste.

With objects like this the most important thing is to have great images, so to attract attention you will choose stylish photos with people whom your ideal customer wants to look s like.

For example, a sexy girl, or an intellectual woman, a hip guy, etc …

However, to sell a service, an online course or software you will need to attract attention with words too.

Already on your website’ header or in the subject of your email you are going to tell that potential customer what she will take away if she keeps reading.

Let’s see an example.

Xebia is a software development company. Immediately after landing on their website they tell us, using large typography, the main benefit we can take from them.

Let’s see, raise your hand if you want to be a digital winner.

With this great introduction they are already calling out our attention to continue reading so we can find out how they can help us to become a digital winner.

Amplification is a typical practice in persuasive writing.

It consists in raising a problem (in a positive or negative way) and empathise with the reader about that problem so the potential customer puts all his interest in knowing more about what we have to offer.

In the previous example, we have raised a pain point in a positive way, “Do you want to be a digital winner?”

Then you can use agitation to “stick your finger in the sore” of that problem and get the reader’s full attention.

It’s not about being a sadist but of showing empathy towards the reader and his problem.

Let’s see a completely different example to illustrate this point and make it clearer.

In this example of easyspanishforyou.com (it’s a client of mine), we’re agitating the problem.

We have put ourselves in the shoes of the person who wants to learn Spanish for one of those reasons but he is afraid to fail because he thinks it’ll be very difficult and boring since he relates learning a language with his high school years.

Put yourself in your customer’s shoes and empathize with him, feel with him and tell him not to worry anymore, because you are going to help him.

This is where you have to present your product or service as a solution to that problem.

Be honest in explaining how you can help your potential customer and don’t use sleazy sales techniques.

Don’t promise benefits you’re not sure you can deliver.

Avoid phrases such as “ Incredible results ” “ Best in the market “.

And focus on describing your solution in honest and concrete words.

Let’s see this with an example.

We present our solution and how it is different from others that already exist. “ My lessons are focused on conversation.”

“You’ll realize that Spanish is one of the easiest languages to learn.”

I didn’t just add the above statement out of the blue, but I did some research and found that Latin languages (especially Spanish) are among the least difficult.

The human search for a WHY takes place even when we buy something. We all need a why.

No one is going to do what you want them to do if you don’t tell them why they should do it.

It’s like when your child, if you have one (otherwise you can picture yourself being 14), asks you for money.

– “Mom, can I have 20 €?”

Your immediate reaction will be:

– What for?

And depending on whether she tells you it’s to buy cigarettes or a book she needs for school, you may decide to give it to her or not.

Your customer wants to know why he should give you his money.

This is where you have to talk about the benefits of your product or service.

You need to describe in as much detail as possible how that person’s life will improve if they buy that product or if they hire you.

Remember, the benefits of your product are those advantages the customer gets.

Start by thinking about the features of your product and turn them into benefits.

Let’s look at a couple of examples:

Feature: “ Platform with beta technology “.

Benefit: “ You’ll save 20% of time doing your accounting .”

Feature: “ Support via WhatsApp “

Benefit: “ You’ll never get stuck, we’ll resolve your doubts at any time.”

Resolve objections

Before they buy anything, people are going to have objections and doubts.

Your job, if you want to be persuasive, is to take away all those objections with more arguments.

Objection: “ It’s expensive.”

Argument: “ Quality is important. Nowadays nothing lasts a long time and in the end, we end up spending more money by having to buy the same object more often because it breaks”.

Sit down to think about possible doubts and objections your customer may have and raise them in your texts even before the person reading comes up with them.

As an example, I’m going to tell you about a flaw that I have and that I can’t change no matter how much I want to.

In order to change it, I would need to be born again.

Let me explain.

I offer content creation and copywriting services in Spanish and English. I’m bilingual but not native English.

However, I have turned this “defect” into a virtue.

On my website, I tell my potential clients that I write in international English so that everyone, no matter where they can from, understands it.

In addition, the fact that I have lived in several countries, travelled a lot and speak several languages makes it easier for me to communicate with international people.

This is an advantage for businesses that want to sell in different countries and in markets where people use international English and not native English.

And it works, because it’s true.

Reflect on your flaws and turn them into advantages.

Social proof

I often talk about this point in my posts when I explain how to sell more over the Internet.

Using powerful testimonials can make a huge difference.

Having other people recommend your product or service will end up convincing your potential customer.

Because people tend to trust something when a lot of people say it’s good.

Why should we risk buying a product that nobody says anything about?

Make sure you add at least 3 or 4 testimonials to all your sales copy.

If you are designing an email marketing strategy with a sequence of emails, introduce testimonials in some of them, but not in all because it can be too much.

There are some tested email sequences that work, one of those emails always includes social proof.

This post explains the basics to create a sales sequence.

In order to obtain powerful testimonials, you can send your customers a short questionnaire with this kind of questions:

– Why did you decide to hire us?

– What objections did you have before hiring us?

– What is it like before and after working with me?

– What would you highlight about this product?

With these questions, you help those people who find expressing themselves difficult to write great testimonials for your business.

Comparing your product or service with your competition can be a very persuasive argument.

You can’t use your competitor’s name but you can suggest what others do and what you do differently.

Here it’s necessary to be very subtle, it isn’t a question of underestimating what others do, but of underlining what you do differently and better.

For example, you can emphasize the fact that you are the only company in your sector that offers customer service over the phone or that your shoes are manufactured in Europe and not in poor countries with very low wages.

Contrast will help you express your Unique Value Proposition , or what makes you different from other products or services.

So far we’ve convinced the emotional part of the brain, which is the part that makes the decisions. But if there is still any doubt we can convince the logical part of the brain with data.

Choose graphs and statistics that add tangible data to your arguments.

For example:

“Did you know that 70% of people who work with their computers suffer back pain due to bad postures?”

Do your research and find statistics, graphs and data that will help you convince your potential customers.

People are often absent-minded, we forget things.

That’s why repetition works very well when selling.

You should remind your potential customer, by choosing different words, what is that you offer and the strongest arguments you have put forward to answer the important WHY.

Repeat your offer several times throughout the text if it’s long, and especially at the end.

Do you know the popular technique of the PS?

Check next time you receive a well-written marketing email and more often than not you will find the offer repeated in the PS with different words.

Surely this has happened to you before.

You’re talking to a potential customer and he’s almost convinced but suddenly he says “Let me think about it”.

And 99% of the times he won’t come back.

Sometimes introducing urgency can do the job because it also brings into play the fear of losing an opportunity.

To play with the feeling of urgency you can introduce a limited offer or shortage of units (limited stock, only X units left).

But don’t overdo it with phrases like “ If you don’t buy now, in 5 days everything will be sold “.

You have to be more subtle and say something like “ I can’t guarantee that there will be units left in a few days”.

You can be even more subtle when you introduce the urgency factor helping the potential customer to imagine already enjoying the advantages of your service.

Let’s look at an example.

This is a text I wrote for a company that offers courses online on Nutrigenomics .

On the home page I talked about how important genetics will be in the prevention of diseases in the future and how prominent this science is becoming, so experts in this field will be in high demand.

I introduced the urgency factor with phrases like this:

“Be ahead of the crowd and learn Nutrigenomics now.”

This is a good example of how you can use urgency without using limited price or stock offers.

Call to Action

No matter how convinced a person is to do what you want him to do, (buy a product, make an appointment, subscribe to a newsletter), if you don’t guide him exactly where you want him to go, your efforts of persuasion will have been of no use.

The call to action (CTA) is that button that we want the customer to click to take him to the shopping cart or contact form.

Here you can be creative and use different phrases instead of the typical “Subscribe now” or “I want the free guide”.

You can say:

Persuasive writing is a technique that can be mastered over time and by practising a lot.

Read and study all the sales copy you find and decide if you like it and why.

This is another way to learn, but you also have to practice writing yourself.

If you have any doubts when writing your copy I’m here to answer them.

Sobre   Elena de Francisco

Siento un placer inmensurable aplastando textos zombis que no dan resultados y transformándolos en textos llenos de vida que provocan muchas ventas.

About   Elena de Francisco

I find real pleasure in crushing zombie copy that doesn’t provoke any emotion and turning it into vivid words that convert prospects into smiley paying customers.

Actually I love this post.. I would like to learn how to tap big ideas from my subconscious mind. Thanks

Hello Celestial,

Thank you for your nice comment. Big Ideas don’t come out of the blue. Or not completely. They come after having done a thorough research on your buyer persona, your product and the market. They come from listening to what people really want and how they express it. It’s a process and not always easy. Sometimes a good idea may come after reading a book or watching a film that has nothing to do with the product, but you connect ideas. Very often is about connecting ideas more than creating new ones. Practice will also make things easier. Stay curious and ideas will come. A big hug, Elena

Consumers do not have to need or be interested in a product or service, they can be persuaded. Sometimes the market is suggestive, massages the consumer’s emotions, their interests. Influence an emotion and you hit a home run. A bit of tickle, with imagery works well

Exact. People buy triggered by an emotion, there’s very little logical thinking going on the purchase process. So we have to read those emotions and amplify them. Thanks for your comment!

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9 powerful persuasive writing techniques to sell more (and better)

• By David Miralles Perez
• Business , Copywriting , Marketing

You designed the perfect landing page for your new product.

You worked really hard and added every single section to maximise your results. However, once you published it, you didn’t get the results that were expecting.

I know. That’s very frustrating.

But don’t worry; I’m sure that you did a great job with your landing page. Now you just need to implement some techniques to persuade your clients to take action.

[Tweet “Words are the best tool to sell online.”]

And those that aren’t aware of this are losing money day after day. Literally.

I’ve gathered a list of 11 persuasive writing techniques that I have personally tested with both, my own copies and copies for some clients, and I can guarantee that they work.

Are you ready to start selling more online?

1. Entice your readers with benefits-oriented copies

It’s the very first tip that I always give to my clients and yet the most common mistake that I see online.

If someone is looking for a product or service, it’s because there’s a problem behind, something that makes him/her need this product or service.

I’m sure that if you think about it, what you sell have (at least) a positive impact in your clients’ lives. That’s what you should explicitly tell your potential clients with your copy.

When the needs of your clients match the benefits of what you’re selling, the chances of selling increase dramatically.

How can you do it?

Take the list of features of your products or services. This also works if you want to convince a potential client to hire you over your competitors.

Beside each feature, you need to write what’s the benefit for your client. For example:

I’m selling one-to-one couching services à My couching services are tailored to your needs to tackle specifically those areas that you need to improve. à You will receive specific and tailored tips focused on overcoming your obstacles. à You’ll be able to make your business grow through tailored tips adjusted to your personal situation.

You see? We can transform a feature of your couching services into a benefit for your readers. Which statement do you think it’s more appealing?

Now you need to follow this process with each feature of your products or services. Remember that our clients aren’t always specialised enough to understand all the features of our products. Of course, they are important as well, but in general, people are going to pay attention to the benefits.

2. What’s the added value of your promise?

Every product or service must be accompanied by a promise. Try to complete this sentence:

My [insert your product or service] is aimed at [insert promise]. It’s different from my competitors’ because [insert added value].

This added value is what you need to focus on through your sales copy. It must be the core of your message. What’s the difference between buying from you and buying from your competitors?

If you can’t answer this question, you need to spend some time now thinking about it. (Well, you can finish reading this post first!)

Also, you need to repeat this added value together with your promise through your copy. Make it clear. You readers need to know at first glance what they’re getting when they buy from you.

3. Answer your readers’ questions

When we’re buying something, we always have a series of questions in our minds.

You need to be sure of answering them all in your copy. This way, your potential clients won’t have any ‘excuse’ not to buy your product.

I always use two strategies to come up with questions that my potential clients may have:

• Go to any forum related to what you’re selling and look for any questions that people are asking. You should pay special attention to repeated questions, as they’d be the most common and problematic ones. You can also pay attention to answers to these questions and see if that applies to your products.
• Have a look at your competitors’ websites. Sometime they include a FAQ section in their websites. Have a look at them and see if any of them applies to your product. Again, maybe the answers can help you come up with the perfect solution to these questions.

4. Use sensory adjectives to make your readers feel

Verbs are the most powerful words. They make you act. That’s true.

However, sensory adjectives can make you feel.

One of the main problems when selling online is that we can’t touch the product that we’re buying. This problem becomes even more difficult to overcome when selling services, as they’re not tangible goods.

Although some of the words I have highlighted are nouns, you can see that they evoke the sense of touch. They make the reader feel the touch of the blanket and they’re also describing how the buyer would feel if he buys it.

If you’re selling a product, you need to think of the five different senses: sound, sight, touch, smell and taste. You need to select those that are important for your product; obviously, you won’t be able to apply them all.

Think about adjectives that best describe your product and don’t forget to include them in your copy.

You can also read some reviews to get to know how people describe a product. That can help you come up with a list of sensory words.

If you’re selling services as I do, we’ve got a bigger problem, because our services may not be tangible. That’s why we need to evoke in our readers how they’re going to feel and what they’re going to achieve when buying from us.

We need to tell them how they’re feeling and how they’re going to feel once they’ve hired us. In other words, how his situation is going to change.

You can read an example of this technique in my copywriting services page.

5. Don’t hide the negative aspects of what you sell

You can’t lie to your audience.

If there’s something wrong, they’re going to notice. And they’ll get very angry if they didn’t know beforehand.

That’s why we should be always honest.

If there’s a negative aspect, spell it out. You should weight both positive and negative aspects in a balance, and make obvious that there’re more advantages than disadvantages.

If you think that it’s the other way round, then you should step back and see how to hone your product to overcome some of these disadvantages.

6. Scarcity: it’s now or never

This applies especially to exclusive offers.

Make sure that you use urgency in your message. It’s the first and last time you’re offering X, and they must know that it’s now or never.

Sometimes this is what indecisive potential clients need to make a move. If they were thinking about buying this product at some point, it would be the best chance to do it. So don’t be afraid to say so.

You can also use a countdown so your clients can see how many days or hours they have to make decision.

7. Confuse your reader to attract his attention

Multi what?

You probably didn’t know what Multi-Touch refers to until you read the description.

This is called: the disrupt and reframe technique. And it’s something that Apple does very effectively.

You confuse your reader through a new and appealing headline. Something that sounds good but your reader won’t be able to understand exactly; and then you force your client to read the description to get to know what that is and entice him.

I’m sure that now you all will pay more attention to Apple headlines. That happened to me when I first discovered this technique!

8. Endowed Progress Effect

The Endowed Progress Effect is simply letting your readers know that by buying from you, they’ll be making a progress to achieve a final goal.

Let’s see this though an example:

Imagine that you’re selling portrait photography courses. Three in total. Your promise is that after taking these three courses, your clients will be ready to take the best portraits, but you sell these three courses separately, so people can chose if they need to take only one or the three of them.

Well, then if you tell your clients who took the first course that they’re two steps behind being able to take the best portraits, you’ll have more chances to make them buy the second one.

You’re encouraging your clients to keep progressing towards a final goal.

And the 9 th persuasive writing technique and one of my most recent discoveries that I haven’t doubted to test myself:

[sociallocker id=”3558″]

9. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Every product and service is related to one of these needs. You should know exactly how what you sell relates to it.

If you understand the psychological need of your product, you’ll be able to write a sales copy optimised to your clients’ needs.

The first thing you should do is to relate your product to one of the needs and then try to be as specific as possible with this need. Think from the perspective of your client and design an ICA if needed.

What are his biggest fears? What does he worry about? What are his weaknesses?

Brainstorm and then tackle all this point in your copy.

[/sociallocker]

With these 9 persuasive techniques you’ll be able to increase the sales of your business and increase the conversion rates of your landing pages. Have you already used any of them? Did they work for you? I’d love to hear from you.

