Copywriting: Three Tips To Raise Your Response

Guest Post By Michel Fortin

“What am I supposed to do?”

You may not know it but that’s a question your readers, visitors and prospects may be asking right now. And it’s also one you need to avoid at all costs, or else it will cost you in wasted traffic and sales. In other words, if people become lost on your website at any point, or while reading your copy, you in turn will lose them.

Forever.

Granted, your copy may compel your reader’s attention and present an irresistible offer. But if it fails to propel their actions too, you will probably wonder why it’s not producing any sales or why it’s getting such a poor response. If that’s the case, here are three quickie suggestions you can implement.

#1. Does Your Website Ask For The Order?

One solution is to visually take readers “by the hand.” Tell them or show them what you want them to do, even if what you want them to do is simple or obvious. Adding simple “hand-holding” components to your copy may seem trite. Some even discount the use for they believe, for example, that a website should be intuitive.

“My clients are not dumb,” they exclaim. “They can guess their way through!” Or “I don’t want to insult their intelligence.”

Thinking this way may be more insulting than you think. People have comfort zones. And their defense mechanisms are always alive and kicking, waiting to justify their non-decisions by drumming even insignificant, negative and totally erroneous perceptions about you. Therefore, fail to lead them, and you are placing your copy at the whim and mercy of your reader. (Not to mention your pocketbook.)

My friend, copywriter Peter Stone, said it best: “The aim of good copy is to temporarily suspend disbelief, but GREAT copy is to temporarily suspend critical thinking.”

You see, it’s not about obeying the rules of web usability, it’s about using common sense. It’s about avoiding procrastination, not compelling let alone praying for action. And today, it’s also about surviving.

For instance, I often make the case that a book or magazine is limited by its front and back covers. But a website, however, is not. If the goal is only to inform your visitors, and like the closing of a book once it’s finished, the only thing left to do will be to close the browser window or leave the site.

But if you require some kind of response, even if it’s to just to keep reading, then you must integrate words that direct the reader and elicit some kind of response. Whether it’s to join, subscribe, buy, call, email, fill out a form, download or just click a link, incorporate words like “click here,” “download this,” “buy that,” “join now,” “read more” and so on.

Besides, tests show unequivocally that response rises dramatically when the copy is what I call “directional.” Even when the copy aims to sell a sophisticated crowd, like engineers and scientists.

We are all desperate to be lead. It’s an instinctual part of the human psyche, regardless of the intellectual level of your target market.

#2. Give Your Visitors a “Head” Start

In order to encourage longer stays, repeat visits and, above all, online sales, you need not only to direct your audience to take some kind of action but also to make it easy for them to do so. And the most important step in accomplishing that is to first direct your visitors’ attention (i.e., their eyes).

How can you lead them when you haven’t got their attention in the first place? Remember this: online, people don’t read. Not at first, anyway. They scan, skim and scroll. So unlike a book that’s read from cover to cover, people don’t read entire web pages from top to bottom.

How often do you read entire newspapers, for example? You likely scan them and stop at a headline that captures your attention, piques your curiosity and pulls you into the article. Reading web copy is a more wearying task.

So don’t write to be read. Write to be scanned.

Keep your paragraphs short at around four to five lines deep, and incorporate many headers throughout your copy by adding one at every two to five paragraphs. Use different sizes, colors or fonts that make them stand out.

Centering also helps, because it’s different than the traditional left-justified text of the rest of the copy. Being centered, it draws attention to itself — rather than drowning in one big trance-inducing blur of sameness as people skim through copy quickly.

Ultimately, you want them to stop scanning.

A friend of mine, copywriter Brian Keith Voiles, once reported that using red headlines and headers don’t work. Of course, he’s right, because he’s referring to offline copy. Brian says, “Red means ‘Stop!’ And you don’t want them to stop.” But online, it’s perfect. Because people never read anything at first, and therefore they need to stop scanning — and start reading.

