I thought it would be nice to do another post on copywriting and selling stuff. I seem to get more long tail traffic related to this sort of subject manner, than the other affiliate marketing stuff that I talk about. I am meaning to do a post on my sniper sites. It has been a while since I talked about them, and you guys really do need an update on them. But for now I’m going to continue on with copywriting talk.
A big problem that people run into when they’re selling is that they’re trying to sell a product. It seems a bit odd, considering that your goal is to sell a product. You’re not going to make any money if you don’t have people taking out their credit cards and buying. But there is a difference between what people actually buy and what you’re selling.
Let’s say that you go to Walmart and buy a bed side lamp. What you bought was a bed side lamp, but that isn’t what sold you. You didn’t buy a lamp because it is a lamp. No one buys anything because that is what it is. You don’t buy televisions because their televisions. You don’t buy for that reason because it is not a benefit.
You end up buying a bed side lamp because it provides light. It allows you to read while you’re lying in bed. You buy a television, so you can be entertained with great shows or movies. You are buying for the benefit, not for what is being sold.
This may sound a little convoluted, but it’s important. You don’t sell a product. You sell benefits a customer can derive from a product.
For main regular things that we buy, we don’t really need to be told the benefits because we already know them. We already know chocolate chip cookies at the grocery store taste good. We know that benefit. But for affiliate marketers, we are less likely to be put in this situation.
It’s All About the Customer
As a marketer, you’re in a constant battle to understand your customer. The best marketers in the world are very good at knowing them. I don’t give a shit how you do it, but you have to figure out the people that are going to buy whipping out their credit card for you.
I’m an affiliate marketer (I don’t like the term internet marketer) and I can figure out customers in a pretty good way if I was selling something related to that niche. I remember starting out and what I was doing. I remember busting my balls each day doing things, without even knowing if I would make a penny at it. I went 23 days of working full time before I made my very first sale online.
But if you’re in a niche that you really don’t understand than you have to do the research if you expect to make cash online. And the reason that you really need to dig deep down into your potential customer is because you’ll never know exactly what they want to hear. You may think you know what they want, but unless you’re living it, you don’t know.
Let’s take my latest product that I’m still playing with and testing. I have some interesting asides to add to this, after I make my point. I made my sales letter and I came out with something decent. It needs work, but I am making sales and it’s not a total dud. Trust me, making sales shows that you’re on the right track. Making no sales is dud.
I haven’t tested this yet, but it appears to be the case. I came at my customer from a very logical point of view. I was appealing to their logic and providing benefits in that way. I shouldn’t be doing that, but I still have to test it. I have to appeal to them on a different level. I’m going to be working on my 5th edit and trying to hit up a much more emotional impact on the reader.
I don’t want to go into detail about the niche until I release it, but I want my customer to have their adrenalin pumping and getting excited, not logically intrigued. Logically intrigued as been getting me sales though. In November, I’m converting at a much more respectful1:75. And that’s without any changes to the sales letter from the previous month, so it’s hard to figure it out.
My Aside on my product: Things have been getting a little more exciting. I’ve been getting more sales over the last week now, which is nice. But it looks like the niche I’m in is much more hungry than I thought.
First, I had someone contact me from a newspaper/magazine in my niche. A reporter was looking to get information on my niche. Considering that I’ve done absolutely no backlink building, I’m being viewed as an authority. I don’t know how big this newspaper/magazine is, but obviously big enough to hire reporters. I haven’t got to talk to them since the original request, so I’m not sure if they’re looking for information on the niche or if I’m possibly going to get a plug for my site.
Second, I got contacted yet again. But this time it was about the other site that ended their affiliate program and took my money. This person wanted help in tracking down information about the other owner because he was going to launch a copyright suit against him. Yes, the asshole that stole my money, also stole his product from this guy. And I want to point out that this guy isn’t an internet marketer. He has a legit business that deals with this niche.
So justice could be on the horizon. My main competitor (and scam artist) could be eliminated through legal means. Sweet. This is the big news and it is pretty exciting.
Okay, back to how to make cash online copywriting.
Customers Only Want to Know What is in it for them
A potential customer that is going to come and read your copy only cares about himself (or herself). When I read a page, I don’t give a flying fuck what you think or how good you are. It means nothing to me as some guy on your website.
…but if you’re an expert, doesn’t that make it easier to sell?
Absolutely, but that comes later. I have to know what is in it for me before I give a shit whether you’re Doctor King Shit or Affiliate Marketing Millionaire.
When someone lands on your sales page, assume that they don’t know what the fuck they’re here for. Telling them you’re Dr. King Shit doesn’t matter to them at first. Let’s say that you’re flipping through the channels on TV and you come to a station and stop for a second. “Hi, I’m Dr. King Shit and I have six medical degrees from the University of ” *click* Off to the next channel.
When you have authority like being a doctor, it will really help you sell medical related stuff. But no one is ever going to buy unless they know about the benefits. Instead of telling them that you’re Dr. King Shit, tell them the benefits.
“Imagine never having to see a single blemish on your face again. In just 30 days you can be completely cured from Acne for good,” and this can go on for a bit.