David Miralles Perez

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How to Write Perfect Persuasive Essays in 5 Simple Steps

WHAT IS A PERSUASIVE ESSAY?

A persuasive text presents a point of view around a topic or theme that is backed by evidence to support it.

The purpose of a persuasive text can be varied.  Maybe you intend to influence someone’s opinion on a specific topic, or you might aim to sell a product or service through an advertisement.

The challenge in writing a good persuasive text is to use a mix of emotive language and, in some cases, images that are supported by hard evidence or other people’s opinions.

In a persuasive essay or argument essay, the student strives to convince the reader of the merits of their opinion or stance on a particular issue. The student must utilise several persuasive techniques to form a coherent and logical argument to convince the reader of a point of view or to take a specific action.

PERSUADING PEOPLE REQUIRES A CONSISTENT APPROACH…

Persuasive texts are simple in structure.  You must clearly state your opinion around a specific topic and then repeatedly reinforce your opinions with external facts or evidence.  A robust concluding summary should leave little doubt in the reader’s mind.  ( Please view our planning tool below for a detailed explanation. )

TYPES OF PERSUASIVE TEXT

We cover the broad topic of writing a general persuasive essay in this guide, there are several sub-genres of persuasive texts students will encounter as they progress through school. We have complete guides on these text types, so be sure to click the links and read these in detail if required.

• Argumentative Essays – These are your structured “Dogs are better pets than Cats” opinion-type essays where your role is to upsell the positive elements of your opinions to your audience whilst also highlighting the negative aspects of any opposing views using a range of persuasive language and techniques.
• Advertising – Uses persuasive techniques to sell a good or service to potential customers with a call to action.
• Debating Speeches – A debate is a structured discussion between two teams on a specific topic that a moderator judges and scores. Your role is to state your case, sell your opinions to the audience, and counteract your opposition’s opinions.
• Opinion Articles, Newspaper Editorials. – Editorials often use more subtle persuasive techniques that blur the lines of factual news reporting and opinions that tell a story with bias. Sometimes they may even have a call to action at the end.
• Reviews – Reviews exist to inform others about almost any service or product, such as a film, restaurant, or product. Depending on your experiences, you may have firm opinions or not even care that much about recommending it to others. Either way, you will employ various persuasive techniques to communicate your recommendations to your audience.
• Please note a DISCUSSION essay is not a traditional persuasive text, as even though you are comparing and contrasting elements, the role of the author is to present an unbiased account of both sides so that the reader can make a decision that works best for them. Discussions are often confused as a form of persuasive writing.

A COMPLETE TEACHING UNIT ON PERSUASIVE WRITING SKILLS

Teach your students to produce writing that  PERSUADES  and  INFLUENCES  thinking with this  HUGE  writing guide bundle covering: ⭐ Persuasive Texts / Essays ⭐ Expository Essays⭐ Argumentative Essays⭐ Discussions.

A complete 140 PAGE unit of work on persuasive texts for teachers and students. No preparation is required.

THE STRUCTURE OF A PERSUASIVE ESSAY

1. Introduction

In the introduction, the student will naturally introduce the topic. Controversial issues make for great topics in this writing genre. It’s a cliche in polite society to discourage discussions involving politics, sex, or religion because they can often be very divisive. While these subjects may not be the best topics of conversation for the dinner table at Thanksgiving, they can be perfect when deciding on a topic for persuasive writing. Obviously, the student’s age and abilities should be considered, as well as cultural taboos, when selecting a topic for the essay. But the point holds, the more controversial, the better.

Let’s take a look at some of the critical elements of the introduction when writing a persuasive essay:

Title: Tell your audience what they are reading.

This will often be posed as a question; for example, if the essay is on the merits of a vegetarian lifestyle, it may be called something like: To Eat Meat or Not?

Hook : Provide your audience with a reason to continue reading.

As with any genre of writing, capturing the reader’s interest from the outset is crucial. There are several methods of doing this, known as hooks. Students may open their essays with anecdotes, jokes, quotations, or relevant statistics related to the topic under discussion.

Background: Provide some context to your audience.

In this introductory section, students will provide the reader with some background on the topic. This will place the issue in context and briefly weigh some opinions on the subject.

Thesis statement: Let the audience know your stance.

After surveying the topic in the first part of the introduction, it is now time for the student writer to express their opinion and briefly preview the points they will make later in the essay.

2. Body Paragraphs

The number of paragraphs forming this essay section will depend on the number of points the writer chooses to make to support their opinion. Usually three main points will be sufficient for beginning writers to coordinate. More advanced students can increase the number of paragraphs based on the complexity of their arguments, but the overall structure will largely remain intact.

Be sure to check out our complete guide to writing perfect paragraphs here .

The TEEL acronym is valuable for students to remember how to structure their paragraphs.  Read below for a deeper understanding.

Topic Sentence:

The topic sentence states the central point of the paragraph. This will be one of the reasons supporting the thesis statement made in the introduction.

These sentences will build on the topic sentence by illustrating the point further, often by making it more specific.

These sentences’ purpose is to support the paragraph’s central point by providing supporting evidence and examples. This evidence may be statistics, quotations, or anecdotal evidence.

The final part of the paragraph links back to the initial statement of the topic sentence while also forming a bridge to the next point to be made. This part of the paragraph provides some personal analysis and interpretation of how the student arrived at their conclusions and connects the essay as a cohesive whole.

3. Conclusion

The conclusion weaves together the main points of the persuasive essay. It does not usually introduce new arguments or evidence but instead reviews the arguments made already and restates them by summing them up uniquely. It is important at this stage to tie everything back to the initial thesis statement. This is the writer’s last opportunity to drive home their point, to achieve the essay’s goal, to begin with – persuade the reader of their point of view.

Ending an essay well can be challenging, but it is essential to end strongly, especially for persuasive essays. As with the hooks of the essay’s opening, there are many tried and tested methods of leaving the reader with a strong impression. Encourage students to experiment with different endings, for example, concluding the essay with a quotation that amplifies the thesis statement.

Another method is to have the student rework their ending in simple monosyllabic words, as simple language often has the effect of being more decisive in impact. The effect they are striving for in the final sentence is the closing of the circle.

Several persuasive writing techniques can be used in the conclusion and throughout the essay to amp up the persuasive power of the writing. Let’s take a look at a few.

ETHOS, PATHOS & LOGOS TUTORIAL VIDEO (2:20)

TIPS FOR WRITING A GREAT PERSUASIVE ESSAY

PERSUASIVE TECHNIQUES

In this article, we have outlined a basic structure that will be helpful to students in approaching the organization of their persuasive writing. It will also be helpful for the students to be introduced to a few literary techniques that will help your students to present their ideas convincingly. Here are a few of the more common ones:

Repetition: There is a reason why advertisements and commercials are so repetitive – repetition works! Students can use this knowledge to their advantage in their persuasive writing. It is challenging to get the reader to fully agree with the writer’s opinion if they don’t fully understand it. Saying the same thing in various ways ensures the reader gets many bites at the ‘understanding’ cherry.

Repetition Example: “The use of plastic bags is not only bad for the environment, but it is also bad for our economy. Plastic bags are not biodegradable, meaning they will not decompose and will continue to take up space in landfills. Plastic bags are also not recyclable, meaning they will not be reused and will instead end up in landfills. Plastic bags are not only bad for the environment, but they are also bad for our economy as they are costly to dispose of and take up valuable space in landfills.”

In this example, the phrase “not only bad for the environment but also bad for our economy” is repeated multiple times to reinforce the idea that plastic bags are not just a problem for the environment but also the economy. The repetition of the phrase emphasizes the point and makes it more persuasive.

It is also important to note that repetition could be used differently, such as repeating a word or phrase to create rhythm or emphasis.

Storytelling: Humans tend to understand things better through stories. Think of how we teach kids important values through time-tested fables like Peter and the Wolf . Whether through personal anecdotes or references to third-person experiences, stories help climb down the ladder of abstraction and reach the reader on a human level.

Storytelling Example: “Imagine you are walking down the street, and you come across a stray dog clearly in need of food and water. The dog looks up at you with big, sad eyes, and you cannot help but feel a twinge of compassion. Now, imagine that same scenario, but instead of a stray dog, it’s a homeless person sitting on the sidewalk. The person is clearly in need of food and shelter, and their eyes also look up at her with a sense of hopelessness.

The point of this story is to show that just as we feel compelled to help a stray animal in need, we should also feel compelled to help a homeless person. We should not turn a blind eye to the suffering of our fellow human beings, and we should take action to address homelessness in our community. It is important to remember that everyone deserves a roof over their head and a warm meal to eat. The story is designed to elicit an emotional response in the reader and make the argument more relatable and impactful.

By using storytelling, this passage creates an image in the reader’s mind and creates an emotional connection that can be more persuasive than just stating facts and figures.

Dissent: We live in a cynical age, so leaving out the opposing opinion will smack of avoidance to the reader. Encourage your students to turn to that opposing viewpoint and deal with those arguments in their essays .

Dissent Example: “Many people argue that students should not have to wear uniforms in school. They argue that uniforms stifle creativity and individuality and that students should be able to express themselves through their clothing choices. While these are valid concerns, I strongly disagree.

In fact, uniforms can actually promote individuality by levelling the playing field and removing the pressure to dress in a certain way. Furthermore, uniforms can promote a sense of community and belonging within a school. They can also provide a sense of discipline and structure, which can help to create a more focused and productive learning environment. Additionally, uniforms can save families money and eliminate the stress of deciding what to wear daily .

While some may argue that uniforms stifle creativity and individuality, the benefits of uniforms far outweigh the potential drawbacks. It is important to consider the impact of uniforms on the school as a whole, rather than focusing solely on individual expression.”

In this example, the writer presents the opposing viewpoint (uniforms stifle creativity and individuality) and then provides counterarguments to refute it. By doing so, the writer can strengthen their own argument and present a more convincing case for why uniforms should be worn in school.

A Call to Action: A staple of advertising, a call to action can also be used in persuasive writing. When employed, it usually forms part of the conclusion section of the essay and asks the reader to do something, such as recycle, donate to charity, sign a petition etc.

A quick look around reveals to us the power of persuasion, whether in product advertisements, newspaper editorials, or political electioneering; persuasion is an ever-present element in our daily lives. Logic and reason are essential in persuasion, but they are not the only techniques. The dark arts of persuasion can prey on emotion, greed, and bias. Learning to write persuasively can help our students recognize well-made arguments and help to inoculate them against the more sinister manifestations of persuasion.

Call to Action Example: “Climate change is a pressing issue that affects us all, and it’s important that we take action now to reduce our carbon footprint and protect the planet for future generations. As a society, we have the power to make a difference and it starts with small changes that we can make in our own lives.

I urge you to take the following steps to reduce your carbon footprint:

• Reduce your use of single-use plastics
• Use public transportation, carpool, bike or walk instead of driving alone.
• Support clean energy sources such as solar and wind power
• Plant trees and support conservation efforts

It’s easy to feel like one person can’t make a difference, but the truth is that every little bit helps. Together, we can create a more sustainable future for ourselves and for the planet.

So, let’s take action today and make a difference for a better future, it starts with minor changes, but it all adds up and can make a significant impact. We need to take responsibility for our actions and do our part to protect the planet.”

In this example, the writer gives a clear and specific call to action and encourages the reader to take action to reduce their carbon footprint and protect the planet. By doing this, the writer empowers the reader to take action and enables them to change.

Now, go persuade your students of the importance of perfecting the art of persuasive writing!

A COMPLETE UNIT ON TEACHING FACT AND OPINION

This  huge 120-page resource combines four different fact and opinion activities that you can undertake as a  WHOLE GROUP  or as  INDEPENDENT READING GROUP TASKS  in either  DIGITAL  or  PRINTABLE TASKS.

20 POPULAR PERSUASIVE ESSAY TOPICS FOR STUDENTS

Writing an effective persuasive essay demonstrates a range of skills that will be of great use in nearly all aspects of life after school.

In essence, if you can influence a person to change their ideas or thoughts on a given topic through how you structure your words and thoughts, you possess a very powerful skill.

Be careful not to rant wildly.  Use facts and other people’s ideas who think similarly to you in your essay to strengthen your concepts.

Your biggest challenge in getting started may be choosing a suitable persuasive essay topic.  These 20 topics for a persuasive essay should make this process a little easier.

• WHY ARE WE FASCINATED WITH CELEBRITIES AND WEALTHY PEOPLE ON TELEVISION AND SOCIAL MEDIA?
• IS IT RIGHT FOR SCHOOLS TO RAISE MONEY BY SELLING CANDY AND UNHEALTHY FOODS TO STUDENTS?
• SHOULD GIRLS BE ALLOWED TO PLAY ON BOYS SPORTING TEAMS?
• IS TEACHING HANDWRITING A WASTE OF TIME IN THIS DAY AND AGE?
• SHOULD THERE BE FAR GREATER RESTRICTIONS AROUND WHAT CAN BE POSTED ON THE INTERNET?
• SHOULD PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES HAVE TO TAKE DRUG TESTS?
• ARE TEENAGE PREGNANCY SHOWS A NEGATIVE OR POSITIVE INFLUENCE ON VIEWERS?
• SHOULD GAMBLING BE PROMOTED IN ANY WAY IN SPORTS EVEN THOUGH IT BRINGS IN LARGE AMOUNTS OF REVENUE?
• SHOULD SPORTING TEAMS THAT LOSE BE REWARDED BY RECEIVING INCENTIVES SUCH AS HIGH DRAFT PICKS AND / OR FINANCIAL BENEFITS?
• SHOULD SHARKS THAT ATTACK PEOPLE BE DESTROYED? SHOULD WE GET INVOLVED IN FOREIGN CONFLICTS AND ISSUES THAT DON’T DIRECTLY AFFECT OUR COUNTRY?
• SHOULD WE GET INVOLVED IN FOREIGN CONFLICTS AND ISSUES THAT DON’T DIRECTLY AFFECT OUR COUNTRY?
• COULD VIDEO GAMES BE CONSIDERED AS A PROFESSIONAL SPORT?
• IF YOU WERE THE LEADER OF YOUR COUNTRY AND HAD A LARGE SURPLUS TO SPEND, WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH IT?
• WHEN SHOULD A PERSON BE CONSIDERED AND TREATED AS AN ADULT?
• SHOULD SMOKING BECOME AN ILLEGAL ACTIVITY?
• SHOULD THE VOTING AGE BE LOWERED?
• DOES PROTECTIVE PADDING IN SPORTS MAKE IT MORE DANGEROUS?
• SHOULD CELL PHONES BE ALLOWED IN THE CLASSROOM?
• IS TEACHING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE A WASTE OF TIME?
• SHOULD WE TEACH ETIQUETTE IN SCHOOLS?

PERSUASIVE PROMPTS FOR RELUCTANT WRITERS

If your students need a little more direction and guidance, here are some journal prompts that include aspects to consider.

• Convince us that students would be better off having a three-day weekend .  There are many angles you could take with this, such as letting children maximize their childhood or trying to convince your audience that a four-day school week might actually be more productive.
• Which is the best season?  And why?   You will really need to draw on the benefits of your preferred season and sell them to your audience.  Where possible, highlight the negatives of the competing seasons.  Use lots of figurative language and sensory and emotional connections for this topic.
• Aliens do / or don’t exist?  We can see millions of stars surrounding us just by gazing into the night sky, suggesting alien life should exist, right? Many would argue that if there were aliens we would have seen tangible evidence of them by now.  The only fact is that we just don’t know the answer to this question.  It is your task to try and convince your audience through some research and logic what your point of view is and why.
• Should school uniforms be mandatory? Do your research on this popular and divisive topic and make your position clear on where you stand and why.  Use plenty of real-world examples to support your thoughts and points of view.  
• Should Smartphones be banned in schools?   Whilst this would be a complete nightmare for most students’ social lives, maybe it might make schools more productive places for students to focus and learn.  Pick a position, have at least three solid arguments to support your point of view, and sell them to your audience.

