“We see that every external motion, act, gesture, whether voluntary or mechanical, organic or mental, is produced and preceded by internal feeling or emotion, will or volition, and thought or mind.”
—Helena Blavatsky
Let’s break that down; it’s a little wordy.
Every motion/act/gesture is produced (e.g., caused by) and preceded by two things:
Internal feeling/emotion.
And,
Thought.
So, if you want your audience to do something — a motion, act, or gesture — they must first have (1) an emotion and (2) a thought.
If Helen is right, and I believe she is, her observation gives the recipe for how to call for action.
Provided you have clearly defined what you want your audience at every step, have you provided the necessary ingredients to make it happen?
The catalyst to the reaction?
The #1 mistake of an amateur Authority is to ignore the emotional part. They’re almost afraid of it, if they think about it at all.
Want to read a flat, ineffective advertisement? Find one with nothing but facts and figures. A purely logical, unemotional appeal to the (non-existent) rational prospect.
I’m not going to get all neurological on you, but the medical fact of the matter is that if you haven’t made your prospect’s brain care about the decision you’re asking them to make, the logical part of the brain will not be engaged.
That’s why, like most of the time, no decision will be made at all. You’ve been filtered out, and your logical case for why the purchase or other action you are proposing never has a chance to be made.
It’s also why some of the people that read this are not Authorities, but just another annoying noise generator.
The spectrum of human emotions are wide; use them to your advantage.