Beyond Convincing

I love finding subtle differences between words; bumping them against each other until they reveal something interesting.

Many people use the words “convincing” and “persuading” interchangeably, but they’re actually quite different.

When you convince someone of something, you’re changing their mind — their way of thinking. When you persuade someone to do something, you’re changing their behavior.

For example, you could convince me that $2.50 is a good price for a cup of coffee, but you haven’t persuaded me to take action on that thought until I’ve actually bought one.

The proof of the pudding, as they say, is in the eating.

When you aim to convince, you speak to the head. When you aim to persuade, you speak to the heart. A lot of web content seems to be oriented more around the former than the latter. This is falling short.

Browsing the web is often a fractured, flighty act. Rational arguments fall by the wayside while distractions persistently pull us in unintended directions: consider all the blind alleys a curious photo or clickbait headline has pulled you down in the last 24 hours alone.

A great question to keep in mind is “who is this content talking about?” When you’re talking about yourself, you’re trying to convince. When you’re talking about your visitor, you’re more likely to persuade.

Whenever you can, go beyond convincing and reach for persuading: go beyond listing your product’s features, and let people try it out instead. Go beyond showing logos of your current customers, and get prospects to picture how great it would be to be one, themselves.

After all, people act when they’re moved, not when simply spoken to.

Fin

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