VISUAL JOURNAL PROMPTS FOR PERSUASIVE WRITING

Try these engaging, persuasive prompts with your students to ignite the writing process . Scroll through them.

Persuasive Essay Examples (Student Writing Samples)

Below are a collection of persuasive essay samples.  Click on the image to enlarge and explore them in greater detail.  Please take a moment to read the persuasive texts in detail and the teacher and student guides highlight some of the critical elements of writing a persuasion.

Please understand these student writing samples are not intended to be perfect examples for each age or grade level but a piece of writing for students and teachers to explore together to critically analyze to improve student writing skills and deepen their understanding of persuasive text writing.

We recommend reading the example either a year above or below, as well as the grade you are currently working with, to gain a broader appreciation of this text type.

VIDEO TUTORIALS FOR PERSUASIVE WRITING

OTHER GREAT ARTICLES RELATED TO PERSUASIVE ESSAY WRITING

Teaching Resources

Use our resources and tools to improve your student’s writing skills through proven teaching strategies.

WHERE CAN I FIND A COMPLETE UNIT OF WORK ON HOW TO WRITE PERSUASIVE ESSAYS?

We pride ourselves on being the web’s best resource for teaching students and teachers how to write a persuasive text. We value the fact you have taken the time to read our comprehensive guides to understand the fundamentals of writing skills.

We also understand some of you just don’t have the luxury of time or the resources to create engaging resources exactly when you need them.

If you are time-poor and looking for an in-depth solution that encompasses all of the concepts outlined in this article, I strongly recommend looking at the “ Writing to Persuade and Influence Unit. ”

Working in partnership with Innovative Teaching Ideas , we confidently recommend this resource as an all-in-one solution to teach how to write persuasively.

This unit will find over 140 pages of engaging and innovative teaching ideas.

PERSUASIVE ESSAY WRITING CHECKLIST AND RUBRIC BUNDLE

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (92 Reviews)

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Top 5 Persuasive Writing Techniques for Students

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How to Start an Essay with Strong Hooks and Leads

How to write a persuasive essay

Published September 27, 2020. Updated May 19, 2022.

Persuasive Essay Definition

A persuasive essay is a type of essay where the writer attempts to persuade the reader to agree with an opinion they feel strongly about. It uses emotions and opinions to convince the reader.

Overview of persuasive essay

Persuasive writing is made up of the three modes of persuasion. They are ethos (ethics), pathos (emotions), and logos (logic). A persuasive essay should clearly state your position in the thesis statement (your opinion on a topic). These types of essays are more like an advertisement. The main goal is to convince someone to accept your position by appealing to their emotions. In order to do that, the writer should know who the audience is. This helps to build the most effective essay possible. Researching information is not so important and does not need to consider counter-arguments.

Here is a helpful table of contents:

Key takeaways

Identifying persuasive writing, know your audience, possible topics for a persuasive essay, parts of an essay, outline example, persuasive essay template and examples, differences between persuasive and argumentative essays.

• The three modes of persuasion are ethos (ethics), pathos (emotions), and logos (logic)
• Persuasive writing uses emotions to convince your reader to agree with you
• A persuasive essay should clearly state your position in the thesis statement (your opinion on a topic)
• The body paragraphs should be reasons explaining your position
• The conclusion should restate your position, summarize your main points, and end with a closing statement

Worried about your writing? Submit your paper for a Chegg Writing essay check , or for an Expert Check proofreading . Both can help you find and fix potential writing issues.

So, what makes persuasive writing… persuasive?

Modes of persuasion

All persuasive writing is made up from the three modes of persuasion: ethos, pathos, and logos:

• Ethos is an appeal to ethics, or values
• Its purpose is to demonstrate the writer’s credibility
• If the reader feels the writer is credible, they are more likely to trust them

Look at this example:

From my experience as a neonatal nurse, newborn babies sleep for 15 to 18 hours per day, but only for short periods of two to four hours at a time.

By highlighting their relevant profession, the writer establishes credibility.

• Pathos is an appeal to emotion
• The writer wants to make the reader feel something, using words
• Here is a good place to use emotive language

Although fostering a senior dog can be heartbreaking in the end, people volunteer to give old dogs love and a comfortable life in their final years.

Words like “heartbreaking” and “final years” are used to make the reader feel compassion.

• Logos is an appeal to logic
• It uses facts, statistics, and data to convince the reader
• Having credible information strengthens the argument

Statistically speaking, bungee jumping, with 1 death per 500,000 jumps, is safer than hang gliding, with 1 death per 560 instances, and canoeing, with 1 death per 10,000 instances.

Presenting the actual numbers of deaths per instance, you can convince a reader that bungee jumping is not as dangerous as most people think.

Although you can use all three modes of persuasion, for a persuasive essay, focus on pathos – the use of emotions.

In a persuasive essay, your main goal is to convince someone to accept your position by appealing to their emotions. In order to do that, you need to know something about who your audience is.

It’s important to know who you are writing for so you know what types of points will appeal to them. This helps you build the most effective essay possible.

For example, say you are writing a social media post trying to convince people to visit a resort. If you were targeting families, you might focus on describing family travel packages and activities for children. If you were targeting college students, you might focus more on more adventurous activities (that are not kid-friendly) or even mention that it’s a great place for spring break.

In both cases, the target audience changes what points are focused on.

If your teacher assigns you a persuasive essay and leaves the topic wide open for you to choose, take a look at this list for some inspiration. Remember that if you strongly disagree with the topic, you could also write a persuasive essay about its opposite!

• Government should provide safety nets for the poor
• If a student is bullied, the bully’s parents should be fined
• The driving age should be raised to 18
• Instagram is bad for body image
• Healthcare should be a basic right in the U.S., like in other countries
• Social media is bad for developing interpersonal communication
• Eating local food is better for the environment than eating vegetarian
• There shouldn’t be billionaires
• High fructose corn syrup should be eliminated from foods
• Growing your own vegetables should be subsidized

Every essay you write will have 3 parts: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.

Think of the organization of an essay like this:

• Intro – Tell your reader what you’re going to write about.
• Body – Write about it.
• Conclusion – Tell them what you wrote about.

Let’s go through each of those parts for a persuasive essay. Each part will include a sample.

Introduction

You want to begin your essay with a hook. A hook is an interesting opening that “catches” your reader and makes them want to read more. Your hook is usually the first sentence.

After you’ve hooked the reader, you want to give some context or background information. Think of each sentence in your intro as a stepping point. Each sentence brings you closer to your thesis statement.

Once you’ve given some context, write a thesis statement, which tells the reader exactly what they’re going to read about. For a persuasive essay, the thesis statement gives your position: what is your opinion about your topic? Think of it like a map to the rest of your essay.

Sample introduction

Can you identify the hook, background information, and thesis statement in this sample?

Think about your favorite class in high school. Why was this class your favorite? Who was your teacher? I’m sure you loved the subject, but I’m willing to bet the teacher had something to do with it. How many classes did you have every day? Have you ever thought about how many classes your teacher taught? How many tests did he grade? How many essays did she read through and give feedback on? How many faculty meetings did he attend? Teachers are professionals, but their salary has not kept up with the requirements school districts place on them. Teachers should be paid higher salaries.

A typical essay will have between one and three body paragraphs, although you can write as many as you need (or as many as your teacher assigns you). Regardless of how many body paragraphs you have, they will all be organized in a similar manner.

Start with a topic sentence to show your reader what is coming up. This is a general sentence that gives an overview of that paragraph. Since your thesis statement was your position on a topic, the topic sentences will be reasons for your position. Why do you believe what you believe?

The body paragraphs will explain your reasons using emotion and opinions. If you have facts, that’s okay, but remember that you are persuading using emotion more than logic.

End a body paragraph with a sentence that summarizes what you wrote or that leads into the next paragraph.

Sample body paragraphs

Can you identify the topic sentences? Is each topic sentence a reason for the writer’s position? Does the body paragraph explain that reason? Can you identify any of the modes of persuasion – ethos, pathos, logos?

Every quality teacher is both a subject matter expert and good at teaching. These are two different skills. A teacher who connects well with his students but doesn’t know the subject matter isn’t going to be an effective teacher. Conversely, a genius who know the subject matter inside out but can’t find a way to make the material accessible to her students is also not an effective teacher. A good teacher needs to be both; In a way, it’s like every teacher is doing two jobs, but only getting paid for one. Although doubling every teacher’s salary might not be possible, they should at least get a raise.

Another reason that teachers should be paid higher salaries is because their jobs go beyond teaching. They are also coaches, advisors, confidants, classroom managers, and so much more. Can you remember that one teacher who was there for you, beyond their role as an educator? Perhaps it was the history teacher who listened to you when things were tense at home. The writing teacher who encouraged you to pursue your love of short stories. The Spanish teacher who believed in you enough to convince you to apply for that scholarship. Teachers are performing duties that are not part of their contracts, and they do it because they love their job and they love their students. Doesn’t that deserve a raise?

Finally, teachers deserve a raise because their work is not just in the classroom. Teachers are in the classroom, actively teaching, for up to seven hours a day. Before you say that’s not a full work day of 8 hours, remember that teaching is only part of the job. Teachers need time to prepare their lessons. They need time to grade assignments, quizzes, and tests. They need time for administrative duties and meetings. It’s not unusual for a teacher to put in a 50 to 60-hour work week, on a regular basis. Their pay does not reflect the time actually spent working.

This is how your essay ends, and it is the last impression your reader takes away.

Conclude your essay by restating your position from your thesis statement (in the introduction). Then, summarize the main points (your reasons) from your essay.

Try to end with a closing statement: an idea that you want your reader to walk away with.

Sample conclusion

Can you identify the sentence that ties back to the thesis statement? Can you identify the summary of the main points? Can you identify a closing statement?

We all agree that teachers play an essential role in the lives of young people. Teachers know their subjects well, and they know how to share that information in a way that students can understand. Yes, teachers teach students what they need to be productive members of society, but they are also involved in their lives as mentors, coaches, advisors, and more. Plus, the hours they actually put in are not reflected in their pay. If school districts continue to demand that teachers work more, do more, and be more, the least teachers can get in return is pay that represents the importance of that work. It is time to give teachers a raise.

I. Teachers should be paid higher salaries.

II. Good teachers = good at teaching + subject knowledge. Two skills!

A. Good at teaching, bad at subject matter = ineffective

B. Genius at subject matter, bad at teaching = ineffective

C. Teacher needs to be both

• That’s like two jobs!
• Only 1 paycheck

Maybe not double pay, but more

III. Teachers do more than just teach

A. Coaches, advisors, confidants, classroom managers

B. Teacher who was more than just teacher

• History teacher – listened
• Writing teacher – encouraged
• Spanish teacher – scholarship

C. Duties not in their contracts

• Love their job
• Love their students

Doesn’t that deserve a raise?

IV. Work is not just in the classroom

A. Teach for 7 hours/day

B. Prepare lessons

D. Admin and meetings

E. 50-60 hours/week is common

Pay does not reflect time spent working

V. Teachers play essential role in students’ lives. It’s time to give them a raise.

Essay template

Essay example.

Before you turn in that paper, don’t forget to cite your sources in APA format , MLA format , or a style of your choice.

By Halina Stolar. Halina has a Master’s degree in teaching and taught English as a Second Language and writing for almost 15 years overseas. She now works as a freelance writer and geeks out over grammar for fun.

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Amazing Persuasive Speech Outline with Sales Presentation Examples

“ Wait… sales presentation? Oh, I’m not a professional salesperson. This may not work for me.”

Whether you are a salesperson or just trying to persuade coworkers to accept your ideas , this process is important to success. By the way, this technique works both in written format and in a speech. The best way to prepare for them is by treating them the same way. Start by creating a speech outline. Obviously, when you create persuasive speeches, you don’t want them to be scripted. A quick outline will typically work much better.

Amazing Persuasive Speech Outline

In the post, How to Design a Speech Quickly , we gave a few tips to create a quick presentation outline. In this session, we add a little more detail about how to make your presentation more persuasive. First things first, erase what you were taught about persuasive essays and public speaking in high school. A great persuasive speech can be broken down into these basic sections. This simple, three-step process will help you persuade even the toughest audiences.

An important part of being persuasive is to show your audience how they can get what they want. It is amazing how so many people will try to be persuasive by being self-centered. By switching the main ideas or focus from your own accolades to helping solve a customer’s needs you’re far more likely to succeed in a sale.

For instance, many salespeople begin their sales presentations by talking about their product or their company. “My company has 20 years of experience in this industry,” or “This product has a number of different features.” Using more appropriate words and following this three-step process will help you think like your audience. When you think like your audience, your audience will more likely agree with your conclusions. They’ll be less driven to throw back an oppositional claim about what you are saying or selling.

Sales Presentation Examples Using the Three-Step Persuasive Speech Outline.

Step 1: change your mindset from a feature/benefit to a problem solver..

That is good, but it fails to identify a problem that the patient might be experiencing that he/she wants to fix. It cuts off the chance for you to reach or solve a clear goal.

A good way instead would be to start with the problem statement. Something like, “If you want to avoid another root canal and crown, try brushing two minutes both in the morning and at night.” Even better would be to make the problem statement relevant to your audience on a daily basis. Show them how you have a relevant solution to their daily lives.

If you are selling a product, think about the customer’s problem, not what your product does. For instance, a feature of a computer might be the speed of the processor. The benefit is a more efficient workday. However, what problem will this increased speed solve? It gets rid of that spinning wheel of death on your computer screen. The point is that when you make the solution personal to the person, you will be more persuasive.

By the way, if you are looking for a shorter, easier version of this technique, try this post. Persuasive Impromptu Speech Strategies .

Step 2: Identify the Three Most Important Problems that Your Product or Idea Solves.

Erase the idea that you need to write out a complete persuasive speech outline template. These three problem statements become the backbone of your persuasive speech outline. An easy way to do this is to just repeat step one a couple of more times instead of moving to the next step. Another way is to ask yourself, “What are the major problems that my product or idea solves?”

For instance, if you are selling a car to someone, these items may be potential problems. “I’m embarrassed to invite friends to ride with me in my old clunker.” “I spend too much money on gasoline.” “My car has been in the shop twice in the last year.” If you know these are the potential problems, you can easily design a series of relevant ideas that solve them.

Step 3: Prove to Your Audience that You Can Solve These Problems.

Be careful, though. Don’t fall into the trap of presenting a list of facts, figures, or statistics. When we present a fact that is 100% true every time, human nature is to become argumentative. Your audience will think, “ I bet I can come up with one situation where that fact isn’t true. ” Instead, look for a real-life example (or story) of a time when you (or someone else) were able to solve the problem.

An effective persuasive argument is to use success stories from other clients or customers.”My car can solve [aforementioned issue] in the following way.” On a foundational level, create audience adaptations based on your arguments.

External Evidence Can Be Thought of as Supporting Material. However, the Best External Evidence Is a Simple Story about a Past Success.

Going back to the problem statements for the car buyer, we just need some good real-life examples of successes.

Persuasive Speech Outline Example: “ I had a customer last week who told me that she and a coworker carpooled to work. She said that she was looking for a car that was more dependable. Although she didn’t come right out and say it, I think she was nervous that she and the coworker would end up stranded on the side of the road. When I handed her the keys to her new car, she smiled and said, ‘I’m driving to work Monday. I can’t wait!’ “

For the gas mileage problem, an example that hits home might be in order. The improved gas mileage of the new car may allow the driver an extra couple of days between fill-ups. Over a year, that could add up to over 10 full tanks of gasoline that you save. This goes back to your audience adaptation, college students and young adults concern themselves with saving money. Money plays an important role in their lives because it allows for activities of high quality or happiness output.

