Research by Pfeiffer, Sundar, and Cao indicates links between language used and the effectiveness of charitable appeals; it is possible that their findings can be extended to design’s effects on appeals experienced. The investigators report that “Charitable appeals generally address relatively serious topics. Since formal language style is more context congruent in communicating this seriousness, it should be more effective in expressing the emotional arousal or the effort of the communicator, which we expected to result in greater charitable support. . . . We find that formal language style (vs. colloquial) results in greater charitable support.”
Bruce Pfeiffer, Aparna Sundar, and Edita Cao. “The Influence of Language Style (Formal Vs. Colloquial) on the Effectiveness of Charitable Appeals.” Psychology and Marketing, in press, https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21729