Creating an argument

So you wish to convince the users our car insurance is great and that it's easier to report their claims online than to call us. This is when you need good arguments.

An argument is a claim that is well justified and has roots in your reader's knowledge. 

So any argument has (at least) three ingredients:

• Claim
• Reason
• Existing knowledge

The claim in an argument is what you would like to convince the reader about. It could also be a call to action. In short, your claim is what you want your reader to understand or do.

It could be anything from "it's easy to buy your insurance online" to "log in".

But the claim alone is just that, a claim, which the reader might disagree with or choose to ignore. In order to persuade, you need to make sure it makes sense to your reader.

Claim: Log in

For a claim to make sense, you need grounds - a reason with which you justify your claim. 

The argument's reason is what helps you convince your reader. So, rather than claiming "it's easy to buy your insurance online", we could add "when you've logged in, we can tailor products and prices to your needs".

Your reason could be implied in your claim or stated explicitly. It could be in a separate sentence or part of your claim.

Reason: When you've logged in, we can tailor products and prices to your needs

When you have justified your claim with a reason, it looks a lot like a solid argument.

However, a justified claim like this alone isn't enough, you need them to ring true in the reader's ears. So we must choose the reason with care. Find a reason that is rooted in common knowledge, something your reader knows or has experienced. This brings truth to your reason and makes the argument more convincing.

Our example reason above is warranted by the reader's experiences with other digital solutions. Most of us visit and use several different digital solutions every day, sharing and verifying our information on each one of them.

Knowledge: Where I'm a customer, I can log in and see all my information

Some of your readers might still disagree with your argument. They could've experienced otherwise or have several other reasons:

• They could claim that there's always some technical issues
• They could have little patience with digital solutions or prefer to call
• They might be uncomfortable sharing their information with us

This is why it is important to follow norms and conventions in digital solutions. Our arguments are truthful when rooted in our users' experiences and knowledge of similar solutions.