#3. Pull Them In to See What’s “In”

When scanning, what people will read the most is what stands out the most, including headlines, headers, bullets, boxes and text links. Therefore, use words that are inviting, invoking and intriguing with these components. The words you use must force them to stop and feel what follows cannot be ignored.

Avoid overused and hackneyed expressions, like “Welcome to [Whatever].” Start with an active verb that tells your readers exactly what to do or what they will be doing, or use picture words that paint vivid mental pictures.

For example, if it’s for a product description, don’t use words like: “Here’s a Description of Our Widget.” (Or worse still, “Widget” or “Features.”)

Instead, use: “Discover how to get [benefit] with our widgets now!” Or, “Learn the secret behind the [widget or benefit].” Or, “Can you really get [benefit]? The answer may surprise you…” Or, “Here’s how to put an end to [problem the widget solves].”

Here are more examples:

Rather than, “Professional Debt Resolution,” write, “Break Free From Debt And Sleep Better at Night With Our Guidance!” Or, “Backroom Tactics Used To Eliminate Debts Exposed.” Or, “Rediscover Financial Freedom By Simply Following These Simple Steps.”

Instead of “Home-Based Business Success,” use, “Uncover Profitable Business Opportunities Hidden in Your Own Home!” Or, “Unearth The Kitchen Table Millionaire In You.” Or, “Here’s How To Put An End To Dreadful Days Spent Inside Your Soul-Sucking Cubicle.”

In the final analysis, when I conduct copy critique consultations, about 97% of the websites I analyze are lifeless, confusing or unproductive, or fail to adequately lead visitors to take some kind of action. As an example, many of my clients tell me, “Our website is for branding, not sales!” But then they wonder why people aren’t joining their mailing lists or returning to their websites.

Whether your website is for branding or direct marketing, the fact remains that you probably still want to elicit some kind of response from your visitors. Direct your visitors to take some kind of action or lead them to a specific outcome. Write your copy by integrating some form of direct response formula (i.e., words or mechanisms that compel readers to act).

For instance, add calls to action, even if they’re as simple as asking your visitors to continue reading. Don’t distract them with too many things to do, including too many external links or marketing messages. If you offer too many choices, visitors will find it hard to make one. Instead, offer choices later on based on the specific path or paths a user follows.

Ultimately, transform the words on your website into blinders that will steer visitors in the direction of your choosing.

— About Michel Fortin —
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog  and subscribe to his RSS feed.

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Tags: Copywriting, copywriting tips, increase response, michel fortin

The Biggest Mistake Copywriters Make

Guest Post by Michel Fortin

Most of the copy people ask me to rewrite seem to offer great products and services. In fact, some of their offers are so good, prospects would be crazy to turn them down. But they do. And these sales pieces end up falling in my lap because they’re desperately unproductive.

One of the biggest problems I see in these pieces is the fact that the copy is stale, limp and anemic. Downright dull and boring.

You’ve heard the adage, “copywriting is salesmanship in print.” This is nothing new. It comes from the ageless teachings of the masters, like Hopkins, Barton, Collier and others, which still ring true today. Including the Internet.

But people tend to forget this axiom. Here’s why…

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.

As the saying goes, “It’s not what you say but how you say it that counts.” That’s why the challenge is often not with the offer itself but with the language, the tone and the “voice” of the copy.

You may have a great product, but your copy must be effective enough to make its case and present its offer in an irresistibly compelling way.

Problem is, some sales messages get so engrossed in describing the companies, the products and the features of their products that they fail to appeal to the reader specifically.

It’s understandable. Businesspeople are often so tied to their businesses or products that they get tunnel vision and fail to look at their copy from their readers’ perspective.

Understandable, yes.

Excusable, no.

My advice? Be more experiential — as if the reader is experiencing what you’re telling them. And be more benefit-rich, of course. But more important, be ego-driven when describing those benefits.

Often, people mistake “emotion” for “hype.” People buy on emotion. Even when selling to other businesses, people are still the ones okaying the deal, filling out the purchase orders, whipping out their credit cards or signing the checks.

