Is Your Copy Making the Sale?

I just read a very interesting post over at Michel Fortin’s blog, entitled The Biggest Mistakes Copywriters Make. Can you guess what that mistake is?

It’s not grammatical errors. It’s not creating a poorly designed sales page. It’s not failing to mention the product’s best features. It’s forgetting what they are trying to accomplish with their writing.

You see, those who write copy for their own products are, by nature, at a bit of a disadvantage. They know their products like the back of their hand. They know every detail of every feature, and they know why these features are desirable. Where they mess up is in assuming that their prospects will know why they should be impressed with those features.

The thing is, your audience may or may not put two and two together. They will read your big, impressive list of features, and maybe even appreciate them to some extent. But if they don’t make the connection between those features and the benefits they represent for them, your chances of making the sale are slim to none.

Selling with the written word is a bit different from selling in person, but both require us to appeal to the buyer’s emotions. In Michel’s words:

“Writing copy is like face-to-face selling. And when writing copy, the lack of human interaction takes away the emotional element in the selling process. Therefore, a sales message must somehow communicate that emotion that so empowers people to buy.”

That’s right. In order to make the sale, you must appeal to the reader’s emotions. These are living, breathing human beings you’re dealing with. Not walking, talking wallets. Even if you’re in the business to business market, you’re not really selling to other businesses. You’re selling to the people who own or work for those businesses, and they have emotions, too.

If you were trying to sell your product in a retail store, you wouldn’t stand in front of a customer and rattle off a list of features. If you did, he would likely smile and walk away. When a salesman wants to make a sale in the offline world, he starts by establishing a rapport with the customer. He makes him feel like he is on his side. And when discussing the product in question, he highlights the things the product can do for the customer, not the measurements or technical specifications.

There’s no reason you can’t achieve the same sort of connection in writing. Your words can convey empathy with the customer on paper or on a computer screen just like they can when they are spoken. It might take a little more thought to get the point across, but it can certainly be done. Once you’ve accomplished that, you just have to point out the benefits they can expect. If you put yourself in their shoes and think about what they want to accomplish with your product, it’s not hard to do.

The next time you write a piece of copy, take time to think about who you’re writing to, what they want, and how your product can help them achieve that, and incorporate these things into your writing. You’ll find that your customers respond to this approach much better than when you write in an impersonal and technical manner.

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About the Author

Kristy Pruitt is a freelance writer and blogger. She specializes in web content and ghostwriting. Her work has been published on several websites, including eHow, Associated Content and Coupon Trunk.

Visit Kristy Online at: WebFreelanceWriter.com

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