Finally, just the fact that the car is new means that it will likely be more dependable. However, if you can reinforce this with a success story, you will be more persuasive.

Another Persuasive Speech Example: “ One of my customers had a job where he commuted over 50 miles, each way, five days a week. He traded in a four-year-old version of this car and replaced it with the exact same make and model. He had put over 125,000 on the car and never did any maintenance except oil changes. “

Don’t lose credibility by sharing made-up stories, rather think about successes based on factual information.

Put It All Together to Create an Amazing Persuasive Speech Outline

So, start by thinking about the problems that the audience members are experiencing. Next, organize the potential problems into the top three challenges . Finally, use stories and examples to prove that your idea or product can solve these problems. If you do this, you will create a fantastic persuasive speech outline .

Throw out the use of an attention grabber, final section, or particular action. In a conversation or presentation, the attention of the audience is already in your hand. Not all persuasive strategies are necessarily bad, but they limit your conversation to a specific purpose.

If you are looking for a way to design your presentations more quickly and easily, register for a 2-day Fearless Presentations ® class in your area. You will experience the power of these three simple steps first-hand. We’ve trained over 20,000 people in the last 18 years, and we’ve never had even a single person fail to increase confidence dramatically. The process works. It will work for you as well!

For additional details try a few of these other posts:

• How to Write an Effective Persuasive Speech .
• How to Write a Speech in Just a Few Minutes .
• Free Online Speech Creator .

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10 Tips to Write Persuasive Product Descriptions

There’s no denying that the influence of social psychology plays a substantial role in our everyday lives. Whether we notice it or not, we fall under its sway all the time. Plus, it’s more than fair to say that the science of persuasion is especially relevant in the sphere of eCommerce as, after all, if product descriptions and page elements are able to convince a customer to purchase something in an online store, then they work. But what defines the success of such texts?

Without a doubt, product descriptions are among the most important product page elements that can influence the behavioral patterns of users and urge them to make purchase decisions. Of course, there is a technical side to it as well, so, in many cases, it makes sense to turn to eCommerce developers for assistance or Magento 2 consulting .

In this article, we’ll give you 10 recommendations on the dos and don’ts of writing persuasive product descriptions as a technique to convert users and increase an eCommerce website’s sales . We’ll also gladly share examples of the descriptions of renowned brands.

Tip 1: Relate to Your Audience

The art of persuasion starts with personalization. Therefore, among the first things you can do when crafting your product description is to address the readers with “you”, keeping in mind a single person who sees this text. As you describe your product or service, try to make your text geared towards every individual as opposed to a broad vague audience. Such messages can create a dialogue and the illusion that you’re addressing this specific user.

The approach that highlights those qualities and points that your target audience can relate to is another thing that determines whether your product description will work or not. You have a clear vision of who you’re writing to, what these people are into, and what matters to them. Therefore use that tone and those words that’ll allow you to “click” with your audience . Asking questions is another thing to note.

By showing that you’re on the same page with the prospect, you have a bigger chance to persuade them to buy the product. One more personalization element that can do that is the personalized product pick section that collects things that a user might fancy on the basis of their earlier buys.

Let’s take a look at the NMD_R1 V2 sports shoes page on the official Adidas website . The product description is well-targeted and uses the “you” approach and compares the qualities the users cherish with those of the shoes. Here’s what the extract reads:

You’re a creator. An innovator. Where do your ideas come from? Lots of ambition, hard work, and attention to detail. These are the same motivating factors behind these Adidas NMD_R1 V2 Shoes.

Tip 2: Highlight Product Value

Nothing speaks better than the actual value your customer can gain from purchasing the product you are offering. Yes, you can use a bunch of fancy but meaningless words such as “top-notch”, “outstanding”, and “marvelous”, yet they don’t really describe the product in its essence.

So if you’re trying to answer the question of “how to write persuasive product descriptions”, double down on the value . Focus on those qualities and strong points that can help your customer in some way solve a common issue that they may encounter. By doing so, you can motivate your clients to buy the product.

For instance, below is a description of the Gel Semi-Matte Lipstick on the official Mary Kay website . Apart from separating the description from tips on how to apply the product and some specifications of how it works, they accent the strong sides of the lipstick that customers can take advantage of. Some of these include: “ technology for rich, stay-true color ”, “ without leaving lips looking or feeling dry ”, and “ the clear-top window makes finding your favorite semi-matte shade a snap, whether it’s in a cluttered handbag or makeup drawer ”.

Tip 3: Catchy Wording Works

When applying wordplay, splashy openers, or humor, you can capture the attention of your users. Puns, jokes, and interesting lexical constructions are eye-catching, nevertheless, they aren’t obligatory. And if you’ve decided to use them, then you must use them scrupulously. Keep in mind, that play-on-words aren’t always appropriate, for instance, they rarely appear in descriptions of luxurious and expensive goods, whereas are fun to use for items for children.

Giving you a persuasive eCommerce product description sample of such, here’s how the official Anthropologie website describes the Lucinda Silk Tunic Dress: “ Botanical blooms dance across this silk tunic dress ”. Further on they give advice on what to wear to complement the look, some words about the collection, and other details.

Tip 4: Use Storytelling

Another great “move” is telling your customers a story in the product description. It can be based on the actual history of the item’s making, a described scene, or something fictional that mixes the background with the item details.

Among the persuasive product description examples with storytelling is that on the official Hermes website . In the description of the Jige Elan 29 Clutch, Hermes tells the story behind the creation of the item: “ Named after the initials of its inventor, the Jige has been, since 1975, a symbol of union of love, as illustrated by its delicate, pared-down H clasp. ” In separate sections, there’s more information on which year it first appeared on the market, materials, dimensions, etc.

Tip 5: Mind Text Length

An often occurring question is how long should a product description be? Honestly, the fairest answer is, it depends. If a product is quite self-explanatory and needs no lengthy introduction, then keeping it short is the way to go. Your message doesn’t necessarily have to be very extensive to be persuasive.

On the other hand, in case the product you’re selling is complex, giving additional details on how to use it, how to take care of it, what are its peculiarities, surely won’t hurt.

The example below is taken from the official Tiffany & Co. website . The Band Ring from the Victoria collection is an item worth 18 thousand USD, and its description was fit into 50 words, mentioning all the key pointers including an intro, the collection name, the used metals, how many diamonds it has, and their total carat weight.

Tip 6: Split & Organize Data

The next thing worth mentioning is about structuring information on the product in a proper way. The layout in much influences perception and browsing behavior. According to Dr. Robert Cialdini , an Arizona State University professor emeritus of psychology and marketing:

Persuasion is no longer just an art, it’s an out-and-out science .

Having everything squashed together can result in poor readability and user experience. This is why you must make sure that the details on the product and the description are divided logically.

To illustrate, this is a screenshot of a suit product page on the official Hugo Boss website . As you can see, the price, color variations, fit, and material are given at the top of the page. The more extended description, care instructions, and size & fit sections are placed lower. Large images and information on the sizes of the model who’s wearing the suit are also available.

Tip 7: Use Client Reviews as Back-up

A powerful tactic to not overlook deals with powering your product pages with the feedback from those who have purchased this item and can share their thoughts on it. That said, generally, product descriptions that convert are those that can be proven in this or that way. Therefore, it is vital to encourage customers to give a rating to the product, leave a review, even better if with uploaded images. In return, you may offer them a discount, a coupon, or some other bonus for doing that.

Such social proof that the item you’re showing and describing really meets expectations can influence other shoppers to add items to the cart and order. As seen on the screenshot taken from the official Converse website , there’s a star rating at the top of the page that can take users to the section with client reviews that’s right below the description. This block has an outstanding heading: “ The people have spoken ”. It also shows the grade that the customers have rated the item with, a scale with its “fit”, as well as extracts of the clients’ comments.

Tip 8: Brand Ambassadors & Authority Figures

Having an opinion leader represent your brand or product line is one more favored persuasion strategy. For influencer marketing reasons, numerous companies around the world team up with famous figures for celebrity endorsements.

As such, here’s a persuasive online store description sample that’s backed-up by a brand ambassador. The official Clinique website as of recent has Emilia Clarke as the global representative of the Clinique iD line. Apart from explaining the difference between the five hydration bases and their pros in the description texts, the use of the Clinique iD line is demonstrated by Emilia.

Tip 9: Test Your CTAs

Your choice of the call to action text is no less vital than a strong product description. It has been proven that some CTAs are more effective for certain target audiences. Ordinarily, words that create an element of urgency (“Limited offer”, “Buy now”, “Limited edition” or “Last chance”) are quite effective.

For this reason, conducting A/B tests is one of the ways to determine which combination works best specifically for this product group. Usually, in the course of the test, part of the users see one variation, and the other part sees a second option. In the end, click through rates and other metrics help to conclude which of them is best.

Check out this transparent A/B Testing tools comparison we compiled, highlighting all the details you need to know to pick the best A/B testing tool.

For example, the official Cartier website uses the “ ADD TO SHOPPING BAG ” call to action button text with all uppercase letters. At the same time, the headings of the “Description” tab and the ones neighboring it are regularly capitalized.

Tip 10: Mind SEO

Finally, the last thing to bear in mind as you craft your product descriptions is search engine optimization. By inserting keywords in the product naming, the image Alt texts, and the descriptions, you can increase your chances for the item to be found faster and easier by search engines. Tagging and metadata are more points not to miss, and it is also advised to use bullet points in descriptions to help the engines pitch data into snippets.

Have a look at the product page on the official Chloé website . Instead of giving the item’s article name and number, they use an SEO-friendly “ CHECKED COAT ” in the product title and use its keyword combo in the description too: “ Checked coat for women in a wool blend with a vibrant blue-play colorway ”.

Summing up the given above, there are many factors that need to be taken into consideration as you put together your ultimate descriptions. You have to keep in mind your target audience, think the wording and text length through, organize it properly, and not forget about the SEO side of the deal. Hopefully, you’ve found these examples of persuasive product descriptions to be helpful for creating your own ones.

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9 Sales Pitch Examples (Plus Tips on How to Write Your Own)

FREE PITCH TEMPLATES FOR SALES TEAMS

Looking to expand your client base? Look no further! A well-designed pitch deck can be the key to success.

Updated: 05/29/24

Published: 05/29/24

Your sales pitch can make or break the deal. Trust me, after 16 years in sales I’ve seen it time and time again. Fumble the pitch and a prospect goes cold.

Sales reps need to have their pitch perfect before meeting with a customer. It’s about perfecting your opening line, your verbal business card, and the first thing your customers hear when you call or meet with them.

In my time in sales, I’ve heard my fair share of both great and less-than-stellar pitches. In this post, I’d like to discuss the anatomy of a good sales pitch and share examples of the best sales pitches I’ve seen.

Table of Contents

What is a sales pitch?

How to start a pitch, how to make a sales pitch, the sales pitch framework, great sales pitch examples, sales pitch presentation examples.

A sales pitch is a condensed sales presentation where a salesperson explains the nature and benefits of their business, ideally in less than one or two minutes. Sales pitches are often referred to as “elevator pitches” because they should be able to be delivered within the time constraints of a single elevator ride.

Salespeople are past the point of giving prospects hour-long presentations to sell products or services. Nobody has that kind of time and, to be honest, if you need an hour to relay your value proposition, you‘re doing it wrong. (Psst: If you need help creating a value proposition , we’ve got you covered.)

Remember: They're called elevator pitches for a reason. Ideally, if you're giving me one, I should be able to understand what you have to offer in the time it takes to get from the lobby to my floor. I need to be hooked by your opening line so I’m reluctant to leave the elevator because I’m so intrigued.

A good salesperson should be able to get their message across compellingly and concisely. If you can nail your sales pitch, odds are you'll have more time to talk down the line.

What is a product pitch?

A product pitch is not much different than a sales pitch, but it’s specifically focused on a product or service. When I pitch a product, I go in-depth and emphasize how the product works, how it will solves customers’ pain points, and the specific benefits it will bring to customers.

A sales pitch can be broadly focused. Let’s say I’m at a consulting firm that offers a wide range of services. I’m selling the business as a whole, rather than a specific product or service, like a CRM platform or accounting tool.

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Starting a sales call is arguably the hardest part of the pitch. You have to grab your prospect’s attention so that they actually want to hear the value of your product and how it can help their business. But before you can share the product’s value, you have to hook the prospect.

When starting a pitch, I make sure to do the following:

• Starting with the problem. I always start with the problem my offer solves. Unless customers know what my team can do for them, they won’t be open to hearing how our product is a solution.
• Tailoring the start of the pitch to their vertical. No one wants to hear a general pitch that would apply to any business. Instead, I research their vertical and use the information I find to personalize my pitch immediately.
• Offering stakes. If they don’t solve the problem using our solution, what do they have to lose? I don’t need to state it in such clear terms. However, alluding to the risks at the start of my pitch helps me secure buy-in straightaway.

Here are a few methods for starting a product pitch, but remember: Try to stick to thirty seconds, or one to two sentences if you’re delivering the pitch via email.

Start off with a personal anecdote.

I always start a pitch with what I know best — myself. While I don’t think you should focus solely on yourself throughout your entire pitch, starting off with a personal anecdote can help you speak with more authenticity and foster empathy.

The key here isn’t to focus on the product’s merits. How many product pitches start off with “This product helped me achieve X results in X amount of time”? A lot. And I’m already yawning. And no one cares about results unless they know the problem first.

Instead, my personal anecdotes focus on a problem that my offering can solve. Make it as excruciating as you’d like — and don’t forget to be genuine and connect your anecdote to their business.

Ask a question that relates to the problem you solve.

Oh, yes, the good old question. While it might verge on overused, it’s not to be dismissed. Asking a question is a highly effective way to start a pitch. The question should, again, focus on the problem.

I stick to yes or no questions and tailor them specifically to the business I’m pitching to. If I’m speaking to a real estate business, I craft questions that articulate a problem specifically experienced by real estate firms. If I’m selling a property management software, it could be as simple as, “Do you spend way too much time tracking individual property sales? That’s time better spent actually showing homes to prospective buyers.”

Start with a stat that resonates and offers stakes.

Starting with a stat can be effective — but it has to resonate with the audience and offer stakes. In other words, what does the stat have to do with the problem? How does it reflect a potential and critical downfall that could harm your prospect?

Let’s say that I’m selling yard maintenance services. Starting off with “50% of homes don’t use yard maintenance services” is a lazy and boring way to begin my pitch. Instead, I say that “50% of homes don’t use yard maintenance services, resulting in thousands paid to HOA every year.”

Now that you know how to start your pitch, it’s time to deliver the rest of it. Use the following tips to secure buy-in in less than three minutes.

• Make it short.
• Make it clear.
• Explain who your customers are.
• Explain the problem they're facing.
• Explain how your product addresses their needs.
• Describe what success will look like as a result of using your product.

1. Make it short.

A sales pitch isn‘t a conventional presentation. You’re not going to have PowerPoint slides. You‘re not going to have complimentary pastries on a boardroom table. And, most of all, you’re not going to have your audience’s time and patience for long — at least not until they’re sold on your product.

2. Make it clear.

This ties in with the previous point. You don’t have the time to go on tangents or talk about anything but the message you’re trying to get across. Your pitch has to be lean and to the point. It has to register with your listener immediately. That means speaking with intention and clarity.

If I’m pitching a product, I want to ensure that I clearly communicate how it will solve the prospects’ pain points. My listeners should leave with a clear picture of how their day-to-day will improve if they decide to make a purchase.

3. Explain who your customers are.

Consider the picture you’re going to paint in your pitch. Give your listeners perspective on who’s buying your product or service. They want to know that you have a lucrative, engaged market in mind. Be specific in identifying who will be interested in your product. Then, try to convey why your listeners should be interested in them.

4. Explain the problem they're facing.

Cover why your customer base needs you. Your target market is only as valuable as the problems you can solve for them. Convey a problem they consistently face. If I’m pitching a spreadsheet software for accountants with functionality Excel doesn’t have, I could discuss how hard it is to bookkeep without my software's unique features.

5. Explain how your product addresses their needs.

Here’s where you start to bring it all home. You’ve established who you’re selling to. You’ve established why you’re selling to them. Now, you have to establish why they’d buy from you. What can you do better than your competition?

As mentioned above, you need to clearly explain how your product addresses their needs. Continuing with the accounting example, you could touch on how your unique data visualization features make busywork more efficient.

6. Describe what success with your product will look like.

Show the benefits of your product on a broader scale. In the example we’ve been using, I can talk about how accountants who use my software have more time to spend with important clients or the flexibility to spend time with their families. I can show how my product makes customers’ lives better as a whole.

Ideally, your pitch should be a one-liner summarizing what your company does, how they do it, and for whom. And this is not just a requirement for sales reps. Anyone in your company, from the CEO to sales consultants, needs to know your one-line sales pitch by heart.

So, how should you structure your sales pitch?

If you have time to properly expand and work on a conversation, touch on points of interest. Here’s a framework you can use for building your pitch:

• Problem. Start with a statement or question about the problem you solve. You can present the problem using a personal anecdote, question, or eye-opening statistic. Answer the why.
• Value statement. Share a very clear, concise statement of value. Be action-oriented and outcome-focused. Avoid using jargon. Share benefits.
• How we do it. Highlight unique differentiators and explain what you do.
• Proof points. Provide clear reference examples and list recognizable achievements. Share industry validation and awards.
• Customer stories. Share customer examples and successes. Tell emotional and personalized customer stories. Make it real and tangible.
• Engaging question. Close the pitch with an open-ended question, creating a space to have a conversation.

Many companies use success stories in their pitches to ensure the sale. Name-dropping really works, so be sure to use that to your advantage. And if my product is small or light enough to keep in my pocket, I should always have one on hand to show prospects.

I always stress the need for a concise sales pitch. So keep it free of professional jargon, don't get into the weeds, and be sure to talk more about your prospect and their problems than yourself.

Nothing’s more off-putting than a bragging salesperson talking about themselves, their company, or their services. That’s what I call the “me monster.” The actor in your story is the customer, not you — period.

Distribution Matters

Lastly, presentation and distribution are everything. You need to deliver your sales pitch to the right person at the right time with the right tools on hand (like a demo, free trial, or presentation).

The sale starts with your list of contacts. Define your list and personas, know their correct contact information, get an introduction, and make sure you contact them at a time of day when they’re likely to respond.

Sales Pitch Ideas

• Tell a story.
• Include a value proposition.
• Personalize the sales pitch.
• Switch up your pitch.
• Practice your pitch.
• Try not to use metaphors.
• Create a WOW moment.
• Appeal to emotions.
• Back it up with facts.
• Tap into their fear of missing out.
• Educate them.

How can you make your sales pitch the best it can be? Here are some sales pitch presentation examples and ideas.

1. Tell a story.

Keep your listeners engaged by telling a brief story . The story could be either about the company or how a customer found success through your product or service. In this latter example, I can start with the issue the customer was facing, lead into the solution, and end with the key results the customer achieved.

If you think storytelling is difficult, don’t fret. Just think of your favorite movies and TV shows — how did they keep you engaged? Try to emulate the same tricks as you try storytelling during a sales pitch. Use images and interactive elements to enrich the experience for your listeners, keeping in mind who your audience is and what their preferences are.

Your story doesn’t even need to be an anecdote. This sales pitch presentation example from a template deck I found in Canva demonstrates how to communicate a relevant industry statistic at the beginning of your pitch. In my opinion, data is a great way to tell a story.

What I like: The video immediately presents a common problem that ecommerce vendors and marketers deal with and offers a solution. Beyond that, the use of animated visuals and catchy audio make it engaging to watch. Plus, I can actually see how to use the tool.

7. Social Sales Pitch

Social sales pitches are tailored messages delivered to prospective customers through social media platforms, like LinkedIn. This process is often referred to as social selling .

Unlike traditional sales pitches that can be more direct and transactional, a social sales pitch aims to establish relationships and build trust with prospects by delivering valuable and relevant content. The goal is to increase brand awareness and drive conversions by aligning your sales message with the interests and needs of your prospects.

Here’s an example of social sales pitch that works when you have a mutual connection:

In this sales pitch, Algoplanner — a supply chain SaaS company — uses a strong storytelling method. I like how they first set up a clear problem statement, tapping into prospective customers’ emotions (read: overwhelmed, overworked). Then, they position themselves as the solution.

UpSend, a former customer service software, has a great sales pitch presentation here. I like how they focus on setting up the problem they are solving for — and then clearly illustrating how their product adds value.

3. Surfe (Previously leadjet)

The revenue workspace Surfe illustrates another strong sales pitch. They quickly tell the story of their prospective customers’ pain points and communicate a lot of understanding. Then, I like how clearly they illustrate how their product solves those pain points.

Bonus: HubSpot

This isn’t exactly a pitch presentation but instead a podcast episode with CTO Darmesh Shah about how the company has grown over time. However, I included this episode in the list because Shah goes into the anatomy of HubSpot’s early sales pitch.

“What we said was, ‘By the way, everything you’ve done in marketing doesn’t work any more…’ When you’re selling to a VP of marketing, you’re creating an existential crisis in their head when you’re telling them everything they know how to do well is no longer relevant,” Shah says on the episode.

Then, Shah could recommend a change in direction with HubSpot.

Why a Short Sales Pitch is a Good Pitch

An important note to make about these sales pitches is that they are all amazingly optimized for a short conversation. (Notice how short the three pitch examples above are?) I can't stress enough how much brevity matters for a sales pitch. Talking too much, using filler words, and talking about your company for more than two minutes can easily kill a conversation. So, keep your sales pitch short, clean, and simple! Your customers will thank you.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in June 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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Enchanting Marketing

Writing advice for small business

How to Write a Seductive Sales Email (Without Feeling Icky)

by Henneke | 38 enchanting opinions, add yours? :)

She loves sharing her ideas. She loves inspiring her readers. She loves blogging.

But there’s one writing task she hates.

And that’s writing sales emails.

Writing sales emails makes her feel pushy and brash. As if she’s not herself. As if she’s betraying her readers.

But Hannah has written a new ebook, so she has to write a sales email.

After tidying up her desk, doing her bookkeeping, and cleaning her kitchen windows, she sits down. No more excuses, she tells herself. Write! Just write! Just do it!

But how can she write her email without feeling so icky?

Don’t change your voice because you need to sell something.

Your readers have come to trust and like your voice, so be yourself.

Whether your voice is friendly or authoritative, fun or serious, write like you always write.

AppSumo, for instance, consistently uses a chummy and jokey voice:

(If you said standing on the street corner, twirling a sign in your tighty-whities, you are right, but that’s not the answer we are looking for.)

But like pimpin’, making animations ain’t easy.

A fun and irreverent tone doesn’t suit everyone and can alienate your users, as user testing by Nielsen Norman suggests. So don’t feel you need to be as fun as AppSumo. Instead, find your own voice and stay true to it.

Step #2: Start with a problem

Which problem does your book, workshop, course, or product solve?

To write a persuasive sales email, highlight this problem and explain how your product helps solve it. Copywriters call this the “Problem – Agitate – Solution” (PAS) formula, and it’s probably the most useful copywriting formula you’ll ever learn:

• Describe a problem
• Agitate by highlighting the emotions going with the problem
• Offer your solution

PAS is powerful because problems can attract even more attention than benefits. People want to avoid pain, hassle, risks, glitches, and problems.

AppSumo uses the PAS formula, for example, to sell a smart app which helps create invoices, file expenses, track time, and manage projects. Here’s how the email begins:

Where most freelancers get bogged down, is the tedious paperwork – invoicing, chasing payments, expense tracking, sorting tax deductions, etc. (Ain’t nobody got time for that!)

And below you see the same formula applied to an app for creating wireframes:

That’s because you missed our WireframeApp deal and don’t have the tools you need to easily get you and your developer on the same page.

Applying the PAS formula helps you write your emails way faster because you know you can start with highlighting the problem your product solves. Plus sales success is almost guaranteed—as long as you highlight a problem that’s a real issue for your readers.

Step #3: Bat away hesitations

Which objections might derail your reader’s intention to buy?

Being seductive requires more than offering solutions to problems. You also have to bat away reader objections.

For instance, in a sales email for creating a business plan, AppSumo doesn’t pussyfoot around the objection that business plans are a waste of time:

And for the most part, you’d be right. Old school biz plans can suck up months of time better spent creating awesome businesses.

To sell, you need to explain why people would care about your offer, and then take away their hesitations to buy. In an honest way.

Step #4: Provide proof

Are your readers ready to buy once you’ve dealt with their objections?

Perhaps not quite yet.

To nudge them towards the buy button, prove why they can trust you.

Every AppSumo email includes social proof—usually reviews from two or three AppSumo email subscribers (called Sumo-lings):

[two screenshots with 5-star reviews]

(Sumo-lings aren’t the only ones. There are over 300,000 people using SitePoint!)

Another way to show proof is to use a testimonial story—like in the email below for a freelancing course:

She tried various strategies to increase her financial situation, including having her work promoted by influential people, but nothing worked.

She knew she had to revamp the way she was doing business.

It was then that she decided to take the Monthly1K course.

After taking the course, her career and financial situation skyrocketed.

The testimonial above would have been more persuasive if it included specifics on how much her career and financial situation had skyrocketed, but it’s still pretty persuasive as it is.

Don’t have testimonials yet? Ask a few beta readers or set up a trial.

Step #5: Sum up in style

You know bullet points are a great way to communicate information at a glance, don’t you?

This is why AppSumo summarizes its offer at the end of each email with a series of bullet points. For instance, these bullet points sum up an offer on DataDeck:

• Code-free, one-click connections to any real-time data source
• Unlimited dashboards with widgets from separate Google Analytics accounts
• Data integrations with Mailchimp, Stripe, Salesforce, MySQL, Google Analytics, Google Sheets, Google AdWords and Ptengine
• No limits on data sources, dashboards, and folders
• Create folders per clients and share each dashboard to an email address and protect with a password

The “secret” to writing persuasive sales emails

Want to write a persuasive email without feeling icky?

Stop thinking you have to sell.

Simply highlight a problem, offer a solution, bat away objections, prove you can be trusted, and then nudge readers to make up their mind with a persuasive offer.

Selling doesn’t require pushiness.

Because readers would love to know how your product can help solve their problems.

So be honest. Be clear. And be yourself.

Recommended reading on writing emails:

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Reader Interactions

Leave a comment and join the conversation cancel reply.

December 3, 2020 at 7:52 pm

Henneke, awesome info, Thank You. Could you give an example for Real Estate biz applying PAS.

December 4, 2020 at 10:08 am

To use the PAS formula, you must know the problem you solve for your clients. This may require segmenting of your list as not everyone trying to sell or buy a house (or office) will struggle with the same problem, and sometimes it may be better to focus on what people win rather than the problem you solve.

December 12, 2019 at 8:41 pm

Henneke, once again you arrived into my mailbox at the exact right time! I wrote a 5 x part email sequence as I read your post. And I used the PAS method. Ok, they might need tweaking but I found the post so inspirational, ideas just popped! Thanks for being you, and expecting nothing less for the rest of us.

December 13, 2019 at 10:59 am

That makes me happy! Thank you, Joan 🙂

May 5, 2018 at 11:28 pm

Your PAS Formula in this post is very good, Henneke. It reminds me of the sales methodology I learnt a long time ago in the financial services industry – primarily life insurance. It’s called RDRC. This equates to: Relax Disturb Relieve Close This system is the most effective formula I’ve come across in 40 years of professional selling. PAS is more concise, otherwise pretty much identical. Thanks for your informative post, as always.

Paul Herring Queensland Australia

May 7, 2018 at 12:12 pm

RDRC does sound similar to PAS. I guess PAS is used when people are already aware of a problem, while in life insurance potential buyers tend to think less about why they need an insurance as they’re not experiencing a problem right now, so you need to make them aware (disturb) them a little.

Thank you for sharing the RDRC formula, Paul. I appreciate your comment.

May 3, 2018 at 1:51 pm

This is not a blog post. It’s a mini-course! Thanks so much, Henneke.

May 3, 2018 at 5:29 pm

Thank you, Maria. I appreciate your compliment 🙂

April 25, 2017 at 9:55 pm

Great piece of advice! Very great timing for this article. I was about sending my first set of sales emails as a copywriter and I decided to search your blog for help, I ended up being at the right place at the right time! Thanks Henneke.

April 25, 2017 at 9:57 pm

That’s great 🙂

Happy writing, Temitope!

March 30, 2017 at 3:20 pm

Phenomenal post here, Henneke.

I know that for myself sales emails are tough. I don’t want to sound too pushy or oversell too much. But I love some of the points you raised here. Specifically the PAS formula and especially batting away hesitation. Great example you used here and I can really see how that can be effective.

Looks like I have a lot of practicing to do before I write another sales email.

– Andrew

March 30, 2017 at 7:35 pm

Yes, exactly – so many of us are afraid to be pushy. But with the PAS formula, there’s no need to be pushy at all.

Happy selling, Andrew!

March 26, 2017 at 3:23 pm

It’s just time for me to start email marketing, and I absolutely d’not know where to start. I want to do this qualitatively, so that my letters are not considered spam.

March 27, 2017 at 8:01 pm

The best point to start is your reader: What would he like to achieve? How can you help him?

When you share helpful information, readers will welcome your messages.

February 22, 2017 at 2:25 pm

‘Simply highlight a problem, offer a solution, bat away objections, prove you can be trusted, and then nudge readers to make up their mind with a persuasive offer.’

Haha! And you don’t call that er.. writing sales emails? 😉

February 22, 2017 at 7:13 pm

Uhm … yes, it is. We’re fooling ourselves, but it helps. Use any trick to take away a mental block 😉

February 21, 2017 at 8:34 pm

Henneke, Excellent as always. I loved the lesson on verbs. My suggestion to your readers. e-mail a copy of that post to every english teacher in your community. That is how “verbs” are taught.

You continue to amaze me. You are able to separate basic and necessary information from the husk of abstractions and communicate clearly. What a discipline.

February 22, 2017 at 11:34 am

Thank you so much, Curtis. The post about the strong verbs is my personal favorite of this year so far, and it gave me much joy to write it 🙂

Thank you for your kind words and for taking the time to stop by!

February 21, 2017 at 7:32 pm

Hi, Henneke, You probably already know I’m one of those who don’t get it. I almost think I do, from time to time, but then understanding evaporates. I know what I offer is gold, and have testimonials to go with that statement, yet I wonder who would want to pay for this? I’m more likely simply to stick a text widget type of offer in the sidebar and hope. When will I ever get over this doubt?! 😀

February 22, 2017 at 11:32 am

I agree that it can be really difficult to understand why people would pay for our services. We tend to think … everyone can do this.

But how many hours have you practiced to improve your writing skills? And how many books have you read?

And from a client’s perspective: how much time can you save people by helping them out? And how much better will their content be? This is all valuable!

