Michael Lillig of Quantum Laboratories realized this fact after creating two mailings with unsuccessful headlines. Your credibility is also enhanced when your document focuses on customer benefits instead of dwelling on features of the product, proposal, or idea . For example, if you are trying to convince your manager to support your recommendations to restructure the department's computerized-data system, you are more likely to gain that support by focusing on how the enhanced system will increase productivity rather than on the bells and whistles of the latest software. Although the same document may include brief descriptions of the new system's features, your emphasis should be on the way these features will help the reader solve a problem. Finally, your level of credibility can often be raised through the use of testimonials-words of praise for a firm or its products or an idea attributable to someone whose name or reputation the reader respects .
Many sales letters begin with testimonials intended to establish immediate credibility.
In many situations, emotions remain the most powerful persuasive factor . Where logical arguments sometimes fail, emotions often have the power to motivate people to respond and act. Not surprisingly, then, understanding which emotions to tap and which to avoid is one of the most important tasks of a persuasive writer. One way to determine the most effective emotional appeal is to analyze readers according to the needs hierarchy discussed in Chapter 3. Reader analysis also involves using language that is likely to evoke the responses you seek .