#89 Three ways to use language to persuade your audience

In this episode of Less Chatter, More Matter, we get down to the nitty gritty on how strategic language choices can enhance persuasive communication. 

In fact, we have three key tips to give you in making your language more persuasive alongside some of the things you need to avoid. The episode also highlights common pitfalls and uses practical examples and studies to illustrate the importance of these techniques in influencing belief, credibility, and motivation.

So... if you’re looking to get more persuasive or motivate people, stay tuned and listen in!

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• Change Isn't Hard! Mel's book
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Transcript

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What if you could change people's minds or get them to do something simply by changing one word in a sentence? Is that even possible? Well, the evidence would suggest that it is, and that the words you choose to use have much more power than you might think. How we use language can not only alter how smart people think you are, but also whether or not they believe you, and whether or not they feel you're credible, and whether or not they feel motivated to act. So, how exactly can we change the language we use to get the results we want from our communication? Today, I'm going to let you in on three little secret tips that could make your communication much more persuasive than ever before. Hi friend, and welcome to another super insightful episode of Less Chatter, More Matter. I'm your host, Mel Loy, and I'm recording this episode on the lands of the Yuggera and Turrbal people here in Meanjin also known as Brisbane. In Yuggera language, Garamba Biji means hello or good day. Languages other than English is one of the things we will touch on today, because words carry different meanings in different dialects. But before we get to those considerations, I'm going to share three top tips on how to use language to be more persuasive in your communication and then I'll get into some of the things to avoid. So let's get amongst it. Number one, the first top tip is to use concrete rather than abstract language. What I mean by concrete is words or phrases that are very clear and leave no one wondering. For example, you might be talking about your team's performance. Now, if you were to use abstract language, it would sound something like this. We need to do better. But concrete language would sound something like we need to improve our sales by 15 percent in the next quarter. Concrete language is super persuasive. Good orators, persuasive politicians and entrepreneurs who gain big investment know it. Think of someone like Elizabeth Holmes, the now disgraced founder of Theranos. For those of you who don't know the story, the short version is that Holmes said she discovered a way to get complete blood tests without actually drawing blood. And that was of course a false claim, but it didn't come out until years down the track and after millions of dollars in investments. One of the ways she got away with it was because she spoke very confidently and used very concrete language. And that's one of the reasons why concrete language is so powerful. It exudes a sense of confidence. But there's three other reasons why you should use concrete language. The first is that it aids recall of information. There's been a few studies on this and one of the most well known is a study by Walker and Hume who found that whether verbal or written, concrete words and phrases were much likely to be remembered. A similar study was run in 2021 by Richard Shotton and Mike Trahan. They gave 425 participants a list of 10 phrases, and some of those phrases were abstract and some of them were concrete. Now examples of concrete phrases included fast car, money in your pocket, skinny jeans, abstract phrases included innovative quality, central purpose and ethical vision. Participants were then asked to recall the phrases or as many as they could remember five minutes after hearing them. And participants actually remembered 6. 7 percent of the concrete phrases and only 0. 7 percent of the abstract ones. That is a tenfold difference. So if you want people to remember what you said, then using concrete language rather than that fluffy corporate jargon speak is the way to go. Secondly, concrete language helps us to be much clearer with our audiences. And that means they're able to understand the message more easily, follow instructions more successfully, and be more confident in you, the communicator. Essentially using concrete phrases allows people to build a mental picture of what you're talking about. That helps them to make sense of what you're saying quickly and easily. For example, saying something like we need to make sure you're using all the functions of this piece of software instead of just 50 percent of them - is much clearer than we need to optimise our use of platforms. And the third reason that you should use concrete language in your communication is because you will achieve much more positive audience and customer satisfaction. Now Jonah Berger and Grant Packard did a study into the use of concrete language with customer service calls. And actually a side note here, I absolutely recommend Jonah Berger's book, Magic Words. It is a great read on the power of language. But back to this study, they assembled a data set of hundreds of customer service calls made to a big online retailer. Everything from broken products to shoes that didn't fit and so on. And after transcribing the calls and looking at the data and the outcomes of the calls, they found that when the contact centre employee used concrete language, overall customers were more satisfied with the interaction and they thought the employee had been more helpful. So simply by using concrete language, being clearer in their communication, they were able to get a better outcome for everyone. How good is that? Okay. The second top tip to use language in a way that is more persuasive is to use words and phrases that elicit emotion. Now, obviously there's a place for using more dramatic language than more concrete language. It all depends on context. But for example, if you want to make sure your message is clearly understood and help people remember a key point, concrete language is going to be best. But if you want them to feel