Marketing is something of a push-pull activity. We tend to focus on attracting clients, but forget they can actually push back. They find more reasons to say “no” than to say “yes.”
One reason prospects resist saying yes is, they’re simply afraid. And fear can be a powerful emotion. Most of us have at least one fear — spiders, heights, ladders, darkness, being ridiculed at a social event … the list goes on.
So what are your prospect’s 3 biggest fears?
They have fears around the problem that motivates them to call you. Will they ever find a job they love? Will they be sued and see their life savings go down the drain? Will they find meaningful relationships?
They’re afraid you won’t be the best possible resource for them to solve their problem. Do you have the skills? Do you have enough experience? Is there someone better out there?
They’re afraid that you’ll be judgmental, difficult to work with, or the wrong personality fit: too frivolous? too serious?
Your client’s biggest fear of all: they’re afraid your solution will require too much work.
One of the biggest challenges of creating an offer is to deliver everything the prospect needs — but not overwhelm them with how much they have to do.
Buyers like to feel they’re lacing up their comfy sneakers, not cramming their feet into pointy stilettos (unless they’re buying pointy stilettos on purpose, which is a subject for another blog post). They want to anticipate that their purchase will make life easier, simpler, and (dare we say it) more fun.
So one goal of copywriting is to overcome the client’s secret fear, “It’s too hard.”
But you also can’t promise magical transformations with a wave of the wand. And you can’t insult their intelligence by making it seem too easy.
Here are 3 ways you can use copywriting to overcome this objection and get more buyers to “yes.”
1 – Format your copy to create a sense of wide-open spaces.
Artists talk about “negative space.” Graphic designers talk about “white space.” You can use lots of white space when you’re writing a sales letter, website, or landing page. White space subconsciously says, ‘It’s easy.”
Adding white space will make it easier to read your content. Long, text-y paragraphs give readers a headache, just looking at them. When they expend effort to read your copy, they subconsciously assume they’ll need to put forth even more effort to work with you or use your product.
When you come from a traditional writing background (as I have), you were probably taught to shudder at one-sentence paragraphs. Yet they actually work well in many online settings because you’ve created an area of white space.
And here’s a surprising tip: use a simple, sans-serif font.
In her book, What More Can I Say, Dianna Booher cites research showing that Arial font connotes simplicity. For instance, students reading an exercise routine with a script font estimate the exercise would take twice as long as those reading instructions in Arial. Similarly, estimates of time and skill needed to bake a cake were related to the typeface used to share a recipe.
Similarly, trained copywriters will advise you to avoid using italics for more than a phrase or two, whether you’re writing a website, sales letter, or blog post. They’ll also advise you to use dark type on a light background. Effortful reading makes your audience feel tired — a feeling they’ll come to associate with your services.
2 – Deliver instructions as a series of steps.
Break down the process to each step seems straightforward and easy. The process will seem more manageable than instructions delivered via blocks of text or complicated diagrams. You can number the steps, accompany them with illustrations, and break them down as small as they go.
Setting up steps means you’re engaging in copywriting. Steps will seem approachable when you begin with a short sentence, leading with a verb. Follow up with a clarification and then perhaps an example. Often when you revise your instructions to create steps, and revise each step to begin with a verb, you’ll get clearer on what you offer. You may realize you need to go back and revise your own process.
Test your steps. Ask someone who’s unfamiliar with your process, “Can you follow what’s going on? Do the steps seem do-able?”
3 – Tell a story that makes them say, “I want she’s having.”
Most of us have had the experience of going into a restaurant and noticing what a fellow diner is eating. It looks so tempting we don’t bother with the menu. We just tell the server, “I want what she’s having.”
The strongest type of story evokes this reaction. You make the client’s experience so strong, so powerful and so real, s/he just can’t resist.
Set up the story so your client will visualize herself at each stage. Choose a “hero” for your story who will be relatable to your clients — someone who’s not a superstar, beyond their level, but also someone who’s not stupid. (I go into this in much more detail in my ebook, Grow Your Business One Story At A Time.)
Ideally, you can illustrate each step of the process with a portion of the story. For instance, let’s say you’re illustrating the way you help someone implement a website makeover.
Step 1: Decide your goal for your website.
Example: “Clarence was a financial planner. He preferred to work with clients who wanted to create more wealth, rather than those who needed a budget and savings plan. Yet his current website attracted low-end clients, who were mostly broke. Telling people to tear up their credit cards wasn’t how Clarence wanted to spend his days. So he needed a website makeover to attract the clients he hoped to work with.”
Step 2: Identify the top three concerns of your ideal clients.
Example: “Clarence’s ideal clients had accumulated considerable wealth. They had achieved a comfortable lifestyle. They were concerned, first, that they weren’t getting the highest return on their portfolios. They were concerned that they would be able to send their children to college. And, finally, they wanted to make sure they could retire comfortably and be sure their wishes would be followed after they died.”
And so on.
If you’d like to work with me on creating more user-friendly copy, let’s set up a call. Imagine getting on the phone and bouncing ideas around freely, taking risks, and going out on the edge. Imagine taking your copy to places it’s never been before … where you’ll attract clients you’d never dreamed of acquiring. Imagine spending 90 enjoyable, productive minutes on the phone and walking away energized and refreshed. You replaced a blank page with a rough draft … or added professional polish to your draft.
Give yourself the evening off. A glass of wine? A cup of coffee? Time with your favorite person? An extra walk with the dog? Or even an hour of guilt-free pleasure with your favorite movie and a bowl of popcorn.
Your copy’s done. You’re in good shape.
If you’re ready for this feeling, go here to learn more about how we might work together on your next project.
FREE Download this guidebook to finding what really motivates your clients: Join the conversation in their minds. Click here for immediate access.