Which Should You Appeal to, Head or Heart?
Part Two: How About Both?

The last Flight Log explored the pros and cons of writing to appeal to your readers’ heads or their hearts. Which is the best choice depends on the reader, the situation, … and the way the human mind works. A number of Flight Log readers responded with a request for tips on how to appeal to both head and heart at once; fortunately I had already anticipated the question and drafted this article! Read on for two tips on how to assess your reader and three examples of how to appeal to your reader’s head and heart at the same time.

Tip 1: Consider the identifiable victim effect.

A 2007 study sent out one appeal for donations to feed a single starving child whose photo and name were included, and then sent another appeal that provided statistics of alarmingly widespread hunger in the same area and asked for donations to feed them. They found that people gave more money to feed than the single child than to feed the multitudes in need. This is because we can relate to identifiable victims, imagine their suffering, and feel compassion for them, but we can’t relate to or imagine a million starving people or feel compassion for such a large number. No matter who your readers are, they are human and this is how they are wired, so you will usually want to illustrate your work by painting pictures of real people for them so that your work comes to life.

Tip 2: Consider your readers’ mindset.

If you are writing an appeal letter to a donor who is on your mailing list because they feel compassion for single mothers struggling with poverty, by all means give them true anonymous or composite stories of those mothers. If your readers are federal grant reviewers scoring your proposal against a detailed rubric that judges your population’s need and your organization’s outcome data, but leaves no room to rate their emotional response to your stories, of course you will need to fill your proposal with data.

Your readers may also fall somewhere in the middle between these two extremes. For example, they may be potential clients who are seeking therapy and looking for a method that is supported by research … as well as a warm, human practitioner who has successfully helped many people, as evidenced by former patients publishing gushing words of thanks. Or your readers could be family foundation grant reviewers looking for work that both moves them and is evidence-based. In cases like these, when your readers will be making decisions based on both head and heart, you will want to appeal to both by using key data points and details, stories, and quotes that bring them to life. Consider placing the two immediately side-by-side, which enables each to strengthen the other and correct the other’s deficiencies. For example, a statistic can show how common an experience is, while details of that experience give the statistic life and meaning.

 

3 Examples combining statistics for the head with details that appeal to the heart

With Story	Luis Rio, founder of Suzie’s house, was among the 46% of homeless teens who ran away from abuse. “I was tired of being my dad’s punching bag”, he says, “I slept in doorways, panhandled… thought about suicide a lot. My friend Suzie, who was also homeless, slit her wrists.”
With Emotional Details	Suzie’s House surveys show that after a week with us, 92% of teens feel better emotionally. Tisha, 17, wrote, “I finally feel like I am somebody. People here get what I been thru.”
With sensory details	There are about 1.7 million unaccompanied homeless youth in the US, many of them sleeping on concrete and eating from stinking trash cans.