Do you suck at emotional response?

[adamlantelme]

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Greetings Warriors,

I’d like to share some wisdom that I have gained in my experience writing copy. I hope this will help explain how to make an emotional connection with your prospect for those who struggle with the discipline.

As we all know, copywriting is an emotional response game. If it were all about writing well, following grammatical metrics, indenting correctly and all that jazz, then your English teacher would be just as skilled a sales person as a pro copywriter.

Bottom line, if you aren’t able to create an environment where your prospect is being driven to make a response because of an emotional reason, then it’s an uphill battle for that sale.

One of the obstacles a lot of creative writers face is writing from personal experience. While your personal experience can often prove invaluable; when used incorrectly it can cause people to not only want to avoid you, but for them not to trust you as well.

What exactly are some of these stumbling blocks that many copywriters face?

One of them is injecting your own personal feelings on why (x) product is the best thing on the face of the earth. And the other is insisting or implying that you’re “telling the truth” by being honest, or truthful.

When you make a claim, you’re objective is to make the prospect agree that your claim is correct.

One problem here is that a lot of people think that by simply making a claim people will agree with you. Just because you say something is true, doesn’t make it so in the mind of the prospect. You have to prove it to them, and you have to show them why their wants and desires will be be realized if they were to buy.

Many time new writers will say such things as “To be honest,” “Honestly,” “Personally,” “In my experience,” “Truth be told,” etc.

These phrases can be red flags to a prospective customer or client. The reason being is that by being open, or by being frank, you are in fact playing a hand that shows that you are more interested in your self than you are in the client.

It’s been said numerous times that “No one likes to be sold.”

Conversely, everyone likes to buy something when they feel like they are coming away with a deal, or that they are going to profit. More than that, people want to feel as if they were in control of their decision, and that no one forced them or coerced them to pull the trigger.

Instead of hammering home why you think (x) product is the perfect solution for their problems, it is better instead to get the client to agree with you, that it is. Let them come to the conclusion that your product will benefit them without being so overbearing in your claim, that you turn them away.

For example, when I was a door to door salesman, I found that if I were to insist that my product was exactly what the prospect needed, I would encounter a lot of resistance. Just because I believe that (x) is amazing, doesn’t mean that they will too.

If I were to ask a lot of questions, listen to the prospect, and then get them to agree with me that my product would in fact change their life, save them money, save them time etc. Then they were much more confident in my product, as well as their decision to purchase it.

How exactly do you go about doing this?

Well no claim is ever going to be believed unless adequate proof is given. You can’t create an emotional response unless you give them reasons to become emotional about what is wrong and missing in their lives.

So instead of saying something like “ To be honest, not buying Gold is a foolish thing to do,” you should ask them a question that leaves room for an emotional answer.

There are plenty of reasons for them to believe that not buying Gold would be a mistake. But if you can prove to them that Gold isn’t just a valuable investment, but an absolute necessity for protecting their assets and their family, then you’ve given them much more incentive to make the decision you want them to make.

Rather than “being honest” ( which to them sounds like, “I’ve been lying to you, but I hope you believe me anyways.”) You should instead engage their emotional core.

A question should be asked. A question that would trigger an emotional response would look like this.

“As you’ve watched the value of the dollar plummet here in the past 6 months, don’t you think it would be a good idea to diversify your portfolio with Gold? After all your hard work and time spent investing, wouldn’t you agree that not investing in Gold is the perfect way to be taken advantage of by all those sneaky underhanded Wall Street types who want nothing more than to profit at your expense?


That’s just one example of such phrasing.

You could also provide them with an overwhelming burden of proof that without Gold, their life will end up in shambles. Or that they will no longer be able to provide the same quality of life for themselves and their family if they don't make an intelligent decision to invest in the only dependable currency in the entire world.

Remember WIFM.

What’s in it for me. If you aren’t providing something of value, then people won’t buy.

That’s all your prospect cares about, I'm sure you already knew that..didn’t you?

Cheers


Adam.

[hybrid43]

This is a good post. But it makes me a bit sad.
Yes, most people make purchasers based on emotional stimuli. Of course, as marketers we have to satisfy that need to make a sale. no sale, no money, no good. But is there no way to be a successful 6 figure marketer without pulling heart strings? Is 3% conversion rate out of reach with factual copywriting?
I don't know. Need more experience, I guess. hammer the newbie out of be with some booze. Yep, it's a whole new things.

[Kieran Gracie]

Enjoyed this post and found it very useful for a newbie to copywriting. I often read that testimonials are needed in all good copy but, as an affiliate, I do not have any (they all go to the vendors whose products I promote). Also I am wary about faked testimonials. Are testimonials necessary and, if so, how do I go about getting them?

[John_S]

But is there no way to be a successful 6 figure marketer without pulling heart strings? Is 3% conversion rate out of reach with factual copywriting?

Experiments with brain damaged people who couldn't develop an emotional response prove they also can't come to a decision.

Including the decision to buy. ....Anything.

Emotional weighting is the decision making process, no matter how we want to make it a logic only function. People can simply not function without an emotional basis for dicisionmaking. And that has nothing to do with your product or marketing.

People without emotion would die.

That has to do with which shoes to wear to work and what to pull out of the refrigerator to eat for breakfast. Humans are not logical. PERIOD.

The basic operating system for the human is emotion. Anything else is, dare I say it: marketing.

[hybrid43]

Originally Posted by John_S

Experiments with brain damaged people who couldn't develop an emotional response prove they also can't come to a decision.

Including the decision to buy. ....Anything.

Emotional weighting is the decision making process, no matter how we want to make it a logic only function. People can simply not function without an emotional basis for dicisionmaking. And that has nothing to do with your product or marketing.

People without emotion would die.

That has to do with which shoes to wear to work and what to pull out of the refrigerator to eat for breakfast. Humans are not logical. PERIOD.

The basic operating system for the human is emotion. Anything else is, dare I say it: marketing.

Interesting point. I haven't met any who have died from a lack of emotions yet. I know of many professionals in banking, finance, investing, and business industry who are perfectly fine(financially and mentally) making logical emotionless decisions including purchasing. But if I come across a case in my research in the future, I'll let you know.

Sure, many people have an emotional need that needs to be fulfilled before making a purchasing decision. Problem is that most marketing/copywriting only focuses on the filling that emotional need, instead of also filling an Actual need. Must marketing/copywriting be only about hyping products/services up to a level that it is borderline lying? Is there another way of marketing/copywriting that is honest and factual which can be equally successful as hype? That's the question. I'm looking for guidance in that prospective.

[ewenmack]

Originally Posted by hybrid43

Is there another way of marketing/copywriting that is honest and factual which can be equally successful as hype? That's the question. I'm looking for guidance in that prospective.

here's an example How To Write A Money Grabbing Ad...Without Hype

Enjoy!
Ewen

[vip-ip]

Emotional RESPONSE - the title of this thread - isn't quite the same as emotional pitching. I agree that male copywriters who couldn't have possibly experienced a feminine problem will have to "dumb down" the feeling to something they're familiar with. In those cases - political correctness aside - perhaps a female writer would be best.

However, best sales are done one on one, and that's where emotional response comes in.

If you know how a prospect feels, you'll know exactly what words to say. Unfortunately with copywriting, you don't know what a given person thinks or feels. You can only guess what their experience has been like, based on research. This is what makes copywriting difficult.

Best Regards,
vip-ip ...