February 21, 2017 at 4:52 pm

Sales emails also take a less direct form, such as offering free resources to B2B contacts from a trade show. Would you codify some tips for these types of emails as well?

I always look forward to your practical tips that you deliver with such pizzazz (do they say that in England?).

February 21, 2017 at 6:18 pm

Pizzazz is one of my favorite words 🙂

Whether it’s a free download or a paid book doesn’t matter too much for the way you write the email. I’ve seen the exact same formula used in B2B emails to encourage people to download a paper: explain what problem the paper solves, give some details on how the paper helps solve that problem, include a review or endorsement, encourage people to download the paper.

And even if it’s free, people may still have objections – like “if it’s free, it’s probably not useful” or “I don’t have the time to read a whole book.” You can address these objections in your email, too.

February 21, 2017 at 1:08 pm

What if your business is only for fun, music tickets, festivals, what your opinion of saying the purchase of advance tickets helps us gage how many people we will need to prepare for as well as saving $ By early ticket purchase discount. My thought is something like that you want to sell the sizzle

February 21, 2017 at 6:15 pm

Yes, sure, early ticket discounts are a great way to nudge people to make up their mind and to commit to a purchase; and also gives the opportunity to send an extra email or two. One when the early bird tickets go on sale, and one 24 hours (or 12 hours) before the early bird discount expires.

Not every product solves a problem. In your case, I’d stress the positive aspects of a fun day or night out. If email subscribers already know the performers, you don’t even have to explain that much.

February 21, 2017 at 1:01 pm

Hi Henneke,

Thank you for the tips. I think that the first one – being yourself – is the most important one.

In sales emails, when you want to be authoritative, you may end up sounding sleazy or pushy. On the other hand, when you try too hard to be casual, you may sound insecure or awkward. So, the best solution is to relax and be yourself. But that’s easier said than done.

One strategy I find helpful is to “think of yourself as an assistant buyer,” as Zig Ziglar says. Imagining that you aren’t selling, but helping someone choose what’s best for them, helps you take the stress out of the sales pitch, and, as you say, “stop thinking you have to sell and be yourself.”

Thank you for the post!

February 21, 2017 at 6:12 pm

Hi Veronika

I love the idea of the assistant buyer. It’s like doing a product demonstration – if it’s a product that can be demonstrated or otherwise explaining in clear words what it does and how it helps you. That’s a great way to take the stress and pushiness out of the sales pitch and let buyers make up their own mind. In the end, it’s up to the buyer to make that decision.

Great suggestion!

February 21, 2017 at 12:30 pm

I think the main problem with writing sales copy is your attitude when you are writing it.

If you do it with “I have to sell this” attitude, you automatically strike a sleazy tone. Which of course feels icky to your customers.

My most hated thing about sales copy is also that it’s too “I” focused. “We just launched!” “It’s finally here!”. “Don’t miss it!” It basically screams “look what I’ve made”.

Or this ridiculous need to emphasize the “amazing discount” you are getting “only today”. I don’t know if it’s really a discount. For what I know, you might have made that first big number up. This is not what matters.

But if you change your approach and think, “Well, I have a great product I stand 100% behind. I know it will improve lives of my customers” – just honestly tell them (using the strategy you describe in this post) why you think it’s a good idea if they get it. In “normal” words without exclamation marks, capitalization and paragraphs of bold text.

I don’t get it why people don’t get it 🙂 I hope more of them will read this post.

#rantover 😀

February 21, 2017 at 6:07 pm

Yes, so true… the self-indulgent “we” statements!

I didn’t get “it” for a long time. Even when I was okay with writing sales copy, I was still nervous about sales emails because it felt like I was interrupting my usual blog updates with salesy emails.

I messed up the first launch of my blogging course because I struggled with the sales emails (it also didn’t help that AWeber suffered a massive DDoS attack and I had spent way too much energy developing my course so I had little energy left for promoting it, but still… )

And yes, no to exclamation marks and text in ALL CAPS!!!

Thank you for your rant 🙂

February 21, 2017 at 12:19 pm

Perfect timing for me! I never realized before how much I have this little voice in my head saying that writing that email is “selling”… and to avoid it I go through all the procrastination behaviours you describe. 🙂 The idea of readers looking for solutions is a great image, because then I feel helpful rather than ‘pushy’.

February 21, 2017 at 1:25 pm

Your point about “I feel helpful” reminds me of something… I have a friend who is an incredible sales woman and has always worked in sales. I asked her once how she does her selling, and she says “I don’t think of it as selling. I’m helping. They have a need and I can meet it. So I tell them about what I can offer and invite them to take me up on it”.

‘Helping’ all the way :D.

February 21, 2017 at 6:00 pm

The penny dropped with me a couple of years ago when I realized that some people might even be upset if I didn’t tell them clearly how my book or course could help solve their problems. What if they had that problem? And I could help solve it? It was almost as if I denied them the opportunity to solve a problem or get a job done.

February 24, 2017 at 4:39 pm

Crazy, indeed!

February 21, 2017 at 12:04 pm

Isn’t it funny how the things we know just go out of our head when we need to write a sales email? |sigh|

For that reason, I have copied and pasted your summary (along with this url) into my Evernote sales page notebook.

“Stop thinking you have to sell.

Simply highlight a problem, offer a solution, bat away objections, prove you can be trusted, and then nudge readers to make up their mind with a persuasive offer.”

Other most helpful advice I have had around this (from Sean d’Souza of Brain Audit fame) is to interview an client (or potential client off your subscriber base) and use their actual words to describe the problem and also the emotions associated with it.

Real clients’ words encapsulate all the agitation, and take the pain out of second-guessing whether you are maintaining your usual tone, or going all ‘sales-y!

Thanks, Henneke!

February 21, 2017 at 5:55 pm

Yes, that’s an excellent point.

I find it actually useful to call people even before creating a product. I skyped with several blog readers (somehow I don’t like the term email subscribers) before I started writing my two Kindle books, then wrote draft sales pages, and I started writing the books after I had the draft sales pages (they acted as outlines).

Later on, I started picking up a lot from blog comments and questions/suggestions by email, so I skipped the calls. I’ve also “stolen” a lot of ideas from my testimonials and reviews, too 🙂

I like your point that real clients’ word encapsulate all the agitation. So true!

February 21, 2017 at 12:00 pm

What a great post. I agree on each point you wrote and it’s useful to see it as a list. Personally I did some of these without knowing so I will come back to the post to see if I did all when sending sales emails. However, I would also add a section on Images “An image is worth a thousand words” (maybe a part II of this post?). It obviously depends on your industry and user persona but social media has proved that in most cases we buy based on images. Our skills to produce beautiful images on those sale emails can strongly influence purchases. What’s your opinion on it?

Warm wishes, Virginia

February 21, 2017 at 4:40 pm

Yes, that’s a great point. Definitely for physical products. E-businesses selling physical products often have a slightly different approach than the above. They’ll be featuring more products per email and the pictures do most of the work. The text may highlight just one benefit and encourage people to click through to browse.

With non-physical products, images can do a great job, too. It depends a little on the brand. I have kept the design of my emails minimal, so they feel more like an email from a friend or a person you know rather than a company. This is why I don’t include images – not in my emails with blog updates, but also not in my sales emails.

It might actually be quite interesting to experiment with including my drawings in my email? Food for thought … Thank you!

February 21, 2017 at 5:58 pm

I thought that images were only for physical products but when I started working in a massive corporation and the products I had to design were “boring” I used images in the emails and. It was surprising how effective they were. An image of a calm happy person using our software in a computer or even abstract images on Virtual Reality or Blockchain would be quicker to understand with an image. Concepts are easier to be understood with an image than words and they are strong persuasive triggers for anything you want to sale.

On the other hand, I like your email approach for your blog. It feels more like a tip from a friend. However, for your courses it could be useful including images – also as a way to differentiate them from your normal post emails. (Just a thought).

I am forever surprised on how images affect our behavior. Truth is that the biggest sales come from brands and people that use amazingly beautiful images.

February 22, 2017 at 11:25 am

Yes, I agree with you on using images for non-physical products (as long as they’re not boring stock photography like the ubiquitous call center girls 😉 )

I use images on the sales pages for my books and courses, I just haven’t used them in my sales emails. But this may be something I might need to review.

(Unlike AppSumo, I don’t put all sales information in my emails. I try to put enough information in the email to entice people to click through so they’ll get to the images then.)

Thank you for raising this and making me think!

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Writing a Persuasive Essay

Choose a topic that you feel passionate about. If your instructor requires you to write about a specific topic, approach the subject from an angle that interests you. Begin your essay with an engaging introduction. Your thesis should typically appear somewhere in your introduction. Be sure to have a clear thesis that states your position and previews the main points your essay will address.

Start by acknowledging and explaining points of view that may conflict with your own to build credibility and trust with your audience. Also state the limits of your argument. This too helps you sound more reasonable and honest to those who may naturally be inclined to disagree with your view. By respectfully acknowledging opposing arguments and conceding limitations to your own view, you set a measured and responsible tone for the essay.

Make your appeals in support of your thesis by using sound, credible evidence. Use a balance of facts and opinions from a wide range of sources, such as scientific studies, expert testimony, statistics, and personal anecdotes. Each piece of evidence should be fully explained and clearly stated. Make sure that your style and tone are appropriate for your subject and audience. Tailor your language and word choice to these two factors, while still being true to your own voice.

Finally, write a conclusion that effectively summarizes the main argument and reinforces your thesis. See the sample persuasive essay at the end of this section, “The Value of Technical High Schools in Georgia’s Business Marketplace,” by student Elizabeth Lamoureux. Please note that this essay uses the MLA style of documentation, for which you can find guidelines at Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) website: http://owl.english.purdue.edu .

Sample Persuasive Essay

In this student paper, the student makes a persuasive case for the value of technical high schools in Georgia. As you read, pay attention to the different persuasive devices the writer uses to convince us of her position. Also note how the outline gives a structure to the paper that helps lead the reader step-by-step through the components of the argument.

Student Outline

Elizabeth Lamoureux

English 1101 Honors

April 25, 2013

Thesis : Technical high schools should be established in every county in Georgia because they can provide the technical training that companies need, can get young people into the workforce earlier, and can reduce the number of drop outs.

• Education can focus on these specific technical fields.
• Education can work with business to fill these positions.
• Apprenticeship programs can be a vital part of a student’s education.
• Apprenticeship programs are integral to Germany’s educational program, providing a realistic model for technical high schools in Georgia.
• Students train during their high school years for their chosen profession.
• Students begin to work in a profession or trade where there is a need.
• Students will become independent and self-supporting at the age of eighteen when many of their peers are still dependent upon their parents.
• Students can make more money over the course of their lifetimes.
• Students are more motivated to take courses in which they have an interest.
• Students will find both core and specialized classes more interesting and valuable when they can see the practical application of the subjects.
• Students would be able to earn a living wage while still taking classes that would eventually lead to full-time employment.
• Students would learn financial skills through experience with money management.

Student Essay

The Value of Technical High Schools in Georgia’s Business Marketplace

Businesses need specialized workers; young people need jobs. It seems like this would be an easy problem to solve. However, business and education are not communicating with each other. To add to this dilemma, emphasis is still put on a college education for everyone. Samuel Halperin, study director of the Commission on Work, Family, and Citizenship for the W. T. Grant Foundation, co-authored two reports: “The Forgotten Half: Non-College Youth in America” and “The Forgotten Half: Pathways to Success for America’s Youth and Young Families.” Halperin states: “While the attention of the nation was focused on kids going to college . . . the truth is that 70 percent of our adults never earn a college degree” (qtd. in Rogers). According to an article in Issues in Science and Technology, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that there will be more need for skills obtained through “community colleges, occupational training, and work experience” (Lerman). As Anne C. Lewis points out, although the poor job situation is recognized as detrimental to American youth, President Bush tried to get rid of career and technical education (CTE) and “promote strictly academic programs.” Luckily, Congress did not support it (Lewis 5). The figure for U.S. teen joblessness in October 2009 was 27.6 percent, the highest since World War II (Karaim). According to Thomas E. Persing, Americans are “disregarding the 50 percent who enter college and fail to graduate. . . .” Since everyone does not want or need to go to college, young people need an alternative choice, namely, technical high schools. Technical high schools should be established in every county in Georgia because they can provide the technical training that companies need, can get young people into the work force earlier, and can reduce the number of drop outs.

Technical high schools provide students with the technical training that companies need. By getting input from businesses on exactly what their specialized needs are, school systems could adapt their curricula to accommodate the needs of businesses. According to an article in Issues in Science and Technology, “employers report difficulty in recruiting workers with adequate skills.” The article goes on to say that “the shortage of available skills is affecting their ability to serve customers, and 84% of the firms say that the K-12 school system is not doing a good job preparing students for the workplace” (Lerman). Education can work with businesses to provide them with the workforce they need, and students can learn the skills they need through apprenticeship programs.

Business can be further involved by providing these apprenticeship programs, which can be a vital part of a student’s education. Currently, Robert Reich, economist and former Secretary of Labor, and Richard Riley, Secretary of Education, have spoken up for apprenticeship programs (Persing). In these programs, not only do students learn job-specific skills, but they also learn other skills for success in the work place, such as “communication, responsibility, teamwork, allocating resources, problem-solving, and finding information” (Lerman). Businesses complain that the current educational system is failing in this regard and that students enter the workforce without these skills.

The United States could learn from other countries. Apprenticeship programs are integral to Germany’s educational program, for example. Because such large numbers of students in a wide array of fields take advantage of these programs, the stigma of not attending college is reduced. Timothy Taylor, the Conversable Economist, explains that most German students complete this program and still have the option to pursue a postsecondary degree. Many occupations are represented in this program, including engineering, nursing, and teaching. Apprenticeship programs can last from one to six years and provide students with a wage for learning. This allows both business and student to compete in the market place. According to Julie Rawe, “under Germany’s earn-while-you-learn system, companies are paying 1.6 million young adults to train for about 350 types of jobs. . . .”

A second important reason technical high schools should be promoted in Georgia is that they prepare students to enter the work force earlier. Students not interested in college enter the work force upon high school graduation or sooner if they have participated in an apprenticeship or other cooperative program with a business. Students train during their high school years for their chosen profession and often work for the company where they trained. This ensures that students begin to work in a profession or trade where there is a need.

Another positive factor is that jobs allow students to earn a living upon graduation or before. Even though students are considered adults at eighteen, many cannot support themselves. The jobs available to young people are primarily minimum wage jobs which do not provide them with enough resources to live independently. One recent study indicates that the income gap is widening for young people, and “In March 1997, more than one-fourth of out-ofschool young adults who were working full-time were earning less than the poverty line income standard of just over $16,000 annually for a family of four” (“The Forgotten Half Revisited”). Conversely, by entering the work force earlier with the skills businesses need, young people make more money over their lifetimes. Robert I. Lerman considers the advantages:

Studies generally find that education programs with close links to the world of work improve earnings. The earnings gains are especially solid for students unlikely to attend or complete college. Cooperative education, school enterprises, and internship or apprenticeship increased employment and lowered the share of young men who are idle after high school.

Young people can obviously profit from entering the work force earlier.

One of the major benefits of promoting technical high schools in Georgia is that they reduce the number of dropouts. According to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the figure for dropouts for the Atlanta metro area is about thirty-four percent (McCaffrey and Badertscher A16). The statistic for Germany’s dropout rate is less than nine percent (Rawe). As Rawe maintains, students stay in school because they cannot get the job if they do not have the diploma. Beyond the strong incentive of a job, students are more motivated to take courses in which they have an interest. In addition to the specialized career classes, students are still required to take core classes required by traditional high schools. However, practical application of these subjects makes them more interesting and more valuable to the students.

