One of of the most important digital skills that gives results on the long term is persuasive copywriting and this has proven to be a weapon for conversion online.
In one of my previous posts on how to persuade people to take action through words, I explained the science behind writing a copy (words used on web pages, ads, promotional materials, etc.) that sells your product or service and convinces prospective customers to take action.
I also explained what your copy-writing effort should achieve and why this skill is so important, one of which is, it helps you make instant connection with a potential buyer.
4 Wining Tips on Persuasive Copywriting
In this quick post, I’ll share with you tips on persuasive copywriting that will help you combine the elements of a perfect copy.
Learn How to Focus On your Audience and Not Yourself
When trying to persuade your audience into buying one of your products or services, one of the mistakes people make is writing about why they think the product will help their prospects.
For a perfect persuasive copywriting, the idea is simple. Don’t write about why you think the product or service will help your target audience, or how much work you put into creating it (Unless it’s directly related to the benefits they can get by buying it.)
So, focus on what they want, emphasize on their desires.
For example, if you’re trying to sell a book on self confidence, don’t say “my book shows how to increase one’s self confidence, so you should read it”.
You’re being honest I get it, but your readers or audience won’t know how it will make their lives better, because you’re not emphasizing the aspect that matters to them most.
So You could say:
“This book will boost your self esteem so high in mere 100 pages that you’ll instinctively know how to walk into the crowd of total strangers and strike up an interesting conversation, with anyone in a relaxed and confident manner, even if you’re the shyest person on earth.”
So, tell me, is that now what your audience want’s? They want to boost self confidence and your book is ready to show them how.
List Benefits and Not Features
The fact is, people are motivated by benefits or gains, and not features. They want to solve a problem – that’s a benefit on it’s own.
Let’s take the following examples:
- Feature: Written by a real expert on the topic
- Benefit: You’ll possess same powers of self esteem that enabled expert XYZ to become so popular and influential
- Feature: It contains more than 100 pages
- Benefit: You’ll find so many ideas that you’ll know how to appear confident and relaxed in every common situation.
- Feature: Strategies on negotiation included
- Benefit: You’ll uncover the most powerful negotiation formula and get the upper hand in every debate, against anyone.
Now you see, always turn your product/services features into a desirable benefit for your target audience by listing those benefits. (More about this in this post).
Keep In Mind Maslows Hierarchy of Needs
Maslows hierarchy of needs is one of the most used concepts in marketing. To influence people, you’ll first have to attack the 3 important needs at the base which are the physiological (food, water, rest), security, love, then comes self esteem.
Not every product and service has benefits across the five levels, but you’ll be surprised how important the “higher level” benefits like a sense of belonging, self esteem, and creative fulfillment can be. So you could say:
“Without having a healthy self confidence you can easily become lost in the crowd and be forced to live the rest of your life in constant threat, being pushed around by those with higher self esteem.
If you’ll like to turn the tables around for once and be the one who gives orders, get your own copy of the book XYZ as far as you can.”
Use AIDA Technique When Writing Your Copy
AIDA technique stands for: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action.
You have to entice people to take action IMMEDIATELY.
Chances are if people don’t buy from you after they read your copy, they won’t buy from you ever. So, here’s what you have to do:
- Limit their options: Focus on one or two responses you want from your customers.
- Give a deadline: Make it clear that your product will last only for 48 hours, 1 week or anything. It could also be stated that discount will last only for 24 hours.
- Give a bonus to act now: For example, on Ads, you can say, Wait! That’s not all! after you’ve offered a bonus.
Also Read: Great tips on content marketing that works
Summary Notes of Persuasive Copywriting
Persuasive copywriting focuses on getting a desired action from your target audience and these four tips can help you achieve this.
Summarily, understanding features and benefits will go a long way to helping craft a pefect sales copy.
A feature is something about the product/service that affects how it works, what it can do and more. For example 4 Gig RAM PC has many features like color, processor capacity, video etc.
All those features affects how the PC will work and what it is capable of doing. But they don’t really affect how much someone desires to own a PC. So, become your customers.