It doesn’t matter how fancy and high tech your site is, good looking graphics will not make you sales. Many online marketers make the mistake of putting too much time and energy into the design of their site, and not enough into writing effective sales copy. Producing a site that is both professional looking and credible is a major factor in selling online, but if your sales copy is not working, you will not make money.
Writing effective sales copy is an art. Good copy writers have learned how to produce persuasive text targeted towards their particular audience. You really need to understand your customers’ needs and produce copy that projects emotion, passion, excitement and benefit. Selling is also about enthusiasm, and projecting that on to your target audience. Being excited about the product will shine through, so avoid dry, over formal copy and let your passion for the subject show.
Selling and Emotions
The importance of emotion needs to be fully understood before embarking on a successful copy writing project. It is a sales cliché that customers buy benefits and not features. This is only partly true. To take the theory a little deeper, people buy because of how those benefits will make them feel. So it is emotion that is key to writing effective copy that sells.
Human Motivators
Let’s now examine basic human motivators. Psychologist Abraham Maslow, bases human behavior around at least one basic need. His theory is that without you addressing a less important need, there won’t be any desire to pursue a more important need.
His idea is based around “the hierarchy of human needs.” Here are the five human motivators, as he sees them, beginning with the basic, and ending with the most important needs.
Physiological – Basics needs include hunger, thirst, shelter, clothing and sex.
Safety (Security) – The need for physical, emotional and financial security.
Social (Affiliation) – The human need for love, affection, companionship and acceptance by their peers.
Self Esteem – Human need for achievement, recognition, attention and respect.
Self-actualization – The need for people to reach their full potential.
You should incorporate these needs into your writing. Get inside the head of your audience, feel their needs, wants and desires and include passion and emotion in your headlines and copy. So sell security (social and relationship), independence, self-confidence, achievement and not what the product does:
– Extra strong Lock
– Reduces fat
– Improves appearance
– Contains Xeterma B1z.
These are all features. However, how will purchasing the product make the customer feel? Concentrate on this on not features and technical specifiations. Features and technical data can be used to back up your site’s claims – but should not be used as the key selling tool.
So what?
An excellent technique for improving your sales copy is to ask yourself “So what?” after each benefit claim. For example:
“Guaranteed to help you lose weight”
So What?
“…so you can invest in confidence” or “….so you can have peace of mind while achieving your goals of a better body”
Headline
The headline is the first and most important factor in your sales copy. You must grab the readers attention and compel them to read on. Around 5 times as many people will read the headline than the copy body.
So unless your headline sells your product immediately, the rest of your copy will be useless. Use the headline to immediately capture your audience’s attention, and to stimulate a specific emotion, as emotion sells.
“Feel embarrassed about your weight?”
“What would a slimmer body mean for you?”
Asking a question is a good way of provoking thought and drawing the reader in.
Try using imperatives:
“Lose weight quickly and easily with product X”
“Imagine the relief of reducing your debt today”
Some tips for writing powerful headlines:
- Write 20-30 different headlines.
- Take days break to give your self a fresh perspective and review again,and choose the best
- Ask your self how they can be improved, are they addressing your objectives.