How Can a White Paper Become a More Effective Persuasion Tool?
Author: Adele Sommers

The science of persuasion has moved to a new level of
intrigue as researchers attempt to discover which kinds of
arguments or information help buyers make purchasing
decisions. This article focuses on recent findings in this
area and suggests how the research could apply to the
domain of white papers.

Here's an important question: Should you tell your
audiences only the good things about your offerings, or
give them more of a complete analysis? Some of the answers
come from the June/July 2008 issue of the User Interface
Design Newsletter published by HumanFactors.com.

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Which Kinds of Information Improve Persuasion?
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Researchers have been probing whether one-sided
presentations (only telling the good things about a
product) or two-sided presentations (telling both the pros
and cons) are the most effective in persuading consumers to
buy a product.

One research team developed a series of experiments for
products that ranged from cell phones to bicycles to
toothpaste to portable DVD players to medicine. In half the
tests, consumers were presented with only positive
information. In the other half, consumers were given both
pros and cons. Here are a few of the discoveries:

-- Both one-sided and two-sided messages can increase
positive attitudes toward a product.

-- Two-sided messages are more effective at instilling
consumers with confidence in that attitude.

-- People who were exposed to both pros and cons indicated
a greater intention to buy than those exposed only to pros
-- even though both groups had developed positive attitudes
toward the product.

Another research team seemingly concurred that people who
only see the positive information know consciously that
they still need to come up with and analyze the drawbacks
of a given decision. In contrast, people who are exposed to
both the pros and cons have the impression that the
information is complete. Therefore, they don't need to put
forth the effort to generate and then weigh out the cons
before they can make a good decision. Somebody has already
done that for them!

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What This Research Could Mean for White Papers
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For technical products and services, it could be argued
that white papers and similar technical briefs offer a more
objective way to help people make technology-based buying
decisions than other types of sales literature.

Some people, however, feel that white papers often fall
short of their potential. The topics are uninteresting, the
titles are boring, and the content can appear either too
superficial or too dull. Instead, technologists need the
tools to help them present business cases to other
stakeholders within the organization. The group needs to
make educated and informed decisions, without having to
wade through any hype.

So, how can a white paper do a better job of educating and
persuading -- without depending on a sales pitch?

Similar to the idea of presenting pros and cons, a white
paper can help your audiences prescreen themselves to
determine how likely they are to succeed with your
offerings. Using this approach, the white paper aims to
reduce a customer's risk of failure by ensuring that
potential buyers satisfy certain basic prerequisites.

This is very different from attempting to be persuasive in
the typical sense -- by aiming to attract anyone you can
win over. Rather than trying to convince everyone to buy,
you're trying to convince people NOT to buy if they're not
good candidates for your wares. Your offerings will be
ideal for the right parties. But how will people know
whether their needs are a good fit?

You aid these people by stating the minimum requirements
for using your offerings, including the combinations of
products, services, and infrastructures you will and will
not support.

For a technology-based product, the minimum infrastructure
might entail high-end computing equipment, digital wiring,
Internet connectivity, high bandwidth, or other factors.
Explicitly stating these types of parameters up front is a
common practice in a variety of industries, especially to
realistically constrain the obligations of warranties.

Your white paper can therefore explain the product's
features, benefits, and parameters in such a way as to
clearly assert: "Please buy this product only if you meet
the prerequisites! If the shoes do not fit, we can't be
responsible if they hurt your feet!"

In this mode, you are using an approach that looks out for
everyone's best interests. It's a conscientious and
principled way to persuade others, using transparency and
candor.


About the Author:

Adele Sommers, Ph.D. is the author of the award-winning
"Straight Talk on Boosting Business Performance" program.
She helps people "discover and recover" the profits their
businesses may be losing every day through overlooked
performance potential. To sign up for more free tips, visit
her site at http://LearnShareProsper.com