And people always buy for personal, selfish reasons.

Copy using convoluted, complex, highfalutin language doesn’t sell product. It might in some cases, true. But this type of third-person, impersonal, “holier-than-thou,” ego-stroking corporate-speak is self-serving. It may sells product. But when it does, it does so out of luck or market demand than out of good marketing.

(And when I say “ego-stroking,” I’m referring to the seller’s ego, not the buyer’s. Big difference.)

The fact remains that companies and websites and committees and C-level titles are NOT the ones who fork out the money, issue the purchase orders or sign the checks.

People do.

Don’t be shy or afraid in being personal, conversational and emotional with your copy. Of course, I’m not talking about being so lackadaisical with your grammar and your spelling to the point that English majors want to burn you at the stake for heresy.

(Although, your copy might infuriate some purist grammarians. Unless you target grammarians specifically, or offer a product that aims to help one’s grammar, these people are not, and never will be, your clients. Clients are the ones that matter. After all, they’re people, too.)

And I’m also not talking about being crude, uttering profanities with every sentence or using a crass style that’s so brash or laid back, you appear as if you are on anti-depressants in an attempt to assuage your nightmares from your earlier high-school English class detentions.

I mean copy that goes “for the jugular,” is down to earth and is straight to the point. That presses hot buttons, energizes their hormones and invigorates their buying behaviors.

Copy that relates to your audience at a personal and intimate level — not an educational or socio-economic level, but a level people can easily understand, appreciate and identify themselves with…

… A level that shows you are concerned, genuinely interested and empathetic with each and every prospect on an individual basis.

So, here are some tips.

Follow the rule of the “3 C’s.” Express your offer as clearly, as convincingly and as compellingly as possible.

1. Use words, phrases and imagery that help paint vivid mental pictures. When people can visualize the process of doing what you want them to do, including the enjoyment of the benefits of your offer, you drive their actions almost instinctively.

2. Be enthusiastic. Be energetic. Be excited about your offering, because your job is to transfer that excitement into the minds and hearts of your readers.

3. Denominate, as specifically as possible, the value you bring to the table. And how what you bring to the table will meet and serve the needs of your prospect specifically.

In other words, you need to make them feel important. Write as if you were speaking WITH your prospect, right in front of them, in a comfortable, conversational manner.

When you do, your copy will imply that you understand them, you feel for them and for their “suffering” (for which you have a solution), and you’re ready to nurture and take care of them.

Forget things like “best,” “fastest,” “cheapest” and other universal, broad claims. Because the worst thing you can do, second to making broad claims, is to express any claims broadly.

Make claims, sure. But be specific. Be intimate. Be ego-driven.

Above all, be emotional.

People buy on emotion first. They then justify their decisions with logic. Which is why you should include logic and reasoning and rationale in your copy — most often, to give them reasons they can use and call their OWN for justifying their purchase from you (and that, after they made that purchase).

Look at it this way…

If you want to tell people how better or different or superior or unique your offering is, make sure you express those claims in your sales message in a way that directly benefits your buyer and appeals to her ego.

Being different is important. But don’t focus on how better or unique you are. Focus on how that uniqueness directly benefits your prospect, even to the point they can almost taste it.

Again, people are people. They buy on emotion. They always have and always will. They only justify their decision with logic, and rationalize their feelings about your offering with logic.

Once you accept and internalize that fact, you’ll clearly have the first rule of copywriting (or selling, for that matter) down pat. Plus, according to my experience, you’ll also gain an edge over 98% of all other businesses and copywriters out there.

Even when selling to multinational, Fortune 500 corporations, the buyers are people, not companies. Purchasing agents are people. Decision-making committees are made up of people. Even C-level executives with 7-figure incomes are people.

They are human beings.

And people always buy for personal desires, selfish reasons and self-interested motives. It’s been that way for millions of years.

And nothing’s changed.

My friend and top copywriter Paul Myers said it best: “We are but only two short steps away from the cave.”

