How to Make an Emotional Connection Through Your Copywriting

April 30, 2008

"But how do you do it?" That was a question I was asked by a prospective client the other day. Although he was a good writer, he was frustrated with trying to use the data he'd collected on his customers to make an emotional connection.

If you know where to look, you can easily find clues about what people are feeling. Once you discover that, making the connection is simple. Let's use weight loss as an example.

Evaluate Your Customers

While some things about your customers may be obvious, you'll get much better results if you actually evaluate or research your visitors in some way. You can perform exit surveys on your site, send out an email asking customers to participate in a quick study or use other means to collect data.

Always read your customer feedback with care. Never discount information because it might not have been what you were expecting. Honest, constructive criticism can open the door to new ideas, products and/or services. Also, study your testimonials. Is there a trend? Do most people compliment you on the same things? If so, those elements are evidently very important to them.

Research your customers' lifestyles as well as basic demographics. In other words, knowing that your visitors are primarily women between the ages of 50 and 60 who make over $60,000 per year is nice. However, it does not reveal that they are approaching retirement and trying to save money wherever they can for fear of not having enough. It also doesn't tell you that their doctors recently told these women their cholesterol and blood pressure were getting too high (probably due to steady weight gain year after year).

Put Yourself in Their Shoes

Once you've collected the data, put yourself in your customers' shoes for a day. Don't just read over the findings in a methodical manner: actually think about what the findings mean. Go back to the paragraph above. Let's dissect those bits of information.

• Women age 50–60 who make over $60,000 per year
• Approaching retirement and trying to save money wherever they can for fear of not having enough
• Doctors recently told them their cholesterol and blood pressure were getting too high (probably due to steady weight gain year after year)
  

What if you were in this situation? What would you be feeling? "Just great! Now all that extra money I've been trying to put toward paying down the mortgage will have to go to some expensive weight-loss program. Or worse yet ... I'll have to go on high-priced medication forever and put up with all those quirky side effects. Most of the time, months later, the news reports say these pills don't work or can possibly kill you! I don't want that. My only other choice is to try to lose the weight. I don't know how to do it alone, so I'll have to join a program. That's just perfect. Approaching retirement and I'm going to be a slave to the calorie counter. Good grief!"

Not a good situation, is it? You don't really want to find or participate in a weight-loss program, do you? So, for someone in this state of mind, how do you persuade them? How do you speak to them on their level?

Asking questions is a good approach:

• "Looking for a weight-loss program that fits your hectic lifestyle?"
• "Need an affordable weight-loss program that produces quick results?"
  

Think of questions that reflect their state of mind and that you can answer positively.

In addition, you can list features of your product or service that would appeal to a person in the mindset outlined above.

• It's easy.
• Everything is prepackaged and precounted.
• It's affordable.
• You get quick results.
• Your health improves as you lose weight.
• It gives you more energy.
• The introductory program saves you money.
• Others have seen blood pressure and cholesterol drop within just 4 weeks.
  

There are lots more. All these features could be worked into your copy along with the appropriate benefits and end results to clearly show these women that your weight-loss program is right for them. Whatever you do, don't forget the vital step of adding benefits and end results to these features!

You could even create a "pre-retirement" package designed to help lower blood pressure and cholesterol and boost energy along with losing weight, so women have better health and more get-up-and-go for the years to come. Give it a discounted price and toss in some supplements and you've got a tailored package these women would probably love.

The whole idea is to learn the who, what, when, where and why of your site visitors. Once you understand what emotional state visitors are in and which emotional level they are on, you'll be able to create copy that is highly effective.

Karon Thackston
Copywriting Course