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Use A FOREST as a Persuasive Writing Checklist
Award-winning writer Kathy Widenhouse has helped hundreds of nonprofits and writers produce successful content , with 750K+ views for her writing tutorials. She is the author of 9 books. See more of Kathy’s content here.
Updated 5.14.26
- “Is this content convincing?”
- “Have I made my point, or do I need something else?”
- “Will my reader act after he reads this?”
If you’re a content writer and you’ve ever struggled with those questions, then you’ll love A FOREST.
It’s a persuasive writing checklist.
No, it’s not a step-by-step writing formula or a recipe – like AIDA or PAS.
Rather, A FOREST is an inventory. It’s an acrostic that gives you an easy way to remember a set of persuasive writing tactics.
Check your content for these 8 elements that persuade readers to act.
What is A FOREST?
A FOREST stands for:
- A – Alliteration
- F – Facts
- O – Opinion
- R – Repetition (sometimes Rhetorical questions)
- E – Examples
- S – Statistics
- T – Three (the “Rule of Three”)
These seven elements in A-F-O-R-E-S-T are central to persuasive writing.
I use A FOREST as I write content, whether I’m writing to sell – or not. Because I want to convince my reader to embrace a helpful answer to his problem.
Here’s where A FOREST is so useful. You don’t need to use hard sell or in-your-face scare tactics to be persuasive. Content’s function is to help the reader to understand an idea, embrace a new attitude, or put a bit of knowledge into practice. When you write with your reader’s need at the forefront of your mind – rather than your own agenda – you are at your most convincing.
This persuasive writing checklist lets you weave all that persuasive goodness into your content of all kinds. You can use it as you write articles, blog posts, email campaigns, presentations, letters, websites, video scripts, newsletters – even annual reports, training materials, strategic planning, and books.
How A FOREST works for me
- During drafting, for focus. I like checklists for a
simple reason: writing is creative, but editing and decision-making are
cognitively expensive. When I’m drafting, I’m juggling structure, tone,
audience, clarity, examples, evidence, rhythm, and sometimes SEO or persuasion
goals. That creates plenty of competition among my brain cells.
This particular persuasive writing checklist reduces the number of things I have to remember while I’m writing that messy first draft. I can focus on one thing at a time instead of trying to “remember the whole craft” while writing. - During rewriting, for consistency. With a checklist,
I’m assured that each piece I write is consistent and meets a minimum standard.
- During editing, as a diagnostic tool. Good writers
don’t just use checklists while drafting—they use them after. Did I include
everything I need? Did I miss a key element?
A checklist relieves me of that uncertainty. A FOREST becomes a diagnostic tool: “Which persuasive elements are missing from this piece?”
A FOREST: a persuasive writing checklist
Check your content for these 7 elements
A: Alliteration
Alliteration is the repetition of phonetic sounds. Some call it “front-loading a sequence of words.” Think “She sells seashells by the seashore” or “Trick or Treat.”
By repeating sounds, you emphasize them. Emphasis makes words memorable. When content is memorable, readers are more likely to be persuaded.
You want a reader to remember what you wrote and act on it? Emphasize it. Or put another way: always allow alliteration or try this technique time after time.
F: Facts
Readers look for objections and excuses to avoid embracing new information. It is how human beings are wired. One of the best ways to refute their objections is to give proof. Evidence appeals to logic.
Credible facts can address reader protests and eliminate questions. Background information, research, graphs, and charts offer facts that can persuade. Include proof in the form of facts and your content will be much more persuasive.
O: Opinion
Reviews, user comments, expert statements, surveys — they’re “social proof,” which is persuasive because it comes from people. People like hearing from other people.
Yet the opinions you include in your writing needn’t be solely from scholars and experts with academic qualifications. Quote others, too — those who have used the product, embraced a cause, or experienced the same situation. Their comments and reviews serve as powerful social proof.
Tip: Whether you reference scholarly experts or the man on the street, include their credentials, as in “Dr. Jane Doe, head of cardiology at XYZ University Hospital” or “Joe Smith, lacrosse coach and father of three.”
R: Repetition
It’s called The Familiarity Principle, developed by research psychologist Robert Zajonc in the 1960s: when we hear information over and over again, our minds begin to think “it must be true.” Repetition makes an idea easy to understand. Understanding is often taken as truth — and truth is one of the most persuasive copywriting techniques out there.
Want to persuade your readers? Repeat an idea. Pull out your thesaurus and use different words. Highlight a different angle to your main point. Or reinforce the idea with different techniques — a story, a statistic, a quote.
Some writers refer to the “R” as “Rhetorical questions,” which are persuasive because they don’t just deliver information—they pull the reader into completing the thought themselves. Answer a question in your mind, and you’re persuaded more easily, aren’t you?
E: Examples
Readers relate to real-life examples and anecdotes. That’s why stories and personal experiences are so appealing. A personal anecdote serves as an eyewitness giving first-hand facts from the scene.
“When we read a story and really understand it, we create a mental simulation of the events described by the story,” says Jeffrey M. Zacks, co-author of a study conducted at Washington University in St. Louis and published in Psychological Journal, one that used functional magnetic resonance imaging to track brain function during reading. As you process words on a page, your brain gets an amazing workout. The chemical reactions in your gray matter create the sensations of the experience described on the paper or the screen.
Stories, examples, and anecdotes arouse those sensations in your reader. Therein lies their persuasive appeal. They’re relatable. Use them.
S: Statistics
Statistics are one of the most persuasive writing tools you can use because numbers are concrete and specific. “I picked 47 tomatoes today” is much more tangible than “I picked a lot of tomatoes today.”
Use numbers gathered in surveys, reporting, polls, censuses — or simple specifics, like our tomato example — to make your content more persuasive.
Tip: Keep a record of the data source. Readers often contact me and ask where I get statistics that I use as proof. You’ll build credibility when you can answer accurately.
T: Threes
The human mind is proficient at processing information in patterns. You’ve likely heard of “The Rule of Three,” in which three is a cornerstone structural number. Three is the smallest number by which we can organize patterns in our minds, making it an ideal way to present information.
For instance, threes are used throughout literature from the three ghosts in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to the children’s fable, the “Three Little Pigs.” Three is also big in slogans like “Snap, Crackle, and Pop” or even the three words in Nike’s famed “Just Do It.”
Check your content for structural threes. Does it have a beginning, middle, and end (three sections)? Do you make three points that support your main idea? Or try this: check for three ways you emphasize your main point — maybe with an example, a quote, and then a statistic to drive home the point.
What makes A FOREST different – and valuable?
Historically, the elements inside this persuasive writing checklist are much older than the acronym itself:
- Alliteration traces back to ancient poetry and oral storytelling traditions.
- Repetition and the rule of three were heavily used in Greek and Roman rhetoric.
- Facts, statistics, and examples became central to modern advertising and direct mail during the 20th century.
- Opinions and expert endorsements grew alongside testimonial advertising and social proof marketing.
But what makes A FOREST different from formulas like AIDA is that it’s not really a formula. The checklist does not prescribe a specific order.
It’s simply an easy way to remember and use content writing tricks that work. That’s why I use it. Try it. Your content will become more consistently persuasive.
And what writer doesn’t want that?
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