If your potential customers don’t like you, they won’t buy from you. And if they don’t feel a connection with you, they aren’t likely to buy again.
Over 80% of all buying decisions are based on emotional factors. That means anytime you approach your potential customer – whether it is an e-mail blast, your web site, a direct mail campaign, or even your business cards, you must consider the emotional impact your message brings.
It’s all about Relationships
You might think you don’t want a relationship with your customer – just his credit card number. Review the last several pieces your clients read. Was it filled with cold-hard facts or did it speak as a friend offering a solution to a problem? Does your computer offer a gazillion megabytes of RAM, or does it work so efficiently that you can spend more time your family? Customers appreciate the personal touch because it makes it seem like you care about them and they will reward you by becoming loyal members of your customer base.
Change Your Life
That’s every salesperson’s job – to prove that their product or service will change someone’s life (or business) for the better. Whether your new pill will help them lose weight and find the man of their dreams or streamline production and thus save a few bucks – push benefits over features. Talk to them as you would to a friend.
Appeal to Five Senses
Which would you rather do – spend a week at the Bahamas or take a walk on moonlight beaches, sunbathe on sun-kissed sand, and sample local cuisine by candlelight while gazing in your lover’s eyes? Even if you’re selling notebooks or hair gel, you can write copy that will engage the reader. You must romance their emotions, heighten their anticipation, elevate their desire, and then make them an irresistible offer they simply cannot refuse.
Can We Be Friends?
While you may have case studies or clinical trials up the wazoo to prove your case, reciting stats will bore your reader. Instead, every time you communicate with a client, approach the content as if your close friend were going to read it.
Read this example from a recent e-mail blast from a successful internet businessman. “I want to help you make more money. A lot more money. More money than the GNP of small countries. (Why think small?) I’m going to give you all I have… nothing held back.” It’s conversational, light-hearted and it even sounds as though he has my best interests at heart.
Exclusivity
Remember the old gag line, “I wouldn’t want to be a part of any club that would have me as a member?” There is something appealing about being a part of something with limited access that not everyone has. That’s why country clubs exist. You can create the same image with your product or services the way this advertising writer did. “Because I write every word of my clients’ advertising (I never farm out work to other copywriters), I can only accept a limited number of projects each month. When my schedule is full, that’s it for the month!”
Prioritize
For web copy, it is more important that your writing creates an emotional connection with the reader than blind SEO. Just throwing out keyword rich content does not convert to sales. Spend the extra time and attention to making sure that your copy is crisp, engaging and makes you appear likable and trustworthy.
Related posts:
