Tapping into customer desire

14 replies
Hi folks, here's a report that I'd like to share with you, I wrote this for you guys on the Warrior Forum.

We are going to take a deeper look at 'desire', by using emotional triggers - the words and phrases that motivate your potential customers to take action, we can tap into 4 types of desire.


The purpose of this report is to provide you with a set of building blocks that will allow you to create your own unique copy.

As a marketer, I know that you like to think for yourself and make up your own mind about the best way to use this information in your niches so think of this as a set of paints that you can use to create your own unique picture.


But first let's take a look at some of the key emotional triggers that motivate customers.


We'll start by examining 4 areas of human desire.


It's a well known fact that people buy because they desire an end result or outcome.


They key word here is desire, and while making statements such as "we need to create desire in order to sell more" is true, what is less spoken about is the actual types of desire. That's right, there's not just one single form of desire that all marketing campaigns can tap into for profit.

Here I'll show you 4 types of desire that you can cherry pick from, for use in your own sales copy.


They are:


· The desire to Gain
· The desire to Save
· The desire to Be
· The desire to Do


As you can see these terms don't have much meaning without some additional explanation, so allow me to start at the beginning with the first type of desire, 'Gain'.


People will usually make a purchase based on want, rather than need. We, you and I, also do this. We lavish ourselves with gadgets, toys, cars, clothes, that we don't really need, but the desire to gain these possessions is so strong that it overthrows our rational thinking.


How you can apply and inspire the same motivation from your customer's works in exactly the same way.


So now let's find out what most people have the desire to gain:


· Money
· Popularity
· Self-confidence
· Health
· Prestige
· Comfort
· And Security


Acknowledgment of these desires are firmly in the conscious mind rather than subconscious mind.


Next we move onto the desire to prevent, aviod or save.


Again, people want to consciously save:


· Time
· Discomfort
· Risks
· Money
· Worry
· And Embarrassment


The next type of desire is the desire 'to be something'.


These can include the desire to be:


· Creative
· Efficient
· Recognized authorities
· "First" in line
· And Influential


Finally, people have the desire to 'do something'.


People often desire to:


· Satisfy curiosity
· Win affection
· Resist domination
· Express themselves
· Emulate the admirable
· Acquire or collect things
· And Improve themselves


By tapping into these types of desires you can increase sales dramatically.

If you know what people want, at an emotional level, it's easier to sell them what they want.


Remember, people spend more because of desire, and less on what they need.


By identifying which type of desire works best in your niche, and then promising to fulfil that desire, you will have a shortcut to increased rapport and maximise your sales as a result.


When combined with embedded commands, we can acknowledge and use our customers conscious desire to our advantage and motivate them to take action.


OK, thank you for checking out this report and I hope you've gained some fresh ideas here.
#customer #desire #tapping
  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    Good post. I'm not so sure the reality is as black and white as you present it, but there's definitely much food for thought here.
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    • Profile picture of the author Darren Tan
      Fantastic post MJ, if people really keep the emotional triggers in mind, they probably wouldn't need to take such long time before making their first sale.

      Keep it coming MJ...
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    • Profile picture of the author MJ Sterling
      Thanks for your feedback so far guys.

      Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

      I'm not so sure the reality is as black and white as you present it.
      Thanks Dennis, I'd love to hear your take on it..

      Originally Posted by Colin Theriot View Post


      Don't just pick one, use them ALL. !
      Thanks Colin, I didn't suggest using only one desire per niche, I thought it was obvious that all these desires are part of human nature and understand what you're saying.

      Lets take the make money niche as an example, recognising some desires over other desires will be more effective.. by tapping into:-

      The desire to gain:
      Prestige, Comfort, Security

      The desire to save:
      Risks,Money, Worry

      The desire to be:
      Authorities, Efficient, Influential

      The desire to do:
      Improve themselves, Emulate the admirable, Acquire or collect things

      Could be common desires in that niche (just personal opinion), and tapping into those desires via sales copy should build rapport with an audience quicker.

      I'm sorry if I didn't make it clearer in the original post.
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      • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
        Originally Posted by MJ Sterling View Post

        Thanks Dennis, I'd love to hear your take on it...
        MJ, this isn't something I've thought through, that's why I said I'm not sure it's that black and white. I was thinking a fifth motivation is the desire to avoid pain. I suppose anything could fit into the four categories you name with enough twisting, but the desire to avoid pain is a strong motivation as well.

        There is always a polarity . . . you can say the desire to avoid pain is also the desire to gain something, but I think it's better understood as the desire to avoid pain, at least part of the time. People construct all kinds of psychological defenses to avoid pain. Addressing that desire can also be a strong selling point.

        There are also unconscious motivations. I can't think of an example right now that wouldn't offend a few people because I'd have to denote behaviors that those who are engaged in are not ready to admit to themselves, so suffice it to say human motivation and behavior isn't always what it seems.

        I dunno, that's off the top of my head, it's not something I've given a lot of thought to in terms of your categorization.
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  • Profile picture of the author vetzkov
    Great report! Thank you alot. It can be greatly implemented into the AIDA marketing model:

    -Attention
    -Interest
    -Desire
    -Action

    I found this model to be a great source of sales pages and guided by it I can convert lots of products like crazy.

