How Emotionally Driven Copywriting can Increase Your Bottom Line
December 11th, 2007 Dina at Wordfeeder.comfrom Wordfeeder.com Copywriting & Marketing
All of us make purchases – both on and offline – based on our emotional attachment to what we’re buying.
It’s said that we buy things based on our emotions and then rationalize them with logic.
Take the purchase of a vehicle for example. If all we’re concerned about is getting from point A to point B we’d buy the cheapest, most economical car and be done with it. But when we buy vehicles, we’re buying more than transportation. We’re buying something that makes us feel cool, rich, popular, etc.
And the fact is that the same can be said for most of the purchases we make.
That’s why it’s important to sell to people’s emotions when you’re writing copy for your business. We’re going to examine some techniques for injecting emotion into your copy.
The Headline
The most important aspect of any writing you want read is the headline. Failure here means you’ve just wasted a lot of words.
Consider these two headlines:
How to Get Promoted at Work
Are You Fed Up with Your Boss? Easy Ways to Get the Promotion You Deserve
See the difference? The second headline – while not perfect – uses the emotional words, “fed up.” It’s a feeling of anger and frustration most of us can relate to, and it grabs our interest.
Here’s another example:
Benson Inc. Can Help You Easily Plan for Your Retirement
Benson Inc. Will Help You Keep Your Hard-Earned Money and Build A Comfortable Retirement for the Rest of Your Life
The second headline plays on our fear of losing everything we’ve worked for and our desire to have a comfortable life.
Some emotional hot buttons you can tap into when you’re crafting your headlines are:
• The need to be liked
• The fear of loss
• The desire to be popular
• The desire for happiness
• The desire to be healthy
• The desire for money
Body Copy
Writing effective, emotionally driven marketing copy doesn’t end with the headline. If your desire is to sell something, or get a reaction from your reader, then you have to continue appealing to their wants and desires in your body copy.
One of the easiest ways to accomplish this is to write with benefits in mind. Too many companies try to wow their customers with features. Features are great, but what people really want to know is: What’s this thing going to do for me? How’s it going to make my life better? What’s the benefit of buying this product or signing up for this newsletter?
Here’s an example of the difference between features and benefits.
Our vacuum cleaner has a 2hp motor.
That’s a feature and there’s nothing wrong with including it in your copy. But you also want to appeal to your reader’s emotions by adding benefits.
Our vacuum cleaner has a 2hp motor that cleans dirt on the first pass. This lets you to spend less time cleaning and more time relaxing.
You’re appealing to a basic human desire to spend less time working and more time enjoying life.
The Close
Besides your headline, the close is the second most important part of good copywriting. This is your last chance to compel the reader to do whatever it is you want them to do, and again, emotions can come into play.
One of the best closings of any copy written to get a reaction from the reader is the Call to Action. A call to action simply means that you’re asking your reader to act on something. Sign up now, call now, order now, or enter your e-mail address now are examples of calling your readers to act.
Injecting emotion into your close can be done several ways. For example: Having a limited time offer can create a certain fear in people that they might miss out and better act right away.
Also, asking people to be among the first to sign up, call, order or whatever, appeals to our desire to win.
Remember that everyone buys because of their emotions and then rationalizes their purchases with logic. If you’re trying to get your readers to do something specific, you can’t afford not to inject emotion into your marketing copy.
Copyright 2007 Dina Giolitto, Wordfeeder.com Copywriting & Marketing
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