So don’t try to sell to some inanimate object called a “business,” or even a “prospect.” A business is just brick and mortar — or a bunch of computer chips, in the case of online businesses. And a prospect is not some name and address on a mailing list, a credit card number or a “hit” on your website.

Remember that it’s not businesses or prospects that fork out the money or sign the checks. It’s people.

Your job is to express your offer in terms that trigger their emotions, press their hot buttons, jerk their tears, tug at their heartstrings and nudge them into taking action.

If not, then you’re only telling instead of selling.

Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog at http://www.michelfortin.com/ and subscribe to his RSS feed.

Tags: copywriting lessons, copywriting tips, michael fortin, michel fortin

The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword

Guest Post By Michel Fortin

Words are powerful. They are the crux of our existence as copywriters. And your choice of words is crucial in getting the results you seek, whether you’re a copywriter or not, and be it in business or in your personal life.

To compel others to do what you want them to do, words do the job. So it goes without saying that you need to choose your words. And you need to choose them carefully. Because words are more powerful than you think.

How powerful?

Words sell. They persuade. They influence. They even forge smiles, dry tears, heal wounds and abolish fears. They have the power to bring joy and laughter in an otherwise cold and somber world. And of course, words can make you rich.

But by the same token, words can also hurt.

They can create havoc out of thin air. They can drive virtual stakes through people’s hearts. They can topple companies and entire governments. And they can even kill. Because, worst of all, they can cause wars. And sadly, they often do.

Words have immense power that can be harnessed for both the good and the bad. As Edward George Bulwer Lytton wrote in 1839, “The pen is mightier than the sword.”

However, I’d like to submit that words also play another (and perhaps an even greater) role. One that holds what I believe to be one of the greatest secrets there is in your business, and more importantly, in your relationships. Use words to this end, and you can achieve not only great success and wealth, but also great happiness, love and peace of mind.

So what is it?

Let me tell you why this is important before I reveal it to you.

As beautiful and comforting as words can be, they can be (and often are) the tools of choice for people who wish to cause damage, instill hatred and inflict pain with the author’s vitriol.

For example, I’m sure you’ve encountered at some point in your life some people who spewed venom against you and did so willfully and unabashedly. They attempted to denigrate or hurt you with their words. And unfortunately, they often succeeded. You’re left shocked and dismayed, wondering, “How could they?”

But that’s a double-edged sword.

Here’s a case in point: Believe it or not, some people have sent me hate mail after my last blog post about my ongoing divorce and my newfound happiness. While there were only a handful of them among a great many who were positive, congratulatory and thoughtful, some folks made the effort to ensure I knew how harshly they felt about my decision, and said certain things about me that were far from being congenial.

For one, I was labeled a “quitter.” (And I’m being tactful, here.) I was told that I’m a person who seemingly left his wife for another woman “whom I dared call my soul mate.” And then they even went on to say that, short of having my private parts cut off, I should have stayed and bit the bullet.

Worse yet, they prided themselves in saying that I would leave my “soul mate” at the drop of a hat if pastures greener would ever appear in my life. And others have jumped to conclusions without knowing the full story (which they don’t need to know), spewing their garbage in the sole attempt to throw the other person off.

Now, the question I’ve pondered was, “Should I respond?”

But I said to myself, “That person doesn’t know my situation… That person doesn’t know what happened between my ex-wife and me… That person certainly doesn’t know the circumstances behind my departure… And more importantly, that person doesn’t, and will never, truly know what led to my decision.”

Bottom line, they don’t understand.

They never will.

And it’s not their fault. Because their words are based on the little information they have. That’s all they will have, for I respect my ex-wife as to not denigrate her, especially in public.

So the question remains, “Should I respond?” The answer is “No.” I decided against it. Why? Because why would I do to this person what that person has done to me? That’s judging. “Judge ye not lest ye be judged,” right? But you see, it goes further than that.