a specific way, and that feeling will then help motivate them to do something, then using more powerful language can help. There's a really great example by Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer, where they had groups of people watch videos of car crashes. Now, each group was then asked to estimate how fast the cars were traveling when they crashed. But each group was given one small change in the question they were asked. And that change was the verb that was used. So for example, one group was asked, how fast were the cars going when they contacted each other? For other groups, the word contacted was swapped out for another adjective like hit, bumped, collided or smashed. Now obviously the word smashed is much more dramatic than the word collided. And the researchers found that the more dramatic the verb, the faster people estimate the cars were going. And the difference was pretty big. So for example, the people who were asked how far were the cars going when they contacted each other, estimated a speed of 31. 2 miles per hour on average, which or that's about 52 kilometers per hour. Then those who were asked how far were the cars going when they smashed into each other estimated a speed of 40. 5 miles per hour, or about 66 kilometers per hour. That's a big gap. So what does this have to do with being persuasive? Well, if you really want to make an impression and you want your message to be memorable, then using more powerful language that creates greater emotional connection can be very useful. Also, this language helps to build a mental picture in people's minds. It's almost like they can imagine the scene playing out in front of their own eyes. And that kind of connection is really powerful. And it's part of the reason why storytelling works so well, because it uses that emotional language that connects with people's hearts, not just their minds. That's the thing about persuasive communication. You need to talk to both head and heart. And while it might be nice to think that if you present a logical argument, people will respond logically. We know it's just not the case because firstly, we are not rational beings that has been proven time and time again. But secondly, because while we use logic, we are driven by emotion. And there was a study many moons ago of people who had acquired brain injuries that impacted the emotional centre of their brains. And essentially that meant they struggled to feel any emotions. Now, interestingly enough, without access to emotions, those people really struggle to make decisions. And that's how powerful emotions are in decision making, and why the language that you use can help people make that decision to follow your direction. Okay, the third way to use language to persuade your audience is using it to build a sense of identity. And there's a couple of ways we can do this. The first is one I've spoken about before on the show, and it's in my book, and it's about taking a noun and turning it into a verb. So for example, not asking people to lead change, but asking them to be change leaders can be much more powerful. There's a couple of key studies in this area. In one study, people who were eligible to vote in US elections were canvassed and they were asked either, will you vote or will you be a voter? The latter group were far more likely to actually turn up to the polling booths and vote. A similar study at Stanford university looked at groups of kindergarten children and their reactions. When a teacher knocked over some pens or made a mess of some kind and half the children were asked, will you help clean up? And the other half were asked, will you be a helper and help clean up? And again, the latter group, the helpers were about 30 percent more likely to help the teacher. This is what we call using language to create an identity. It gives people something to relate to. And similarly, you can use the priming effect or consistency bias to your advantage here too. So for example, asking someone if they consider themselves to be a generous person before asking for a donation. If people answer, yes, I do consider myself as generous, then they are far more likely to donate because now they have an identity that they've assigned to themselves. And we have this consistency bias, which means we strive to remain consistent to our words or actions, even if we really should change. Both of those things. So that's one way. The second way to use language is to use the language of your audience. Now this is what's called accommodation theory in linguistics, but essentially it just means we adjust our speech and communication style depending on who we're talking to. And it's often due to factors like age, culture, native language, social status, and so on. It works because people want to create social bonds. We are social creatures. And by doing that, we strengthen connection with others. And when we use the language that our audience uses, it creates a bond, which creates more trust and therefore makes you more persuasive. Now, like all effective communication, it comes down to putting your audience at the center of everything you do. So use the words and language they're likely to use, or even mirror their body language and expressions. But the key is to do this genuinely and authentically. You don't want to come across as patronizing, but also it's really obvious when talking in a certain way is really uncomfortable for you. Just think about those videos doing the rounds right now on social media where elderly people are speaking in Gen Z language. It's very obviously out of their comfort zone. Okay, so they're the three things to do. Here's the three things not to do with language. If you want to be more persuasive. So the first one, and you know, I bang on about this all the time is do not use jargon and corporate speak. So jargon is words or phrases, even acronyms that are unique to a particular business or industry. So for example, in the marketing and comms sector, we have a bunch of jargon like above the line or CTA, ROI, segmentation, et cetera, et cetera. Corporate speak is that flowery buzzword language that is usually meaningless. It's basically word salad. Phrases like leverage the synergies and paradigm shift or low hanging fruit. And my most hated word, optimise - and so on and so on. I'm sure we've all heard these words many times before, unfortunately, and they're basically meaningless to many