Author: Bob McClain, Web Copywriting Expert
I don’t care what you’re selling or who you’re selling to. If you don’t make some kind of emotional connection between your product or service and the person you’re trying to sell to, the only thing you’re going to ring up is “no sale”.
You’ve heard it before but I want to hammer it into your skull one more time. People buy on emotion and justify it afterwards with logic. A great way to tap into a person’s emotions is to use emotionally-charged words or ideas that create drama or intrigue.
Politicians are great at this. They will choose an emotionally charged subject, get the people all riled up over it, and ride the wave of emotion into office. You need to do the same thing with your copywriting and ride the wave of emotion to the cash register.
What are some of the “tricks” we can use to get our subject emotionally charged up?
Trick #1 – Emotions are triggered by the words we use…
It’s always been a common excuse amongst those who lash out in sudden bursts of anger that “they couldn’t help themselves”. Their emotions just “get the better of them”. Research has now proven that that isn’t true. Emotional responses are triggered by thoughts; not the other way around.
While the thoughts may be so fleeting that we no longer notice them so that it “seems” like we start with the emotional response to stimuli, emotions still require a thought trigger. That’s where you, the copywriter, come in.
What emotion do you feel will trigger an emotional response in your reader and get them to connect a positive emotion to your product or service? Usually, the best way to do this is to trigger a negative emotion tied to something “outside” and then offer up your product or service as the source for the positive emotion.
Some good “emotional pairings” can be anger/revenge, sadness/happiness or fear/relief.
Trick #2 – It all starts with that first emotional opening sentence…
If you don’t capture their emotions with the very first sentence, they may not bother to read the second one and you’ve already lost your sale. Here are some great sentence openers guaranteed to grab some emotional attention…
- Allow yourself to drift back when you were…
- Just imagine what it would be like if…
- Remember when you were…
- For the next few minutes, allow yourself to…
- Could anything make you angrier than…
- How would you like it if…
- Doesn’t it frustrate you when…
- Do you feel paralyzed by the fear of…
- Does your ego get hammered flat every time someone points out your…
Trick #3 – Tying together “fear of losing out” with “greed” for a dynamite duo
There are two terrific things you can tie together that almost always stimulate people to hit the Buy Now button. Tying the promise of a “no lose” guarantee with a limited offer. This is emotional website copywriting at its best.
There’s only one kind of guarantee that works anymore. The idea of a guarantee has been used so often that no one believes it anymore. Unless it’s a total money-back guarantee with no questions asked, no conditions, and no time limit, your guarantee is worthless.
It has to be such a “can’t lose” bullet-proof guarantee that no one in their right mind would pass it up.
Now combine that with a very limited offer such as “we only have 12 openings and once those openings are filled, we will not make this offer again.” Or perhaps “this coming Monday, the 23rd of August, the offer ends and that’s it. We don’t know if we will ever make this offer again but for now, if you haven’t signed up by then, that’s it. The door is slammed shut!”
Now that’s an emotionally compelling limited offer.
