[URGENT] Read this...

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Was reading something earlier this week, and once again I was reminded why a lot of copywriting fails to deliver results.

Way too many inexperienced and lazy copywriters think urgency is only telling the reader there are only 100 left, or the offer expires in 48 hours...

these are urgent claims, but they're not what makes A-level copywriters that are in demand.

What is so important about what you're selling that the reader needs it right now?

That's urgency.

What happens if they don't order? Will they remain broke? Will their body continue to break down? Will they realize after reading your ad that time is wasting because every minute they wait is another minute they lose out on the benefit of this super great thing?

Urgency is your reader realizing they need this now and every minute they wait is another minute they're not experiencing the benefits.

Now, after you've created "real" urgency, you can add the other stuff about expiring offer, etc., but, if you've written your piece right...they won't care about the "fake" urgency.

Just a quick tip
#copywriting #read #urgent
  • I totally agree that urgency has very little to do with scarcity or deadlines.

    I was thinking about this the other day when I read an online review of a new novel and decided I HAD to read it. Although I didn't buy it immediately, I put it in a queue where I sooner or later borrow or buy those books.

    What was it in the book description that gripped my imagination? It had nothing to do with solving a problem or satisfying a need in my life. It was simply that the plot line of the novel sounded like something I would keenly enjoy reading.

    This is a kind of buying motivation that B-level copywriters don't think about much.

    Marcia Yudkin
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    • [2] replies
    • I think Marcia has touched on a key element regarding urgency.

      Most of you will be familiar with the Robert Collier dictum about entering the conversation already taking place in the customer's mind. I would suggest that urgency is a result of having an intimate understanding of your market and knowing the exact buttons to push.

      Anyone can create scarcity by limiting the time, the price, the availability - but urgency happens when an offer is so precisely aligned with a prospect's desires they can't help but respond. It speaks to who they believe themselves to be. It becomes their idea.

      One clue is that if you have to include the word "urgent" in the offer, you haven't got there yet.
      • [ 7 ] Thanks

    • A juicyness of fyooture, which you already got part figured, that kinda sits in your imagination as an all-purpose swat 'gainst what you don't wanna, an' snoopsies deep on cush stuffs you seen worked in the past.

      Stoopid thing is, copy points forevah toward comfort zones.

      Yanno, alla the stuff we should be bustin' outta so's we can revolutionize our lives, move forward, an' mebbe grow hairs on our butt cheeks packin' Robbins stubble verve.

      Bcs life is fulla difficulty zones makin' what you wanna do less kinda doable.

      In Disney movies, impossibly sentient cartoon animals magic alla the strife away.

      But down here on Planet IRL Braino, we wanna see our tomorrows transform our story so far into sumthin' says we done good, mostly.

      So what is neatah, greenah, easiah (etc) 'bout noo stuffs gowin' on that makes you wanna leap in their direction to discovah more depth, warmth & innah light gowin' on downhome in your vulnerable miraculature?

      Those are my thoughts rn, an' I would wanna add how I trooly lookin' forward to 3 things later -- so urgent, I gotta do 'em ... an' so indispensible, I will always claim 'em ovah mopin' around or figurin' unnecessary stuffs full sumone else's timer.

      1) I shall, with humility and radiance blended best I can mustah, Yogah out for 30 minutes in a soul-stimulatin' mannah.

      2) I shall, bcs I cannot prevent musself, nibble a whole buncha olives I got from the store, merely for the romance value.

      3) I shall, thanks to my capacity to devour emergent hoomanity, read sum neato stuffs of an inspirational natyoore.

      This way, I may widen out a little in ways that make me more useful to anywan askin' me to write stuff out.
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  • Very nicely said - and definitely true in my example.
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  • I've always thought the problem was with the phrase: create urgency.


    You can create urgency only by limiting the time or the number.


    On the other hand, you can connect to the urgency in your reader's mind, and that urgency can have tons of reasons...


    Today, I bought a shelf and shelf brackets and drywall nails. The urgency: someone I love dearly wants a shelf on a wall to put some plants. She's wanted for three days... so the urgency is not an emergency... still, it moved me to spend $38 this way.


    As said above, to know that, you'd have to know your target audience...Really know who they love and what those loved ones are doing...