Another reason students drop out is to support their families. By participating in a program in which they are paid a wage and then entering that job full time, they no longer need to drop out for this reason. It is necessary for many students to contribute financially to the family: by getting a job earlier, they can do this. Joining the work force early also provides students with financial skills gained through experience with money management.

The belief of most Americans that everyone needs to have a college education is outdated. The United States needs skilled employees at all levels, from the highly technical to the practical day to day services society needs to sustain its current standard of living. Germany is doing this through its apprenticeship programs which have proven to be economically successful for both businesses and workers. If the State of Georgia put technical high schools in every county, businesses would get employees with the skills they need; young people would get into good paying jobs earlier, and schools would have fewer dropouts.

Works Cited

“The Forgotten Half Revisited: American Youth and Young Families, 1988-2008.” American Youth Policy Forum . N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.

Karaim, Reed. “Youth Unemployment.” CQ Global Researcher 6 Mar. 2012: 105-28. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.

Lerman, Robert I. “Building a Wider Skills Net for Workers: A Range of Skills Beyond Conventional Schooling Are Critical to Success in the Job Market, and New Educational Approaches Should Reflect These Noncognitive Skills and Occupational Qualifications.” Issues in Science and Technology 24.4 (2008): 65+. Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context . Web. 21 Apr. 2012.

Lewis, Anne C. “Support for CTE.” Tech Directions 65.3 (2005): 5-6. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Apr. 2012.

McCaffrey, Shannon, and Nancy Badertscher. “Painful Truth in Grad Rates.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution 15 Apr. 2012: A1+. Print.

Persing, Thomas E. “The Role of Apprenticeship Programs.” On Common Ground . Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, Fall 1994. Web. 16 Apr. 2012.

Rawe, Julie. “How Germany Keeps Kids From Dropping Out.” Time Magazine U.S. Time Magazine, 11 Apr. 2006. Web. 16 Apr. 2012.

Rogers, Betsy. “Remembering the ‘Forgotten Half.’” Washington University in St. Louis Magazine Spring 2005. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.

Taylor, Timothy. “Apprenticeships for the U.S. Economy.” Conversableeconomist.blogspot.com. Conversable Economist , 18 Oct. 2011. Web. 16 Apr. 2012.

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• 21 Persuasive Sales Email Templates [With Examples and Best Practices]

It takes a lot of practice to write good sales emails .

First, you must be engaging enough to capture recipients’ attention. Second, you should be persuasive enough to keep their attention to read your pitch. And finally, considerate enough to show you have their best interests at heart. And you have to do it all in just a few phrases.

How does one construct an irresistible email and make a sale alone?

It can be overwhelming if you’re doing this for the first time. But with the right templates up your sleeve, you’ll be engaging with new customers in no time. 

So, here are 21 sales email templates for your perusal! Feel free to use them as is or modify them as per your needs.

Quick links: • 5 Rules for writing the perfect sales email • 21 Persuasive sales email templates » Build a relation » Sales discovery email » Sales follow-up emails » Sales proposal » Trails and/or demo pitch » When the demo didn’t go as expected » After meeting thank you email template » How to respond to inbound inquiries » Reward email template » Intro email for referrals » Check-in email » Congratulate prospects » To reach the right decision maker » Increase engagement » Video emails » The end of the road email • How to keep track of response you receive or follow-ups you need

5 Rules for writing the perfect sales email

Sales pitch emails can be tricky to write if you’re new to the art of selling.

We tend to make some rookie mistakes as salespeople. The emails may be lengthy, too self-centered, and offer little or no value to the receiver.

Understandably, the vast majority of those emails go unseen or get classified as spam. Barely  9 percent of sales  emails get opened by recipients. 

So, what are the rules of thumb to stick to when writing sales emails?

#1 Personalize

Personalizing subject lines helped us increase open rates by 327.75% .

If you have their name, address them in the subject line. If that information isn’t available, use the word “ you .” The word “you” is a powerful tool of persuasion. A name is always better, but “you” creates a similar effect that personalizes your sales pitch . 

#2 Let the spotlight be on the receiver

Pack a punch with your opening lines.

Instead of writing an introduction like “I am…..”, write something that puts them at the center of the mail. Something along the lines of “I loved your talk on……” or “Congratulations on the……” puts the receiver at the heart of the message.

#3 Be relevant

Segment your list.

Sending a mail about car insurance to someone who doesn’t own a car won’t help you sell. Figure out who’s your target audience and then proceed to pitch your product.

#4 Ask questions

Emails asking questions attain  50 percent  more responses.

At times, the best way to get an answer is to ask a question. “Do you own ____ product?” “Do you know___?” Asking these questions creates a sense of curiosity and pushes the prospect to open the mail.

If it doesn’t suit the current context, use a pitch that arouses emotion. That’s because emotional mails get 13-15% better response rates . 

That doesn’t mean you write it with any emotion, such as negative or fear-inducing. Maintain the decorum while having the emotional quotient in your email.

#5 Tell them the next step

Always have a clear call to action.

Whether you’re persuading them to purchase your product or trying to re-engage with a cold lead, ensure that you inspire them to take action.

The most common way to direct the recipient towards the next step is to provide a link. It can be a resource you want them to read or software you want them to try. But be clear on what you want them to do.

Here’s an example of a very nice email my colleague received quite some time ago. It has all the elements I mentioned for writing a persuasive email copy.

Remember these guidelines when writing your next sales email.

Let’s now look at some tried and tested persuasive sales email templates. I’ll also give you reasons why they work.

21 Persuasive Sales Email Templates with Examples

1. sales email template to build a relation.

Every customer is different, and they have different needs.

The best way to kick off a strong introduction is to create a connection.

Most sales reps try to connect with higher-ups and decision-makers across organizations. But what we don’t realize is that if we know who the decision-makers are, we can get our foot in the door much faster.

In this section, we’ll deal with three scenarios:

• You haven’t met the prospect
• You’ve briefly met the prospect at an event
• You’re already in discussion with the prospect

Template #1

For example, your prospect is a manager who cares deeply about sustainability. You can reach out to them with the following email.

What this sales email does well: 

It shows that you’ve done ample research and know what your prospect wants. The email creates a connection between both your organizations on some common grounds.

The next sales email tries to help the prospect recall your acquaintance.

Template #2

Now let’s look at the sales email template that tries to re-engage with the prospect.

Template #3

2. sales discovery email template.

If you offer a customizable product or are in a  SaaS sales  business, you might want to conduct a  discovery call  to understand if you can serve their requirements. You can also send an email to initiate the discovery process. Here’s a template to use in this scenario.

Template #4

What this template does well:

You could have asked a few questions in the email itself. But people tend to avoid sending anything in writing, especially to someone they don’t know. Therefore, the safest bet is to ask for a time and get on a call to explore their needs. This way, you get a chance to probe further into their requirements.

3. Sales follow-up email templates

Would you like to know something strangely ironic and funny about follow-ups?

A whopping 92% of salespeople quit following up after no response on the 4th call. And 60% of customers say no four times before agreeing and saying yes.

How unfair it feels to find out that you might have quit right when you could’ve made the sale.

So, follow-up.

Don’t be pushy, be persistent instead.

When you’re following up after a meeting, use this template.

Template #5

What this template does well: 

The perfect follow-up should offer an incentive for a response.

This follow-up sales email template successfully piques interest and offers a reward at the end of the process. It conveys that you remember and have sent exactly that information, which your customer wanted from you.

The learning: when you meet a prospect, record the call or take notes. This way, you can build your upcoming follow-up by answering unanswered questions.

Here’s one more sales follow-up email template you can use.

Template #6

Follow-up emails can improve your overall campaign response rates. In some situations, follow-up emails can have higher open rate than the original email itself.

For instance, last month we sent 4 emails to a segment of 26,000 subscribers for an upcoming webinar. We planned a sequence of 4 emails:

• Introducing the event
• Follow up 1
• Follow up 2
• Follow up 3

We found that the follow-up email had an open rate of 23.6% , whereas the original email had just 20.1%

So, when in doubt, follow-up and follow through !

4. Sales proposal email template

You’ve been communicating with your prospect for long enough to propose your pitch. You know that your foot is in the door and that it’s the ideal opportunity. These are the best emails to write because you get to make that sweet sale. So, use this template to craft your perfect proposal.

Template #7

The template shows that you have created a relevant proposal for your customer. The inclusion of testimonials increases trust. (It’s even better if they’re well-known brands.) The final point about an estimate gives the incentive to respond. And finally, you haven’t made any false promises in the proposal that shows transparency.

Here’s an example of this kind of sales email.

5. Sales email pitch for trials and demos

Cold emails can be daunting to compose and send.

Most sales reps spend long hours emailing prospects to never receive a response. But intense research brings in rewards for every cold caller or emailer.

Use the following template when you’re prospecting for customers who aren’t aware of your product. 

Template #8

Your offer is specific and relevant to the receiver. Your demo and free trial offer are useful, and they have an option to choose from. The mail is simple and effective in its sale. The call to action is clear, and they can reach out whenever they want.

6. Email template for when you get a demo but fail to sell

Now, this can be a disheartening situation for many. Sales reps face crushing rejections day in and out but failing to sell after a demo sucks. 

You’ve invested a ton of effort, and if it falls through for no apparent reason, don’t let it go. It’s fine if they don’t purchase the product but find out the  why  behind it. Once you know the “why” you’ll know what not to do next time. Try to find out whether there has been any miscommunication and solve it as soon as possible. Use the following email template when your prospect doesn’t buy after a demo.

Template #9

This template helps in gaining clarity about what you may need to change during demos.

Once you get a response to this mail, you can carry forward the conversation if it’s fixable. If their reason was due to any misunderstanding, you can solve it immediately. If they have any other reason about the presentation or product itself, you can note it down.

This way, you can ensure you don’t repeat the same mistakes in future demos. Every call leaves you with a lesson to learn, especially if you fail to make the sale.

7. After meeting sales email template

Is it customary to send an email after the meeting?

They serve a different purpose.

Sending an email immediately after a meeting helps you keep the conversation going. A simple thank you email opens up the opportunity to re-engage with the customer.

Template #10

This template gives the impression that you value your prospect’s time and are thankful for the opportunity to interact with them. In the email, you also share helpful resources, which they can revisit had they have any doubts.

8. Email templates to respond to inbound inquiries

When someone signs up for a free trial or downloads content, reach out as soon as possible. This ensures that you keep them engaged and interested in your services. It also gives them a chance to ask questions and make clarifications about the product.

Use this template in a similar situation. 

Template #11

Sometimes, people want to explore things themselves before getting in touch with anyone. Not pitching anything at this stage gives them the desired space. This email template reflects that you understand the prospect’s stage in the  sales funnel . You also give them an option to reach you if they need any help.

Another case is when you receive inbound inquiries for your products or services. Usually, companies have autoresponders for common queries. 

You can use this auto-response email template for inbound inquiries.

Template #12

9. sales email template offering rewards to loyal customers.

Everyone loves getting a good deal. Rewards and discounts can  boost customer retention . 

Customer loyalty programs are a great way to retain customers and  improve CLV . 

In fact,  57.4% of customers join loyalty programs to save money whereas, 37.5% join for awards and personalized offers. 

So, craft your next campaign while targeting existing customers. Use this template for your campaign.

Template #13

The subject line intrigues the reader and helps increase open rates. The discount will push the receiver to respond so that they don’t miss out. It also sets up a deadline, which compels customers to purchase before time is up.

10. Sales email templates for referrals

A referral is always impactful, especially if your customer refers you to a friend. It works even if you reach a prospect through their friend, who is a customer or someone in the industry. 

Research  shows that  for every single satisfied customer, you can get nine referrals in return . 

So, reach out to prospects who are friends or acquainted with your existing customers. You can even reach out to them through your friends. 

Here’s a template you can use.

Template #14

Here’s an example email.

What this sales email template does well:

This email template shows that you’re ready to help them become more successful. The mail exudes empathy and conveys your understanding of their situation. You’ve done your research and have specific solutions to their website. All of this and the added referral can hook in any customer with little effort.

Here’s another email template to initiate conversations with referrals.

Template #15

11. check-in email template.

Check-in emails can be boring and feel pushy to the point of weirdness. However, there’s no way of knowing where you stand with your prospect unless you check in on their status.

Sending too many follow-up emails can increase annoyance instead of getting a response. But like we’ve already learned 60% of customers say no four times before agreeing and saying yes.

So, don’t give up. Instead, add a little pressure to push them down the sales pipeline .

Use this template to get an immediate response:

Template #16

Here’s an example for how to use this sales email template.

The template cuts to the chase and instantly delivers the information. Adding a gif helps reduce pressure. Mentioning your manager increases a sense of responsibility and authority. Most people feel compelled to obey when the orders come from a higher-up official.

12. Email template to congratulate prospects in times of success

A trigger event like funding, promotions new office locations are opportunities to sell.

Reach out to your prospects with hearty congrats and pitch your perfect sale.

Use this template when your prospect gains an established brand as a customer. Or even if they’ve established new locations, set up new factories, and so on. 

Template #17

While it may sound like a simple congratulation email, you’ve also made your pitch. You’ve also offered social proof by talking about your clients who are part of the same industry. It increases their interest and can help you make a sale.

13. Sales email template to reach the right decision-maker

At times we don’t have complete information about our prospect’s organization. Reaching out to a decision-maker can be difficult if they aren’t the first touchpoint.

It can be confusing to compose the email for the response you want. Use this template in these scenarios.

Template #18

The subject line is concise and engaging. You have clearly described the purpose and what you want them to do. Mentioning your customers can persuade them to respond. There is a clear call to action. And the receiver can refer you to the right person if they aren’t the decision-maker.

14. Sales email template to increase engagement

Your prospects may have engaged with your ads, social media posts, or other sales and marketing campaigns. However, if they have not signed up or purchased something means that it’s time to nurture them. You can use the following template in this scenario.

Template #19

This email template aims to help the prospect with a resource/content. It also gives an option to respond to you—creating opportunities for the recipient to engage with you.

15. Video email template

Reading long emails stuffed with information can take time and effort. Instead, adding images with text or a video can convey the same information and boost open rates.  Videos in emails can increase open rates by 19% and improve click rates by 65%.

So, in your next email campaign, include a video to capture more clicks.Make sure you include your company logo, add captions for accessibility, optimize for mobile devices, and have a compelling call-to-action.

An example of this is the email sent by Soapbox by Wistia.

The above example illustrates the use of videos in marketing emails. But if you’re wondering how to use video in your sales email, here’s a template you can use.

Template #20

This template is an honest confession of a sales rep with his prospect, which is hard to say no to. If nothing else, the recipient admires the creativity of the sender.

16. The end of the road email template

You’ve sent multiple  follow-up emails and received no response . This situation is easily heart-breaking and makes us feel awful. 

But there’s no point in pushing for a sale that isn’t taking place. Persistence can take you far but knowing when to quit is equally important. 

So, if you realize that you haven’t gotten a response in more than a couple of months, send a final follow-up. It is to check if they have any interest. If they don’t respond, you can close communications completely. 

Use this template when you’re closing their account:

Template #21

This template conveys that you will close the conversation if you don’t receive a response. But it does give your customer a chance to reconnect and interact. The template shows your respect for their time and effort and is direct.

These are some sales email templates you can use across the sales cycle . If you’ve noticed, there is a running theme with almost all emails. You write these emails after doing your research and understanding the prospect.

I’m assuming you must be actively prospecting and sending out hundreds of emails every month. So, the next big question is—how do you keep track of the response you receive? How do you know that you’ve not received a response yet, and you’ll need to send a follow-up email?

Well, I have a solution.

How to keep track of responses you receive or follow-ups you need

Usually, companies use different software for their sales and marketing teams. In this context, email marketing software and CRM.