For instance, that person may have had a bad day and reacted prematurely. That person may have undergone a divorce. That person may have had a relationship with a woman whom left him for another person. That person may have been the child of divorced parents. Or simply, that person may have a personality that’s abrasive by nature.

The latter is important, because if a person has a crass, abrasive or sulfuric personality, then it would mean nothing. It’s just who they are. But if a person is by nature kind, diplomatic and personable, then such an outburst would, in contrast, say more about the person and their attempt to vilify, as opposed to someone’s action that’s merely based on their personality.

But you see, I don’t know that. And that’s my point. I know less about their situation than they know about mine.

I hold no animosity toward my ex-wife, nor do I hold any toward the people who spewed such venom my way. Because who am I to judge? Why would I judge them and do exactly to them the very thing they are doing to me? My actions would condone the same actions I am condemning.

It would make no sense.

Then, what can I do? Nothing. So I let it go.

My sole aim in my life is to be happy. And even more important, to have peace of mind. It should be your main goal, too. And happiness is not and can never be achieved through some external thing, symbol or criterion. It comes from within. It’s something upon which I’ve expounded to a great extent in my book, now available online for free at DropYourGoals.com, called “Drop Your Goals And Manage Your Life!”

To give you a glimpse, my book is about setting goals revolving around your core values (I prefer to call them “guides” rather than “goals”), and not based on external pursuits of happiness and success. Those are byproducts. They are lived, not sought.

Similarly, to react to such hostility would only perpetuate it.

I made decisions in my life in order to be happy. But contrary to certain people’s opinions, I didn’t leave an unhappy place in order to go to one I believe would make me happy. I left a place that prevented me from being happy. I left in order to allow myself to become happy.

Nevertheless, hidden in my personal story is this “other role” words play that I spoke about earlier. Master this one skill and use words to this end, and you can literally achieve all you really want in your life. I really believe that.

Because once you do, you open yourself to opportunities around you, which are often hiding right under your nose. You allow serendipity to enter your life, your relationships and your business. (Success is never a matter of luck, anyway.) You create a state of mind that’s conducive to receiving all that you deserve in your life — and feeling worthy of it, too. And you gain the peace of mind that will enable you to calmly see things for what they really are.

(And they are all lessons, by the way. Because people, good or bad, are all teachers. They are teaching you every single day, and with every single word they utter. Whether you grow hateful and spiteful from their words, or wiser and stronger, the choice is ultimately yours and yours alone.)

So what is it, then?

What is this power that words hold, which can bring such joy and happiness? What is this important role words play in your life and your business that can enrich so immensely and deeply? Aside from fact that words have the power to hurt or to help, to annoy or to persuade, to wound or to heal, what else can words do that can help you achieve all you can?

It is, simply, this…

Words have the power to forgive, too.

About Michel Fortin
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog and subscribe to his RSS feed.

Tags: Copywriting, michel fortin, power of words

Want Better Copy? Go On A Quest!

Guest Post By Michel Fortin

Writing copy is usually the easiest part of my work. But figuring out what to say is often a whole lot harder than knowing how to say it. That requires a lot of research, creativity and, of course, “sales detective work,” as my friend John Carlton calls it.

But when I know what to write, the question I’m often asked is, “Do you start with the headline, or do you work the headline last?”

Let me share with you a formula I use. First, when I write new copy, I tend to start with the copy itself, then create the headline and headers (some people call them “subheads”).

With existing copy however, it’s the other way around: I start with a better headline (after reading the copy and questionnaire replies from my clients), then the rest. Why? Because…

Sometimes (in fact, a lot of times), my client’s copy is already pretty good. The culprit for a poor response, almost 9 times out of 10 in my estimation, is a poor headline. (And it’s often the one element I test the most, too.)

The headline is the pivotal element in copy upon which the success of your copy will hinge. If people are not interested enough in reader further after reading the headline, they will leave without reading any more, regardless of how good the copy is, how great the product is and how perfect the offer is for their situation.

So I tend to try to find a good hook for the headline.