    Moving into a dorm for the first time, getting married, starting school, getting engaged, buying a house, etc.


    You don't create that kind of urgency, you connect to it, you enhance it, but you do not create it.
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    • I love reading your comments. You're always full of useful stuff...

      however, I disagree with you on this...and I may be reading your comment wrong.

      You can create urgency without limiting the number or time...it's what we do.

      Often, I need to create urgency in my sales piece by telling the reader about something that is very important...something they might not have known or thought about. I need to teach them how urgent what I'm saying is.

      If I"m selling a new "wonder pill", I may tell them that there's a reason their leg is swollen...and it might be more serious than what they thought. It could be a blood clot, or it could be the early signs of diabetes. I need to let them know that what they're experiencing is more serious than they think...and I have something that could save their life.

      Or, if I'm doing a financial piece...I can warn them about a coming market collapse and how they can avoid it...I'm telling them this is urgent and they need to take action.

      So, I don't agree that urgency can't be created. Often, the urgency that a sales piece talks about is something new to the reader.

      So just my thoughts on not being able to create urgency
      • [1] reply
  • I totally agree with this. Explaining why your readers need the products and what they lose out will create this sense of urgency
    Not every time expiring offer, sales price and all
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  • How urgent is it to get your date into the sack on the same night? If you want to see them again because you both hit it off so well, urgency is the last thing on your mind. Most marketers are in the prostitution business; the one night stand business; the getting the sale right now, the hell with later business.

    Urgency is important for these people because they know if they don't get the sale now, they might not get another chance. Urgency can backfire if you want a second date.

    Urgency can be a powerful influencer. It can be a powerful manipulator. In the wrong context it can be a powerful deterrent.

    It's not good or bad. You're right that most people get it wrong. It's also right that even if you use it right, in the wrong context, it's still wrong.

    Guns don't kill people. Marketers do.
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    • [1] reply
    • Well, that's an interesting concept.

      However, I will say if you're on a date, you already made the first sale. You sold yourself. The "in the sack" thing would be the upsell...or maybe the downsell (depending).

      We all have friends that never get a date, but they have their eye on someone. We're like dude (or whatever you call them), just ask them out. You won't know unless you ask.

      So, I'd say if you're on a date, you made your first sale and now you're into the whole nurturing thing...

      auto-responder type stuff. It's the jab, jab, jab, punch thing. You teach, teach, teach, and then throw the punch (ask for a further sale). It's what we do with the whole email concept thing.

      If you were trying to get the woman you eluded to on a date...and you said things like, "Hey, I know you like Larry too, and that's ok, and if you find him more attractive then hey, you know, I'm not going to be pushy, but maybe if you go out with Larry we could still talk"...

      That girl would think you were a little strange and probably think you weren't that interested in her.

      Anyways, thanks for your comment. I disagree with your idea for a sales letter but agree with it for an email list. Plus, I'm just having a little fun with your scenario...
  • It's all about strategy and skills of smart selling, you have to create urgency without telling this word or without time limits or discounts. Create the text that make your users think "how did I live without this before"
  • We at the 'urgency of sack' stage yet?

    Bcs I plan on swimmin' out for fitness this Autumn, an' I would wish for a sootibly stylish an' funkshnl rubbah-themed carapace to protect all nearby swimmahs from muh stoopid rat tail hair tanglin' 'bout the waters.

    "What kind of emergency swimwear would you tolerate, O Princess, if it meant you could glide free into the aquatic beyond like a shark, or possibly an exotically released barnacle from a famous shipwreck?"

    I check they guy's shoes. "Ain't answerin' nuthin' like this less'n you sportin' flippahs an' packin' maxo snorkel kudos."

    Those are my sack thoughts rn.

    If you wish, you may use them as a powerful weapon with which to smash open the secrets of the Cosmos so you can feed your evry desire till your tits fly off to like Venus or sumplace equally juicy-soundin'.

    Othahwise, click HERE to avoid such abject misery.
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    [URGENT] Read this...

    Was reading something earlier this week, and once again I was reminded why a lot of copywriting fails to deliver results. Way too many inexperienced and lazy copywriters think urgency is only telling the reader there are only 100 left, or the offer expires in 48 hours...