Whether you are making videos to persuade your viewers to subscribe to your channel, buy your products, or visit your website, you’ve likely realized that, more often than not, your attempts are not as effective as you’d wish. According to research by Leighton Interactive, CTA clickthrough varies significantly between industries. However, you can expect an average of a 3%–6% response rate to your videos CTAs.
Those numbers might seem underwhelming, so it shouldn’t be surprising most content creators would be looking for ways to increase them. But how can you be more persuasive in your videos and boost your CTA clickthrough rate? We’ve briefly touched upon the topic in one of our previous articles. If you haven’t checked our post on the best methods and techniques to persuade your viewers, we suggest you first check it out before continuing.
Today, we expand upon that article by looking at some rhetorical devices you can employ to make your videos more persuasive! We hope you find this compilation helpful. Here is a comprehensive list of rhetorical devices you can use:
36 Rhetorical Devices to Make Your Videos More Persuasive
| Rhetorical Device | Definition | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Alliteration | Alliteration entails repeating the same consonant sounds in neighboring words or syllables. This rhetorical device is prominently used in literature, nursery rhymes, tongue twisters, and even brand names. | Krispy Kreme, wild and woolly, Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. |
| Allusion | Allusion entails referencing a person, an event, or a place. The person or object referenced usually requires no further explanation because they’re widely known. | I can’t beat Josh up — I’m not Mike Tyson. |
| Amplification | Amplification is, in essence, repetition of a word (often using an extra adjective in the process) for emphasis’ sake. | Love, real love, takes time. |
| Anadiplosis | Anadiplosis entails repeating the last word of a sentence or phrase (usually the most prominent one) at the beginning of the next. | This public school has a record of extraordinary reliability, a reliability that every other school is jealous of in the city. |
| Analepsis | Analepsis entails interrupting the chronological sequence within a story by shifting focus toward something that occurred prior (flashback). | n/a |
| Analogy | Analogy is when you describe something by emphasizing its similarity to something else. Commonplace analogies often end up falling into the categories of figures of speech or idioms. | He’s as blind as a bat. |
| Anaphora | Anaphora is a rhetorical device that entails the consistent repetition of the initial word in several consecutive phrases or clauses with the purpose of achieving a poetic or persuasive effect. | If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? |
| Antanaclasis | This rhetorical device entails repeating a single word within a phrase or a sentence, with its second occurrence taking on a contrary or an opposite meaning to the first. | We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately. |
| Antanagoge | Antanagoge means making both a positive and a negative statement in a single sentence to lessen the impact of both. | She is short but pretty. |
| Antimetabole | Antimetabole entails repeating phrases or words in reverse order. | Never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you. |
| Antiphrasis | This rhetorical device means purposefully using a word in such a manner that it means the opposite of what it represents. That is usually done for humoristic purposes. | Thanks for spraying me with water when I just spent an hour doing my hair. You are such a funny guy. |
| Antithesis | Antithesis, in essence, connects two things, usually to signify great importance of any action. | That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. |
| Antonomasia | This rhetorical device entails referencing a person by an epithet or a title instead of their name or a proper name to a member of a class instead of that general term. | the Bard (William Shakespeare), Solomon (a wise ruler) |
| Aporia | Aporia entails a dramatized uncertainty (real or not) for an immediate rhetorical effect. | To be, or not to be: that is the question. |
| Appositive | Appositive is inserting an extra noun or a noun phrase next to the subject, which serves as an additional descriptor for it. | Mary, Queen of Scots, ruled for 25 years. |
| Chiasmus | Chiasmus entails inverting the relationship between the syntactic elements of adjacent phrases. | Working hard or hardly working? |
| Dysphemism | Dysphemism is a rhetorical device used to put a negative connotation on a word by using an offensive, socially unacceptable, or a degrading alternative expression. | Looney bin (mental hospital), a tub of lard (overweight person), faggot (homosexual man). |
| Enumeratio | This rhetorical device means proving a point by providing details. | The hotel renovation, including a new spa, tennis court, pool, and lounge, is finally complete. |
| Epanalepsis | Epanalepsis entails repeating a word or a part of a sentence or a clause at the end. That is used to reinforce the made statement. | The king is dead, long live the king! |
| Epistrophe | Epistrophe is repeating the same word at the end of consecutive clauses or sentences, usually for poetic or rhetorical purposes. | …of the people, by the people, for the people… |
| Epithet | Epithet is a word, usually an adjective, that is used to describe a person or object and often stands right next to it in a sentence. | Richard the Lionheart, Ivan the Terrible, Vlad the Impaler, man’s best friend. |
| Epizeuxis | This rhetorical device entails the repetition of a single for emphasis’ sake. | Out, out, brief candle! Dad, this ride was fun, fun, fun! |
| Hyperbaton | This rhetorical device entails inverting the traditional, idiomatic word order. | One swallow does not a summer make, nor one fine day. When you look at the dark side, careful you must be. |
| Hyperbole | Hyperbole is an evident exaggeration for the sake of dramatic effect or humor. | I’ve told you to clean your room a million times. I am so hungry I could eat a horse. |
| Litotes | This rhetorical device is making an understatement by using a negative form to express a positive trait. | You are not bad. Your face is not ugly. |
| Meiosis (Understatement) | Meiosis is presenting something in such a way that it purposefully reduces its importance, primarily to achieve a more significant effect. | n/a |
| Metanoia | Metanoia entails correcting or further expanding on a statement, most often to emphasize something further. | You are the most beautiful woman here tonight, no, in the entire city. |
| Metaphor | This rhetorical device entails using a phrase or a word denoting an object to characterize another, unrelated object by implying shared similarities. | Your eyes are the windows to your soul. She was a wildfire of rage. |
| Metonymy | This rhetorical device is a type of metaphor where you refer to something with something else closely related to it. | The pen is mightier than the sword. Let me give you a hand. |
| Onomatopoeia | Onomatopoeia entails words that describe things or actions by imitating their sound. | Neigh, oink, plunk, pop. |
| Oxymoron | This rhetorical device is making a two-word paradox from contradictory words. | Cruel kindness, near miss, deafening silence, definitely maybe. |
| Parallelism | Parallelism entails using similarly structured phrases to create symmetry and balance. | Like father, like son. |
| Pleonasm | Pleonasm entails using more words than necessary to convey your point, usually for the sake of emphasis. | We saw it with our own eyes, true fact, free gift. |
| Simile | This rhetorical device entails a direct comparison of two dissimilar things by using “like” or “as.” | Skin as white as snow, eyes blue like the sky. |
| Synecdoche | Synecdoche is when a part is represented as a whole (fifty swords for fifty men), a whole for a part (society for high society), the species for the genus (cutthroat for assassin), the genus for the species (animal for a horse), etc. | n/a |
| Zeugma | This rhetorical device is when you use a single word to modify two others in two varying ways. | She broke his car and his heart. |