After a little bit of detective work, this usually comes to me after tinkering with the headline a bit, sometimes writing several of them.

(Or I rewrite it several times until I come up with the one I think will pull best. You’ve probably seen me do this on my critique videos at TheCopyDoctor.com as an example. In it, check out the brief 15-minute video sample where I reconstruct a headline.)

The headers are usually parts of the copy — either pulled out from the copy where they make sense, create curiosity, and force the reader to stop scanning and start reading.

With new copy, I usually start with an outline, but I really don’t write the actual headers. I often start with the concept or idea I want to introduce in specific sections of the letter, but then write copy and use headers at that point, all based on the flow of ideas.

Here’s how I do it. Most of my salesletters focus on 5 core components. What I usually do when I write or rewrite copy is follow this format. It’s my 5-step guide, if you will.

It’s sort of my own take on the AIDA formula. (Well, it actually complements it, as I still follow AIDA.) I’m sure you’ve heard of AIDA (i.e., grab their Attention, arouse their Interest, build their Desire and ask for some kind of Action).

My formula is this: I call it going on a “QUEST.”

• Qualify
• Understand
• Educate
• Stimulate
• Transition

It’s like traversing a mountain, so to speak, when you start climbing the mountain on one side, reach the summit, and start climbing back down on the other side.Almost all my salesletters take on this quality.

Here’s what “QUEST” means:

Q = Qualify
Qualify the reader and prepare her for what’s about to be discussed. And it’s also to weed out the non-prospects, tire-kickers, time-wasters, etc.

That’s why it’s good to ask questions at the beginning or set the stage by giving a scenario they can immediately relate to, or talk about how terrible things are with “this” or “that” problem, or how nice it would be to solve “this” or “that” problem.

You also try to denominate who usually has this problem (I often incorporate this into a story), who this solution is for and/or who it is not for. The aim is not only to create awareness, but also and more importantly to qualify the reader or drive home how qualified the reader is for the offer.

This is especially true where there’s a bit of an education involved — where the prospect doesn’t really know (or is not fully aware) there is a problem. The problem may be in the back of their minds, but my job is to bring it to the top.

In fact, this is why the next part is crucial and flows from the first.

Because, the next step is to…

U = Understand
Understand the reader by reaching out to them. You empathize with them. You expand on the problem. You agitate their pain. You not only get the reader to identify themselves with you, but also magnify the problem by making it more real and vivid in their minds. You “add salt on the wounds,” so to speak.

In other words, you share their pain, and tell them how more painful it is either because there is no solution, or because competing or previous solutions are not as good for whatever reasons. It’s where you bring the problem to the top of their minds — and it’s why, once you’ve reached to the top “of the moutain,” it becomes an easy downhill trek afterwards.

You can also use this section to tickle their curiosity about a potential solution, and insert specific benefits other solutions don’t have, but without fully introducing or disclosing “your” solution yet — i.e., a unique selling point, superior “nice-to-have” benefits, something new or different that will be linked with the offer later on, the story behind the product, etc.

(In fact, if the creator of the product used to be in the same situation, I would include a story behind the product based on that fact. It’s also a great place to build credibility and give the reader reasons why they should keep reading. Readers identify themselves with the author and say to themselves, “Hey, I felt the same way!” Or, “I certainly don’t want to go through what she went through!” Etc.)

When you introduce the solution later on, you can tie it in with all of these. It’s like telling the reader: “Wouldn’t it be great, if…” (And later on, “Well, there is a solution that…”)

And that leads to the next step, which is to…

E = Educate
Educate the reader on the fact that there is a solution. Your solution. This is where you expand on the fact that a solution exists, and that your solution is unlike all the others, as well as the reasons why it is different. This is where you introduce the product or service (but not the offer). Usually it’s in the middle of the copy. It’s “the summit of the sales mountain,” if you will.)

