9 Persuasive Words That Will Boost Your Communications!

Do the numbers 55, 38, and 7 sound familiar to you? Do they ring a bell? Hmmm! Well, let me give you a clue – they add up to 100 – duh!  Ok, that’s a bad clue! How about another clue? Does the importance of non-verbal communication ring that bell? Okay, okay – I’ll tell you! They are the percentages that people often refer to as the standard for expressing the importance of non-verbal communication. According to the experts,  roughly 55% of communication is body language, 38% is the tone of voice, and 7% is the actual words spoken. As for today’s post, even though they represent a small percentage of the communication process, we are going to focus on the 7% or the actual words spoken. More specifically, we will look at some persuasive words that can have a big impact on those you are trying to persuade.

There is no doubt that some words are more persuasive than others, and we may not even realize it. The persuasive words that we will discuss today are simple and effective and can help you get what you want…

So, without further ado, let’s look at…

9 of the Most Persuasive Words You Can Use

(1)  ‘Rick’:

Ok, so the word is not actually ‘Rick’. I’m just using my name to prove a point. The most persuasive word in the world is your name! Think about it, since you were a little baby you have heard this word over and over and over. People develop a fondness for their name and research has shown that by using it at the start or end of a sentence drastically increases your likelihood of persuading them.

As Dale Carnegie said, which we discussed in a recent post on how to get people to like you, “Remember that a person’s name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”  It turns out there is some science to back this up! According to research, ”There are several regions in the left hemisphere of the brain that show greater activation to one’s own name, including the middle frontal cortex, middle and superior temporal cortex, and cuneus. These findings provide evidence that hearing one’s own name has unique brain functioning activation specific to one’s own name in relation to the names of others.” ¹  This research shows that clearly, something unique happens in your brain when you hear your name!

(2)  Because

In a recent post on Asking for What You Want, we discussed a study by Langer et al. at NYU where subjects try to get into the front of a line to use a photocopier. The experiment was conducted using 3 different asks:

“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”

“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make copies?”

“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I’m in a rush?”

In the first condition, 60% agreed to the request, in the second condition 93% agreed to the request and in the third condition 94% agreed to the request.

The interesting part is that she went from 60% compliance to 93% compliance without any reason other than using the word ‘because’!  Perhaps the reason is that people like to have a reason for doing something, whether the reason is good or not. It may also stem from when we were little and were told to do something “because I said so!”, meaning it carries some authoritative weight in our minds.

(3)  Please

Just as our names have been something we have heard since we were kids, the word please is another one of the persuasive words we have heard over and over. Using please is a word we have been taught to say if we want to get something. It is associated with being polite and can give us a persuasive edge along with its partner in crime which is another of our favorite persuasive words, which is the word…

(4)  Thank you

Which is what we have always been taught to say once we receive whatever it is that we requested.

(5)  Instantly or Now

We all want stuff yesterday! In fact, studies have shown that our mid-brain lights up when we envision instant rewards. So, by using words like instantly, now, or immediately we can flip that switch in people’s brains to be more effective in persuading them.

(6)  New

Novelty can disappear as we get used to things around us. Conversely, new experiences stimulate and excite us. Things that are new and different seem to catch our eye. It turns out that there is a scientific reason for using the word ‘new’ as well, according to the research, “Only completely new things cause strong activity in the midbrain area.” This causes the brain to release a feel-good chemical called dopamine, which we have discussed before. New things give you a jolt of motivation to explore in anticipation of receiving some type of reward.

(7)  Save

This one is a no-brainer! Whether it is time, money, trouble – if you say the word save, people will perk up and listen!

(8)  Easy or Simple

Not only do people want to simplify their lives, but research has also shown that it is much easier to get people to do things if you can reduce the level of difficulty. As we have discussed in a previous post, Stanford professor B.J. Fogg believes there are 3 things that need to occur at the same time for a behavior to change:

(1)  Motivation – meaning you need to want to do it.

(2)  Ability – meaning you have the ability to do it.

(3)  Trigger – meaning there is a cue (trigger) that stimulates you to do it.

According to Fogg, you can try to increase motivation, but that is not always easy. Your best bet to change behavior is to make it easier or simpler. People like easy and simple and are more likely to do things that are easy and simple.

The last one we will cover is…

(9)  But you are free

As in, ‘but you are free to choose’.  A meta-analysis of 42 studies with over 22,000 participants showed that by using the phrase ‘but you are free to accept or refuse’ doubled the likelihood of people saying yes. The reason being is that people like autonomy and to have the ability to choose. So, by making a request and then adding ‘but you are free to choose’, you are affirming their right to choose and keeping reactance at bay.

Before we go…

Dear <insert your first name here>, could you please share this post now, because we are trying to spread the word about Prime Your Pump. It would also be appreciated if you signed up for our weekly newsletter right below this paragraph. It’s easy, all you need to do is enter your email address in the box below and hit subscribe now. That way you will get all of our new weekly posts direct to your email inbox every Saturday, which will save you the time of having to come to our site every day. But you are free to choose, if you would rather come to our blog every day, that’s cool too.

Thank you in advance and thank you for reading!

Until next time, keep using those persuasive words and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick

Use It or Lose It:

Some persuasive words you can use to boost your communication are:

  The person’s name
  Because
  Please
  Thank you
  Instantly or now
  New
  Save
  Easy or simple
  But you are free

When to Use It:

Use these persuasive words in your conversations whenever the time calls for it.

What Do You Think?

What do you think of these 9 persuasive words? Do you use them often? Do you have any other go-to persuasive words in your vocabulary? Please share in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this post, it would mean the world to us if you shared it with people you care about via any of the social media platforms below!

Popular Previous Posts:

This is Why Correlation Does Not Imply Causation
14 Powerful Questions That Will Transform Your Conversations!
Social Loafing: This is How to Deal with Slackers!
Ask for What You Want – And You Just Might Get It!
How to Get People to Like You: 6 Tips from Dale Carnegie

References

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/beyond-words/201109/is-nonverbal-communication-numbers-game

1 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1647299/

Hogan, K. (1998). The psychology of persuasion: How to persuade others to your way of thinking. Gretna: Pelican Pub. Co.

Christopher J. Carpenter, “A Meta-analysis of the Effectiveness of the ‘But You Are Free’ Compliance-Gaining Technique”, Communication Studies 64, no. 1 (2013): 6-17, doi:10.1080/10510974.2012.727941.