    Once again good job on the report. Great info.

    Thank,
    Tsvetan Vetskov
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  • Profile picture of the author Colin Theriot
    Originally Posted by MJ Sterling View Post

    By identifying which type of desire works best in your niche, and then promising to fulfil that desire, you will have a shortcut to increased rapport and maximise your sales as a result.
    I liked everything in your post except for this. I feel like you yourself are actually missing the most powerful implication of your system here. You don't pick ONE per niche. These desires are things that all people have, they're all like little sliders. Everyone has all of them, they're just differing levels of influence over a certain person's behavior. If you've ever played the Sims, think of the personality sliders and you'll get what I mean.

    The trick to using this effectively in marketing is taking your offer and actually detailing all the ways it can be presented specifically to appeal to each and every type of desire. This is the function of long-form sales letters. I forget who said it, but I've read in some old-school copy book at some point that each bullet in the copy should be designed to catch that one additional person who is waiting for the thing that connects to HIM specifically.

    Don't just pick one, use them ALL. Build squeeze pages that are designed to appeal to specific ones, and make multiple squeezes and promote them all separately. You can also use content/rapport emails to a generalized list which are written to focus on a certain desire structure.

    By getting them to respond into sub-opt-in lists for various things, you can segregate them into more profitably organized channels this way. You don't need to give them a survey, you let their behavior define how you categorize them.

    I do really like your post though, even though I'm being critical. It's a neat little desire identifying/labeling thought exercise, and I don't recall seeing it put this way before. Did you make it up, or is it cribbed from elsewhere? It reminds me quite a lot of a list from an old John Caples thing I have somewhere. I'll try and look it up and share here. Good post!
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  • Profile picture of the author Tonio Smith
    I believe with you 100% that emotional triggers are more powerful than logical decisions. We must look beyond what makes sense to find what works never lose sight Of what grows your business.
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  • Profile picture of the author yst
    Interesting, which of these do you find is most commonly strongest?
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  • Profile picture of the author MJ Sterling
    I think the strongest form of desire is security, because it's part of the Id, at least according to Freud's structural model. Or something.
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  • Profile picture of the author Greg D
    Great posts gents.

    Thank you for the article. Nice when people share. I learned something here and am going to apply it in my next sales copy. I really cannot see how this can be harmful.

    I would like to add to the comment Dennis made:

    I agree with you about avoiding pain AND I also think that pain is more related to FEAR than desire. Fear will motivate us consciously and unconsciously.

    It really can be simply explained like this:

    In the big picture, these "emotions" MJ is suggesting we bring out to connect and gain rapport with our audience are really "strategies" of how we make decisions.

    "Desires" as MJ describes are really a "move towards" strategy. Imagine reaching your hand out, "moving toward" something you desire.

    "Avoidance of pain" as you describe is really a "move away from" strategy. Imagine you are "pushing" away from something (situation,person,hot stove...) that is or could cause you pain.

    I believe that MJ was introducing a way to use the "desires" or (positive) "move toward" strategy in our sales copy.

    I also believe that if you bring out the avoidance of "pain" in your sales copy, you are going down a wrong path. I think you are skating on the thin ice of the negative pond.

    Why?

    Because you are now bringing the "pain" (whatever it is...time spent, money spent, time and money wasted, another failure...) to their forefront CONSCIOUS mind....

    And then...asking them to forget it because your product/service will solve this. This can be tricky, because you are triggering their mind to relate to the "pain" so they can forget it.

    It is the old mind trick of asking someone to clear their mind, and then to NOT think of a pink elephant.
    It can't be done, because for our mind to follow instruction and NOT think of something, we have to think of what it is first to then NOT think about it.

    So in essence you are bringing that person, with sales copy of showing how to avoid certain "pain", into a negative state, filled with fear and negative emotion that will/could trigger a "move away" from strategy.

    DISCLAIMER: These random thoughts are my own OPINION.

    Just like a good bantering sometimes.

    Again, really enjoyed this post and threads!

    Greg
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  • Profile picture of the author aaizenm
    Thank you again.
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  • Profile picture of the author PeterDunin
    Thanks for a great post!
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  • Profile picture of the author thedropoutkid
    All I know is that if you provide the best value you possibility can in a niche. You can achieve great success. It about giving people what they want. And what do people want? Ask yourself the same question, but in reverse. If I where I the customer what would I want for my hard earned cash?I bet you I can come up with a complied list we can all agree on.

    1. I want something for my money. Not just anything, but something I can sink my teeth into. Something that can last forever.

    2 I Want honesty from you. Don't tell me a few affirmations will work, when my programming has took 67 years to get till this point. Be brutally honest and I will appreciate you for that. Don't just give me a sales page with a nice pics and some graphics. I want to know who you are and what you are about and how you can help me.

    3. I want genuine sincerity.

    4. I want to know you can help me with all my problems. If not all, just a few. And if not a few, make me feel at least a bit good about myself.

    and

    5th. I want to be exposed to something new, diverse, entertaining, and joyful. So as i read every page, or listen to every line you are feeding me. I want to be feed nutritional material that can get me where i need to go. Not just where you want me to be ( in your bank account).
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