Also, it’s a great place to add a lead-capture form, if you didn’t use the forced opt-in process. That is, if people landed immediately on your salesletter organically, without going through a landing page first. (We tested locations, and if you need to add an opt-in form on a salesletter, this seems to be the highest pulling area.)

It’s also a great place to build on and emphasize credibility introduced in the “U” portion of the formula. You should include a lot of proof here, and build on the believability element.

This includes credentializing the author and why should one listen to her. It’s also a great location to talk about the features of your product or service, dispell any myths, and respond to any objections regarding the product or service.

It’s also the location where I add proof elements, case studies and testimonials. In fact, I tend not to add any testimonials until this section. Why? Because testimonials too early tend to scare off people.

Of course, this depends at what stage of the buying process the market is in. If they are vigorously aware of their problem and they’re hurting already, testimonials a little early won’t hurt. But in tests, removing testimonials early in the copy actually increased response in most cases.

Once they’re educated, the next step is to…

S = Stimulate
Stimulate the reader on the offer. This where the offer is made and the value buildup really starts. You list and expand on the benefits. (In “E,” I start to talk about features and describe the product. But in here, I talk benefits, benefits, benefits… And I link them to the features described in “E.”

It’s the place where the offer really starts taking shape. Also, it’s a great location to add value to the offer, such as offering premiums, making guarantees and inserting value boosters, such as adding scarcity and making apples-to-oranges comparisons.

(”Apples to oranges” means to compare the price to the cost of not buying — rather than to the price of some alternative. In other words, it’s comparing the value of your offer not with the value of a similar or competing product but with the value of all possible alternatives, including missing out on the potential benefits, pecuniary losses, value of unique benefits, ultimate costs of not using the product, etc.)

Use this section to link the offer to the rest of the formula. That is, you restate some of the problems mentioned in “Q,” how the solution answers the greater problems talked about in “U,” and how it links to all to the features and benefits described in “E.”

After that, you then…

T = Transition
Transition the reader from prospect to customer. The famous “let’s wrap this up” or “call to action” section. It’s the response device. The close, in other words. This includes the order form, the price, a special offer, the P.S.’s, additional testimonials (especially results-based testimonials), making the reader feel as if they already own the product, etc.

It’s a great place to summarize the offer, and perhaps introduce new points not discussed to this point to spur action, such as adding an as-of-yet undisclosed benefit or bonus — also called “pot sweeteners.”

(I also tend to add a liftnote in this section, usually a linked pop-up window, which says, “Click here if you decided NOT to order today,” and so on. Take a look at how I did it with John Reese’s TrafficSecrets.com, for example.)

Now, I don’t follow this formula precisely as I just explained.

I usually start with QUEST as an outline first, especially in an outline, and then refer back to it later.

Once the outline is made, I expand on each point and “go with the flow” of what I think is best for the offer throughout the salesletter.

I also write header ideas in that outline, too. But first, I expand on the copy, and if needed, I re-arrange ideas around for better flow. And then, I write the headers as I see how they fit in the QUEST formula, all keeping the following in mind:

The header introduces a new piece of information. It’s specific and descriptive. Best of all, it has an inherent benefit — whether it’s of the offer or one in reading what follows. (Usually, it’s the latter.)
It helps to introduce the following section in the copy. In fact, it should read as if the person never read the preceding copy. It somewhat explains it as to not confuse and push people away. (But it doesn’t explain it entirely, as the next point reveals.)

More often then not, it also piques their curiosity in order to force them to stop scanning and go back to the beginning of the copy (as people usually scan and read the headers when they hit a salesletter for the first time).
The third one is the one I use the most.

The header introduces a portion of an idea (like a half-statement), or some kind of “newsworthy” statement that pulls them into the copy.

It’s like using headers as “knots” or “hooks” in rock-climbing rope, so to speak. Why? Because it forces people to stop — and ultimately pulls readers back into the copy (or keeps them reading and clinging throughout the copy).

For example, in the copy for Lou Vukas at RealEstateFortunes.com, I wrote a header that said, “(I tried everything. I felt) Hopeless… Frustrated… Broke… I Said to Myself, ‘There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This’!”