So, they have visibility on the email campaign performance, such as open rates and click rates. However, they might not accurately associate the engagement with the prospects. That is, you might not know the prospect that replied to the email and the one that needs further follow-up.

So, what’s the solution?

The solution is to use software that addresses the issue at hand. For instance, LeadSquared Sales CRM.

It notifies the sales reps whenever their leads respond to their emails. It also allows you to segment leads based on lead activities and engagement. This way, you can tune your emails or create a sequence of follow-up emails to nurture leads who don’t respond .

Do you want to explore how LeadSquared can make your life easier?

More in this series :

15 Customer Service Email Templates  

Padma is a Content Writer at Leadsquared. She enjoys reading and writing about various financial and educational topics. You can connect with her on LinkedIn or write to her at [email protected].

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Persuasive Advertising Examples To Inspire Your Next Campaign

One of the main roles of an advertiser is to persuade a specific audience to make a decision, whether it’s to complete a purchase, click on and watch a video, or sign up for a monthly newsletter. However, persuasive advertising doesn’t work like a hypnotist trying to put their customer in a trance. 

There’s no way an advertiser can talk someone into being interested in a brand just by saying “You are becoming very interested in SEO marketing services.” Marketers have to actually pay attention to their audience’s emotions and goals to successfully persuade them. 

So how does it actually work? Well, we’re here to solve the mystery — show you what’s behind the curtain, if you will. Want to learn the art of persuasive marketing for your next campaign? Let’s get this show on the road.

What Is Persuasive Advertising?

Persuasive advertising is a type of marketing that focuses on the target audience’s emotions, rather than specs or value propositions, to convince them to do something. It’s designed to shine a light on the benefits the brand can offer the end user rather than the actual make, model or efficiencies of the product itself. 

Persuasive Advertising vs. Informative Advertising

While persuasive and informative advertising have the same goal — to get consumers to complete a desired action — they achieve that target differently. Persuasive advertising uses various techniques to convince the audience of a certain belief that leads to a purchase. Informative advertising uses facts and figures to educate consumers on why their brand is the best choice. For example, a software company may update potential users on new features and functions and how they increase efficiency and performance. 

Benefits of Persuasive Advertising in Marketing

Do you want to make your advertising more persuasive and effective? While all types of marketing have a time and place, here are some advantages to using this approach for your brand:

• Improved brand awareness: Engaging and compelling marketing campaigns may resonate with the target audience, leaving a lasting impression and increasing brand recall.
• Enhanced customer loyalty and experience: Building strong relationships with customers by focusing on their emotions and tangible needs can foster loyalty and repeat business. When customers have positive experiences with a brand, they’re more likely to become brand advocates. In fact, Deloitte found that customers who have a positive experience will spend 140% more than those who have a negative one. 
• Competitive edge: Effective persuasive marketing differentiates a brand from competitors and positions it as a preferred choice among consumers. 

Persuasive Advertising Techniques

Carrot and the stick.

Like a horse chasing after a carrot, people are hardwired to move toward things they desire. On the flip side, we’re also prone to move away from pain and hardship. This approach is meant to showcase your ad as the carrot, offering the prospect potential feelings of pleasure. Sticks are the possibilities of loss, which can also be used to make the prospect fearful of pain and go in the other direction. Both the carrot and stick approaches can make potential customers feel emotions that inspire action. 

Bandwagon Appeal

Bandwagons are popular for a reason. Products and services are more appealing when a crowd of people can vouch for their advantages. I mean, would you rather go to a restaurant that has a long line and great reviews or the establishment that’s oddly quiet? Besides being extremely hungry and in need of a meal pronto, you most likely would want to go to the place everyone else is trying to eat at. Social proof — or showing that your brand is widely liked — shows that your company is respected and can be trusted. 

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The Scarcity Principle

If supply and demand principles have taught you anything, it’s most likely that rare objects and experiences are valuable. In your advertising efforts, when you use words like “exclusive” and “limited availability,” people may become more interested in what you’re selling. 

Product Comparison

As the name suggests, product comparison takes your brand and a close competitor’s offering and puts them head to head, focusing on a particular emotional response or benefit that the user will receive. 

Let’s say you’re an eReader company looking to boost sales. Using this persuasive technique, you’d compare your product with another top seller in your industry by looking at the battery life. But instead of talking about the actual battery power, you’d highlight your product’s ability to let your customers read for longer periods of time without needing to pause and find an outlet; whereas the other company’s product may only allow half the reading time in between charging. 

Almost everyone loves comedic relief, making humor a positive advertising move when you want to bring people joy. Often, people share funny marketing campaigns with their friends and family, boosting these ads’ popularity and views. 

Second Person

A potential customer cares about what you’re going to do for them, meaning using pronouns like “you and “your” can make your messaging feel as if it’s speaking directly to them. For example, which one sounds more personable?

“Increase your user engagement with SEO content marketing solutions designed for your industry.”

“Businesses can increase their user engagement with SEO content marketing solutions designed for their industry.”

The first example can help readers insert themselves into the narrative you’re creating, making it easier for them to picture benefiting from your services. 

It’s common knowledge that if you hear the same word or phrase over and over again, you’re more likely to remember and believe it. If you read a blog that consistently talks about the brand’s top-notch customer service, you’ll take away that the company knows how to treat its users. Whether this is true doesn’t necessarily matter at that moment because the reader may believe it until proven otherwise. 

Plain Folks

The plain folk advertising technique is a way for advertisers to promote products using ordinary, everyday people, showing that it offers a value that anyone could benefit from, whether by featuring photos of “plain” people in campaigns or sharing stories of normal people using the product. 

Snob Appeal

On the other hand, the snob appeal technique indicates that the product makes the consumer better, smarter or richer than everyone else, drawing in a particular type of person as their audience. Take a luxury car company for example: People may be drawn to the rarity of owning this particular car because it allows them to make assumptions about them just by being associated with the brand. 

Types of Persuasive Ads

Aristotle wasn’t a marketer by any stretch of the imagination. However, he did come up with a theory for how persuasion happens: Either through the character (ethos) of the speaker, the emotional state (pathos) of the hearer or the argument (logos) itself. 

Let’s dive into these three types of persuasion a bit deeper: 

• Ethos Ads: Appeal to the credibility, authority and trustworthiness of the brand, spokesperson or endorser. These ads aim to persuade by establishing a positive perception of the company’s character or level of expertise. 
• Pathos Ads: Focus on the emotions of the audience, aiming to make them have feelings that influence decisions. Ads of this nature will often create content that taps into happiness, fear, nostalgia or empathy. 
• Logos Ads: Look at reason, logic and rational thinking as the main drive to persuade the audience. These ads often emphasize the product’s features, benefits and unique selling points. 

7 Persuasive Advertising Examples

What do these types of persuasive ads and techniques look like in practice? If you want real-world samples, you’re in luck. We have several examples of successful marketing campaigns using these methods:

1. Miller Lite

Miller Lite uses a product comparison to showcase how they offer a beer with half the carbs of Bud Light. This uses peoples’ desire to be healthier as a way to put their product above the competition. This post got a lot of attention on social platforms like X (formerly known as Twitter) from people looking for the drink they love without all the carbs. 

We don’t know if Heinz is a fan of Ed Sheeran, but he’s definitely a fan of Heinz. At least, that’s the approach of a hilarious commercial for the beloved ketchup brand. It used humor and the bandwagon effect to promote its product. I mean, if Ed Sheeran likes it, you’re bound to, right? 

3. Old Spice

In just 30 seconds, Old Spice tells viewers that if their partner used the brand’s body wash, they would offer them tickets to “that thing they love,” a boat or even diamonds. Using both the snob appeal and the carrot and stick advertising technique, this campaign states Old Spice can turn anyone into “the man your man could smell like.” 

Airbnb found out that its users want to live like locals while on vacation. They created a campaign spurring people to not just go there, but live there, focusing on the frustration of being a tourist and dealing with large crowds. It highlighted how Airbnb is the solution for people wanting a more authentic travel experience. 

5. Wonderbox

Wonderbox is a French company that creates experiential gifts. It leveraged Spotify for an audio ad campaign focused on “out-of-the-box” gift-giving during the holiday season. The company used its marketing efforts to persuade people that presenting loved ones with special experiences is more meaningful than things that can be wrapped. 

6. Budweiser

Budweiser is known for tugging on people’s heartstrings (remember the puppy and horse commercial?). Its 2017 Super Bowl Commercial focused on an emotional story of how the company’s idea came to fruition. The inspiring video ends with the line, “When nothing stops your dream, this is the beer we drink,” making even the toughest person get a little teary-eyed. 

Clorox understands the power of the plain folks and bandwagon techniques with an ad that simply states its product is “trusted by moms.” Whether someone is a new mom or is a pro with adult children, seeing an ad like this will feel personal and trustworthy, especially for people needing a cleaning solution ASAP.

Put Your Persuasive Techniques to the Test

Now that you know the secrets to persuasive ad creation, there’s nothing stopping you from mesmerizing potential customers. But rather than using pendulum watches and hypnotic swirling screens, you can persuade them with content focused on their emotional wants and needs. 

Madelyn Gardner

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Madelyn Gardner is a content writer based in Nashville, Tennessee. Off the clock, she loves being outside, hiking, reading, baking and eating Mexican food — specifically burritos.

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Essay Service Examples

Persuasive Essay Examples

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Persuasive essays hold the remarkable ability to sway minds and ignite change through the power of conviction. With their clear arguments and compelling evidence, these essays aim to influence readers to adopt a particular viewpoint or take action. By presenting persuasive essay example, we delve into the art of persuasion,...

Persuasive essays hold the remarkable ability to sway minds and ignite change through the power of conviction. With their clear arguments and compelling evidence, these essays aim to influence readers to adopt a particular viewpoint or take action. By presenting persuasive essay example, we delve into the art of persuasion, exploring how skilled writers effectively communicate their ideas, engage readers emotionally, and construct compelling arguments. These examples serve as beacons of inspiration, illuminating the persuasive techniques employed to captivate audiences and empower them to embrace new perspectives. Get ready to unlock the power of persuasion and discover the transformative impact of a well-crafted essay.

What is a persuasive essay?

A persuasive essay is a type of academic writing that aims to convince the reader of a particular viewpoint or argument. The primary objective of a persuasive essay is to present compelling evidence, logical reasoning, and persuasive techniques in order to sway the reader’s opinion and encourage them to adopt the writer’s perspective.

This type of essay typically includes a clear thesis statement at the beginning, followed by well-structured paragraphs that present supporting evidence and counterarguments. The writer employs persuasive language, appeals to emotions, and provides factual evidence to strengthen their case.

Ultimately, a persuasive essay intends to engage the reader intellectually and emotionally, challenging their preconceived notions and encouraging them to see the topic from the writer’s point of view.

How to write an example of a persuasive essay?

Writing a persuasive essay involves presenting arguments and supporting evidence to convince the reader of a particular viewpoint. To begin, it is essential to craft a compelling introduction that grabs the reader’s attention and clearly states the thesis statement.

The body paragraphs should then provide well-researched evidence, logical reasoning, and counterarguments to strengthen the persuasive stance. Each paragraph should focus on a single point and provide sufficient details and examples to persuade the reader.

Additionally, incorporating persuasive language techniques, such as emotional appeals and rhetorical devices, can enhance the effectiveness of the essay.

Finally, a strong conclusion should summarize the main points and reiterate the thesis while leaving a lasting impact on the reader’s mind. By employing these strategies, a persuasive essay can effectively sway the reader’s opinion and convey the writer’s perspective convincingly.

Types of persuasive essay?

Writing a persuasive essay involves presenting arguments and supporting evidence to convince the reader of a particular viewpoint. To begin, it is essential to craft a compelling introduction that grabs the reader’s attention and clearly states the thesis statement. The body paragraphs should then provide well-researched evidence, logical reasoning, and counterarguments to strengthen the persuasive stance.

Each paragraph should focus on a single point and provide sufficient details and examples to persuade the reader. Additionally, incorporating persuasive language techniques, such as emotional appeals and rhetorical devices, can enhance the effectiveness of the essay.

The purpose of writing persuasive essay

The purpose of writing a persuasive essay is to present a compelling argument and convince the reader to adopt a specific viewpoint or take a particular course of action. Through carefully constructed arguments, evidence, and persuasive language, the writer aims to sway the reader’s opinion, evoke an emotional response, and inspire them to support the writer’s perspective. A persuasive essay prompts critical thinking and encourages the reader to examine the topic from various angles, ultimately aiming to bring about a change in belief, behavior, or attitude.

How to start writing a persuasive essay?

To begin writing a persuasive essay, it is crucial to capture the reader’s attention right from the start. An effective opening paragraph should contain a strong thesis statement that clearly expresses your position on the topic. Consider using a compelling hook, such as a thought-provoking question, a startling statistic, or an engaging anecdote, to pique the reader’s interest.

The introductory paragraph should also provide a brief overview of the issue at hand, highlighting its significance and relevance to the reader. By setting the stage and clearly stating your stance, you can lay a solid foundation for the persuasive arguments that will follow in the subsequent paragraphs of your essay.

How to write a persuasive essay structure?

A persuasive essay aims to convince the reader of a particular viewpoint or argument by presenting logical reasoning and supporting evidence. To create an effective persuasive essay structure, it is crucial to organize the content in a coherent and compelling manner. The structure typically consists of an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

The introduction serves as a captivating opening that grabs the reader’s attention. It should include a clear thesis statement that presents the main argument and establishes the writer’s position on the topic. Additionally, it may contain a brief overview of the issue at hand, providing context and relevance.

The body paragraphs form the core of the persuasive essay, presenting supporting evidence and logical reasoning to bolster the thesis statement. Each paragraph should focus on a single point or piece of evidence and be structured in a consistent manner. The writer must start with a topic sentence that introduces the main idea of the paragraph and clearly relates it back to the thesis statement. Following this, the writer should provide detailed explanations, examples, or statistics to support their argument. It is important to anticipate counterarguments and address them effectively within the body paragraphs, as this demonstrates a strong understanding of the opposing viewpoint.

Transitions between paragraphs are crucial for maintaining the flow and coherence of the essay. Utilize transitional words and phrases to guide the reader through the logical progression of ideas. Additionally, the body paragraphs should be arranged in a logical order, with the strongest and most persuasive points presented first.

Finally, the conclusion summarizes the main points discussed in the essay and restates the thesis statement, emphasizing its significance. The writer should use this section to leave a lasting impression on the reader by reinforcing the central argument and leaving them with a compelling call to action or a thought-provoking question.

In conclusion, a persuasive essay structure should comprise an attention-grabbing introduction, well-structured body paragraphs with strong evidence and counterargument refutation, and a compelling conclusion that reinforces the main argument. By organizing the essay effectively and presenting a well-supported argument, writers can maximize the persuasive impact of their essays and effectively engage their readers.

How to write a conclusion for persuasive essay?

In conclusion, it is evident that persuasive essay writing is a powerful tool for expressing ideas, influencing opinions, and driving change. The conclusion serves as the final opportunity to leave a lasting impression on the reader, so it should be concise yet impactful. Restate the main thesis statement and summarize the key arguments presented throughout the essay, emphasizing their significance and relevance.

A persuasive conclusion should leave the reader with a sense of closure and a strong call to action, encouraging them to reflect on the presented ideas and consider taking a particular stance or course of action. By employing compelling language and reinforcing the persuasive elements of the essay, the conclusion effectively reinforces the writer’s viewpoint and prompts the reader to engage with the topic further.

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Home — Essay Samples — Philosophy — Ethos — Example Of Ethos Pathos Logos Paper

Example of Ethos Pathos Logos Paper

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