people in our audience. They can come across as like, you're trying to hide something or even that you don't know what you're talking about and you're trying to hide it. One study had groups of people read an article and some groups had the article in its original form, which was written in really academic language with lots of jargon. And other groups in the experiment had the same article, but it was effectively translated into plain English. Then the groups were asked to rate how intelligent they thought the authors of the article were. And lo and behold, those who read the simplified, plain English version, rated the perceived intelligence of the authors as 13 percent higher than the readers of the academic version. My point is that keeping it simple is not dumbing it down. It only makes you appear smarter, but it helps your audience understand your key message too. So this is where again, concrete language can really help. Now this leads to point number two of what not to do. Do not assume knowledge. Using words or phrases that are unique to your sector or your area of expertise assumes that your audience also knows what they mean. And this is what we call the curse of knowledge. We forget what it's like not to know everything we know. It's really prevalent in all industries, but it's also really prevalent in senior leadership. Think about a CEO or a C suite member who's been living and breathing, breathing strategy creation for months on end. And when they start communicating it, often poorly, and often using the broken communication cascade. People don't get it. So for example, some moons ago, I worked for a financial services company and the CEO at the time came up with this idea of creating a financial services marketplace. That was his strategy. Now in his mind, this made perfect sense because he'd come up with the terminology and he had a clear picture of what that looks like in practice, but nobody else did - not even the C suite. He kept pushing it through, but to his detriment. Firstly, it was going to cost a lot of money to get where he wanted to go. Secondly, it was a very ambitious idea when the company really just need to work on getting some of the basics, right? Thirdly, the customers didn't need or want it. They just wanted the basics, right? But also it was just a term that nobody really understood. And in the end, that kind of led to his demise as CEO. But the point is that using language that people will understand is the way to go. Don't assume they have the same level of expertise or depth of knowledge or time that you've had to consume this knowledge. If you do, you definitely won't be as persuasive because people just won't understand what you're on about. Finally, don't forget that words and phrases can mean different things to different people due to cultural or even generational differences. So for example, using the word, maybe, that can mean we might, or we might not in some cultures, but in other cultures, it's a polite way of saying no. We also have colloquial words and phrases. So for example, us Aussies say no worries a lot, or yeah, nah, or nah, yeah. But some of that can be perceived as a bit negative or confusing. And for example, if you say no worries, some people might feel offended because they never meant to worry you. There's also generational differences. Like I said earlier, we're seeing a lot of that play out on videos on social media right now. Think of some of that Gen Z slang like slaps. I mean, obviously that's going to mean very different things to different people. So if you want to persuade your audience, think about those words and phrases that could be confused or misinterpreted. And if you're not sure, ask. Okay. It is time for your episode recap. So if you tuned out, now's a good time to tune back in and get the key points. Today's episode was all about how the language you use can either help or hinder your persuasiveness. We covered three top tips for using language to be more persuasive. Number one, use concrete rather than abstract language. This kind of language helps people better remember what you said, understand what you said, and ultimately leads to better outcomes for you and your audiences. Number two, use language that elicits emotion. Emotion helps drive people in the direction you want them to go and it creates a picture in their minds that you want them to have about a particular situation. It's how you motivate people and emotion helps people make decisions. Number three, use language that helps build an identity. So firstly, by using language that implies an identity, like change leader or change maker, instead of leading change, for example, but secondly, by using language that your audience uses, it helps to build a connection and shared identity, which leads to more trust, which leads to more action. We then covered three top tips for what not to do. Number one. Don't use jargon and corporate speak. It makes you look ridiculous, but it also comes across as patronising and it can be really confusing to your audience. Number two, don't assume knowledge. Using language and words that are clear for your audience to understand is the way to go. Even if they haven't been in the project to the depth that you have, or have the same expertise, we want to make sure that they understand it. And number three, don't assume all words mean the same thing for everyone. Remember that language has those cultural, colloquial, and generational differences. And if in doubt, check first. Okay. That is your episode for today. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you got a bit out of it. And if you did, maybe think about sharing it with somebody else who you think could really benefit from the learning. On that note, if you haven't yet, I would love it if you could be a helper and become a reviewer and leave a rating and a bit of a review on your podcast app of choice. That would be so helpful in getting the word of this learning out even further. In the meantime, don't forget that you can stay up to date with everything we're doing at Hey Mel! Comms over on LinkedIn and on Instagram. So make sure you check the show notes for that and sign up to our fortnightly newsletter; in that you will find a whole lot of value, events that are coming up, the latest news from the comms world, and so much more. All right, team, that's all we've got time for today. Keep doing amazing things and bye for now.