You send a message. No answer. You send a follow-up. No answer. And then your mind slowly starts to unravel\u2026<\/p>\n Did I type the email address wrong? Nope. Is my internet connection down? Nope. Is this \u201cThe Sixth Sense\u201d and I\u2019m Bruce Willis? Nope.<\/em><\/p>\n But on another level, you totally understand because sometimes you dread checking email too. We live in the wreckage of the attention economy. You open your inbox the way you crack the door to a room where you trapped a bat. Why? Because it\u2019s a chaotic public square where strangers attempt to relocate their problems into your afternoon.<\/p>\n Unread emails are Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s tasks: as long as they remain unopened, the request inside them exists in an indeterminate state: kinda real, kinda not. Opening them collapses the waveform, and now you feel obligated. (I keep a folder in my inbox called \u201cLater,\u201d which is like naming a cemetery \u201cEventually.\u201d)<\/p>\n But, at times, we still need people to respond. Feels like we\u2019re stuck.<\/p>\n Well, before you start using a process server, let\u2019s talk about sales pitches for a second. Yeah, sales pitches:<\/p>\n \u201cHUGE SAVINGS! TODAY ONLY!!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Despite these emails making you want to slam your head into your keyboard, they\u2019re also pretty effective. (Every time you think, \u201cUgh, no one reads that,\u201d a marketer somewhere is laughing their way to the bank.) These sales tactics understand the human psyche better than your overpriced therapist.<\/p>\n So, like it or not, we can learn a thing or two from them. Ethically. We don\u2019t want to come off as hucksters, but we can definitely steal their tactics and use them for good, whether it\u2019s crafting work emails or just convincing your friend to finally RSVP\u2026<\/p>\n We\u2019ve had hostage negotiators teach us how to lower our bills<\/a> and bomb disposal experts explain the secrets to staying calm under pressure<\/a>. Now it\u2019s time to learn about persuasive writing from copywriters.<\/p>\n The book we\u2019ll be drawing on this time is \u201cThe Copywriting Sourcebook<\/a>\u201d by Andy Maslen.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s get to it\u2026<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Stop thinking about how you benefit from sending the email and start thinking about how the reader benefits from receiving it. If you want to write persuasively, you need to start with a clear appeal to the reader\u2019s self-interest. Forget this and a response to your email will be postponed to Neveruary.<\/p>\n Ask yourself: \u201cWhy should they care?\u201d<\/p>\n And then answer it immediately. Up top. First line. The point is, get to the point.<\/em> Remember \u201cThe Princess Bride\u201d? He didn\u2019t say, \u201cHello, my name is Inigo Montoya, a long time ago when I was a young boy\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n No. He said, \u201cHello, my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father. Prepare to die.\u201d<\/p>\n You might think \u201cappeal to the reader\u2019s interest\u201d is manipulative. It\u2019s not. It\u2019s the rent you pay to live in someone else\u2019s head. Manipulation is when I make you do what benefits me while pretending it benefits you. Persuasion is when I show you how what benefits me might also benefit you.<\/p>\n (To learn how FBI hostage negotiators persuade people, click here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n When\u2019s the single most important time to be persuasive?<\/p>\n Before they ever open the email\u2026<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Even if you\u2019ve composed a message that has the rhetorical force of a Supreme Court brief, if they don\u2019t open the email, it doesn\u2019t matter. And your subject line is the only thing that can convince them to open it.<\/p>\n Ogilvy & Mather tested subject lines for effectiveness. All the best ones fell into three categories:<\/p>\n A combination of all three was the most effective of all.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not that hard to write better subject lines\u2026 mostly because the bar is incredibly low. Think about what you see on a typical day:<\/p>\n \u201cNewsletter #37.\u201d<\/em> Oh, thrilling. Can\u2019t wait to not open that for the 37th time in a row.<\/p>\n \u201cCurrent status of deliverables.