Archive for the ‘Persuasion Triggers’ Category.

Believability

3rd April 2010, 05:12 pm

You did your research, and you offer a product people really want.


You’re targeting the correct market with sales copy that explains all the great benefits your product provides.


And yet, for some reason, people aren’t buying. Why not?


One reason could be, they simply don’t believe you.


At the most basic level, there are really only three reasons why people don’t buy …


1. They don’t want what you have for sale

2. They can’t afford what you have for sale

3. They don’t believe you


There’s not much you can do about the first two.


But you can control the third. In fact, you can infuse your copy with so much believability, your prospect’s skepticism will burn away faster than a lit piece of flash paper!


Here are three elements you can add to your sales copy that will make your product more believable to you target market …


Specificity


Be specific when you make a claim about your product. Specificity gives your claims more believability in the prospect’s mind.


Headlines are a great place to use specificity.


Here’s an example of a headline without specifics and how it could be dramatically improved …


“You Could Be Losing Money In Overcharged Worker’s Compensation Premiums … And Not Even Be Aware Of It!”


“If You’re Like 73.2% of Our Clients, You Can Recover an Average of $98,563.32 in Workers Compensation Overcharges!”


The second headline implants actual numbers in your prospect’s mind thereby making your claim much more believable.


Proof


Proof is vital to making your sales copy believable. Be sure to always include the positive results your customers have gotten using your product.


And when providing results, don’t be shy. The more the better! By doing so, you activate another believability factor, repetition.


When dealing with numbers, proof can take the form of screen shots showing the actual results. Or a simple chart with before and after numbers is also good.


Testimonials are the most widely used form of proof and are still very effective. Audio and video testimonials from your customers are best and should be included in your sales copy whenever possible.


Authority


If you’re associated with a recognized authority, and you make that fact known in your sales copy, your believability skyrockets. The respect your prospect has for the authority automatically transfers to you.


The authority can be a prominent person or a highly-respected institution.


Don’t know Donald Trump or Armand Morin? All is not lost. Get yourself interviewed by a large city newspaper or a reputable news organization.


Larry Coker, who lost 600 pounds and sells a weight loss program, did just that. In his sales copy he writes,


“Maybe you saw my story on CBS Live or Good Morning America. You may have read about me in the Detroit Free Press, the Oakland Daily Tribune or even the National Enquirer.”


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Objection Resolution

1st January 2010, 11:10 am

Objection resolution is an often over-looked component of a good sales letter.

As the prospect reads your ad, certain reasons not to buy pop into his mind. If your ad addresses them, it will be more effective and generate more sales.

Joe Karbo’s famous ad “The Lazy Man’s Way To Riches” is a great example.  Written back in 1973, it was hugely successful.  Thanks to the ad, Joe reportedly sold over three million copies of his book.

The ad succeeded for several reasons.  It started off with attention-getting incongruency, had excellent social proof and credibility, and used a 31-day hold.

Interestingly, a significant portion of the ad addressed objections.  Here are the exact quotes …

It doesn’t require “education”
It doesn’t require “capital”
It doesn’t require “luck”
It doesn’t require “talent”
It doesn’t require “youth”
It doesn’t require “experience”
You don’t have to give up your job

If you’re looking for ways to boost the response of your sales letters, Karbo’s ad is an excellent study piece.

You can see the ad here …

http://tinyurl.com/ygzyg6x

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Using Fear to Sell

19th September 2009, 01:02 pm

Ben Hart, a successful copywriter and marketer says, “The most powerful motive of all is fear,” and fear is “The #1 reason people buy.”

 

And according to David Garfinkel, also a highly respected copywriter, “Fear and greed are really what motivate people … and fear works a lot better than greed.”

 

Getting old, going broke, being alone, getting sick, being left out, not leaving a mark … these are just a few of the fears that can be used to persuade your prospect to buy.

 

Throughout your sales letter, to keep your prospect reading, warn him.  Use facts that will literally scare him into wanting to read more.  Use phrases that bring up the fear he’s tried to bury deep down because it’s so painful.

 

Here’s an example.

 

Colon health is a serious concern for many people.  The following copy for a colon cleanse product leverages the fear of sickness and early death,

 

“‘Death begins in the colon!’ 

 

That statement comes from a Russian Scientist, Elie Metchnikoff, who won the Nobel Prize … and … it is very true! 

 

There’s no getting around it, if you want to live a long and healthy life … the most important thing you can do is … make SURE you have a clean and healthy colon.”

Fear also works well when closing the sale.  In your call to action, warn the prospect of what will happen if he doesn’t buy. 

Ethical Warning: Always have your prospect’s interest at heart and have sincere empathy for him.  If your product really works, scaring him into ordering helps motivate him to do what’s best.

 

 

 

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Future Pacing

10th September 2009, 08:06 pm

Eugene Schwartz was one of the top direct response copywriters of the 20th Century. His space ads and direct mail letters sold hundreds of millions of dollars worth of products.

What made him so successful?

Schwartz had a great grasp of persuasion techniques.  One technique he used with great effect was future pacing.  

Future pacing paints a positive picture in your prospect’s mind of what the future will be like after he buys the product.

Here are three paragraphs from Schwartz’s copy for a memory building product.  Notice how each one describes the future benefit of using the product …

“You will take any popular magazine you wish — one that has, for instance, 60 or 70 pages. You will study the magazine once, and perform a simple trick that burns each one of the pages into your memory … You will hand that magazine to a friend — turn your back and ask him to call off any number of pages he wishes, in any order he chooses. And … you will tell him instantly — not only the editorial content of each page, but the very advertisements that are placed next to them.”

“Once you finish this revolutionary new memory course, then you will never again forget the name or face of anyone important to you.”

“Once you learn this simple technique, then you can memorize anyone’s telephone number (including the area code) in as little as thirty seconds flat, and never forget it as long as you need it (even if you carry as many as 50 or 100 of them around in your head).”

The entire ad can be found here:

http://www.copywriting1.com/Eugeneschwartz.pdf

To dramatically improve your ad’s response, use future pacing.

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