You have to view it from the point of the view of the customer. When they’re first on the site, they want to know what is it in for them – not who you are. You want the person reading to say “Hmmm, this sounds really good, but how do I know that you can help me.” Bam, Dr. King Shit enters the sales letter and reassures the customer that he/she is the real deal and has the knowledge to provide the benefit.
But that is the difference I’m talking about. Everything is about the benefit, even when the reader is told about you being Dr. King Shit. So here is what you have to take out of this whole thing…
You’re selling a benefit and the product is the answer
So let’s spend a little time talking about persuasion. I want to get right into the details about the key elements of persuasion. I’ve talked about persuasive verbs, but we really need to get down to the actual psychology of the whole thing. All of these points come out of the book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
- Reciprocation
- Commitment and Consistency
- Social Proof
- Liking
- Authority
- Scarcity
I’ll give you a little breakdown of all these points because they’re important. You’ve probably seen some of these on sales pages. You should try to implement these too when you’re trying to sell.
Reciprocation
I guess the best way I could sum up this particular point, is that you want to create a feeling of debt in the mind of the reader. You want them to feel in debt to you. Psychologically we are driven to always even things up. If I buy you lunch at work, you’ll feel in debt to me. You’ll want to buy my lunch to even things up. But you can be pushed easily into doing things. I could spend $5 on lunch and I could easily suck more out of you if I recognize that you feel in debt to me.
You may have seen some sales pages that offer part of their product for free. Granted they’ll ask you to opt into a mailing list, but they’re going to give you something absolutely for free. This creates a feeling of debt in their mind and can be later persuaded to buy.
Commitment and Consistency
This can be best summed up as you give an inch and they take a mile. If you can get someone to hold a small position, than you can push them further and further over time. You can change the way they feel about things. This is something that requires the book to do some studying on it. It’s a little more complicated. So if you view yourself as a charitable person, than if someone positions themselves in a way where they need charity, you’ll probably give them money.
The example in the book on this subject is very interesting. He talked about the Korean War and Chinese POW camps. Americans that were in these camps actually started hating America and still hate the country to this date. And the Chinese did it through commitment and consistency. They’d have Americans write essays just asking them to write one bad thing about America and they literally exploited the hell out of it. It’s interesting stuff.
Social Proof
This is the most common thing you see and it is just a testimonial. People are sheepish in nature. You may think you’re independent, but you’re still internally wired to want to know what other people are doing. Have you ever been watching someone on a stage and they say something that could possibly funny, but you look around to wait for someone else to laugh? That is social proof. If you identify with person A. Person A bought this product and had success. You’ll feel more likely to buy.
Let’s say that you’re a nerd that can’t get a date. If the testimonials are all of nerds. You’ll identify with them. You’ll see their success and you’ll think that you can accomplish it too.
Authority
If you’re Dr. King Shit than you can probably sell any medical related product you want. I think this is pretty self explanatory.
Liking
This has to do with your likability as a seller. We’re more likely to buy from people that we like. I thought the example listed in this book was the best. Women are known to be the ones that have Tupperware parties. So you go over to your friends house, you talk, eat food, etc and then you’re sold stuff. All the women that go over to it know that they’re going to be sold something and they still go (and buy).
You’re more likely to buy from someone that you like. Guys will buy from very beautiful women. Friends will have difficulty saying no to their friends.
Scarcity
This is a way of limiting something and the idea is to force someone to ACT NOW to buy the product. As a marketer, you need them to BUY IT RIGHT NOW!!!! You can’t afford to let them go. You don’t tell them to sit down and think about it. When you give them time, they’ll come down and the emotional pull will be gone.
You want people to feel the benefit and feel a loss if they don’t act right now. It’s like the Shamwow infomercials on television. If you buy in the next 10 minutes, you’ll get two additional Shamwow’s absolutely free. You can call in anytime you want, you’re getting the two free, but they tell you that to make you want to buy. It puts pressure on your mind. “I better act now, or I might lose out on that good deal.” Ebooks are a little different. Scarcity is applied to the actual product or price. You may only limit the book to the first 50 customers, or your price might go up after the first 50 customers.
All of these points make up what it takes to persuade people. This is how you persuade with your copy and it is how you’ll make cash online. There is one other point I got from this book, but I can’t remember exactly what section it falls under. Probably falls under the Reciprocation category.
It is the concept of contrast. By nature, we are wired to compromise with other people. It’s basically what is needed for our survival as social creatures. The idea is that you can make things sound better through contrast. If you ask a friend if you can borrow $100 she’ll probably say no. But if you ask, how about $10? It’s a lot easier to give it because they’ve made a big step in asking less. Since they’ve made an attempt to compromise, you’ll want to do it too.
You should be able to see the power in such a thing. You’ll see this on sales letters where they list the price at $197, but they slash it out and say that it is $37 for a limited time. It’s a compromise and you’ll be more likely to act on it.
Another example, which I want to implement, is pricing through different packages. Let’s say that you can buy a living room chair for $299. But I also tell you that you can get the matching sofa for $649 and that you can get the chair and sofa together for $699. Contrast hits you. You’re going to go for the sofa and chair because it is the best deal. In fact, it’s a really good deal when you compare the prices. *Hint* that doesn’t mean the prices are logical to begin with. It’s the contrast that sells it.