\u201d<\/em> AI sounds more human than that. Send me a subject line like that and I\u2019m going to ask you which of these images has a bus in it.<\/p>\n Most people just describe the contents of their email as if that\u2019s enough. That\u2019s not writing; that\u2019s labeling. Imagine a movie trailer that just said, \u201cRuntime: 1 hour 42 minutes. Contains actors.\u201d That\u2019s your average email subject line.<\/p>\n \u201cQ2 performance metrics attached.\u201d<\/em> Congratulations, you\u2019ve written a suicide note for your own message. You know what people actually open? \u201cHow we quietly outperformed everyone last quarter.\u201d<\/em> Same data, but now it\u2019s gossip. Now it\u2019s a story. Now it\u2019s alive.<\/p>\n Of course, there are limits. Curiosity beats clarity until curiosity becomes a lie, at which point your reader marks you as an enemy combatant. Don\u2019t mislead. But you\u2019ll get more replies at the office with \u201cHow we can close the Johnson deal\u201d<\/em> and more replies from your teenagers with \u201cDo this and you can use the car Friday night.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n (To learn about how to use neuroscience to persuade people, click here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n But what style should you write in?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Ease up on the formal language. It\u2019s an email, not a court summons. You can relax. You can say \u201cHi.\u201d You can even use contractions. Good copywriters sound as though they\u2019re sitting across from you in a diner, telling you something funny between bites of a sandwich.<\/p>\n Yes, I know, work emails require a level of professionalism. Sure. But that doesn\u2019t mean you need to write in a way guaranteed to make people\u2019s eyes glaze over. \u201cOur groundbreaking app provides users with cutting-edge, comprehensive tools to enhance workplace synergy.\u201d Ugh, pass me the noose. Seriously, who talks like this? I\u2019ll tell you who doesn\u2019t: your friends. If your friends talked to you like that, you\u2019d start looking for new friends.<\/p>\n Now \u201cconversational\u201d doesn\u2019t mean performatively chummy. It means sentences with blood pressure. The courage to write the way you talk. The alternative is that bureaucratic gel we\u2019ve all learned to excrete, language so denatured you can practically see the HR guidelines.<\/p>\n And skip the cliches, unless you want to sound like that guy who\u2019s still quoting \u201cAnchorman\u201d like it\u2019s 2004. No jargon. And don\u2019t get me started on \u201ccircle back.\u201d This phrase makes me want to run in squares out of sheer defiance. \u201cTouch base.\u201d \u201cIn alignment.\u201d You could replace half your corporate vocabulary with barnyard noises and nobody would notice. People are moved by warmth, by clarity, by the sense that there\u2019s an actual person behind the words.<\/p>\n Keep in mind that when most people are confronted with a piece of writing, they don\u2019t start by reading it. No. They\u2019re asking themselves one vital question: \u201cIs this going to be easy to read?<\/p>\n So keep paragraphs short. You know what they\u2019re thinking if they see one massive wall of text? Unabomber manifesto.<\/em> Aim to stay under five lines per paragraph.<\/p>\n Similarly, short sentences are your friends. They\u2019re punchy. They\u2019re the difference between \u201cI have a dream\u201d and \u201cI have a profoundly intricate vision of an equitable future where the systemic inequalities that have plagued our society are finally addressed in a meaningful and comprehensive manner.\u201d One is a tranquil walk through the park. The other is a panic attack in sentence form.<\/p>\n Every once in a while, I\u2019ll get an email from someone that starts with something like, \u201cI have no idea how to say this without sounding like an idiot, but\u2026\u201d and I feel my shoulders unclench. There\u2019s relief in that, in knowing someone\u2019s dropped the mask for a second. So yes, write like you\u2019re talking to a friend. Be the email that makes someone smile instead of groan.<\/p>\n![\"writing-more-persuasive\"](\"https:\/\/bakadesuyo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/writing-more-persuasive.jpg\" "\\"writing-more-persuasive\\"")
Ever try to get anything done these days and realize that no one seems to pay attention to emails anymore?<\/p>\nAppeal To Self-Interest<\/h2>\n
Use A Good Subject Line<\/h2>\n
\n
Be Human<\/h2>\n