The copy that followed slowly introduces the “wouldn’t it be great” concept, until the next header, which says, “I Found It!” “I Cracked The Code!” “It Hit Me Like A Ton Of Bricks!” And so on.

Finally, don’t force yourself to follow the QUEST formula “to the letter.” Use it as guides to help you in creating the copy and ensuring it has a proper flow.

Just like there are different mountains of different shapes and sizes, there are different markets with different levels of awareness. Therefore, each climb should also be different.

But keep this in mind. Climbing any mountain has 3 common things: the ascent, the summit and the descent. You copy should flow in the same way: pull them in, prove your case and push them to act.

I call these the “3 P’s.” But, that’s for another day…

About Michel Fortin
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog and subscribe to his RSS feed.

Tags: Copywriting, copywriting tactics, copywriting tips, michel fortin

Michel Fortin: People Do Judge Authors By Their Covers

Guest Post By Michel Fortin

I do believe what Dan Kennedy says, when he says clunky copy outsells clean copy. But not all the time. And recently, a university study proves this point.

People have a tendency to forge not only a lasting opinion based on first impressions but also a blanket opinion that pervades all other areas as well. The adage, “a first impression is a lasting one,” is not only temporal (i.e., the initial opinion remains consistent and nearly impermeable for a long time) but also spatial. That is, a first impression is also a universal one.

Illogical? Yes. But it’s human nature.

They unconsciously assume there’s a parallel between one part and the whole, in other words. It’s what I call the “unconscious paralleled assumption,” or UPA for short. I wrote about this extensively in the past, where people make split-second judgments about your entire business just based on a fraction of what they see, encounter, hear or perceive.

Here’s an example: if you walk in a department store and see a dusty shelf, you form a negative opinion about the store. Based on the law of first impressions, you will assume that the store never cleans its shelves. And that opinion will stick with you for a very long time.

It will require a lot of work, not to mention time, on the part of the store to change that opinion — or at the very least, to assuage those negative assumptions.

Moreover, you will not only think that the store doesn’t take care of its appearance, but also believe that they equally don’t care about their clients, their products, their staff, their promises and so on. In other words, that single dusty shelf will probably lead you to assume that the store has poor customer service, shoddy products, lousy return policies, etc.

Now, Dan Kennedy says clunky-looking copy outsells clean-looking copy. What he’s referring to are fancy designs, dazzling graphics and stylish cosmetics that seem to have required an exorbitant investment to create. I agree with that. Copy will always be the most important element of your website.

You want to sell. Not dazzle or entertain.

But I’ve written and designed clunky copy for clients who’ve asked for it. That is, inconsistent fonts and typestyles. Varying sizes and colors. Very little to no padding around tables. Erratic design and flow. And poor, cheap to no graphics whatsoever.

The thing is, it doesn’t work all the time. It works primarily for those marketers who are known, have established credibility and have been referred by other people. But this doesn’t bode well for new marketers and unknown website owners who duplicate this seemingly lackadaisical attitude toward design.

Lately, it seems most direct marketers, particularly new ones, are lazy and tend to use Dan’s rule as an excuse to pay little attention to the cosmetics. While I agree that the copy is the most important part of a salesletter or website, I equally believe that in some cases, and perhaps most cases, good design increases response — as what Clayton Makepeace said:

“If you’re a business owner, marketing pro or copywriter, good graphic design is absolutely essential to producing peak response to your sales promotions. I’ve seen poor design cut sales by half or even more. Conversely, I’ve seen stronger graphic design bump response by 20% or even more.”

Personally, I’ve always been a proponent of good design, as credibility is important to me and my businesses. And I’ve tried — or tested — clean, symmetrical, proper, appealing copy for my own websites as much as I can. Because I prefer to inculcate credibility, trust and professionalism in the minds of my readers.

And design plays a huge part.

For example, a year ago I ceased taking on new clients. I just recently re-opened the doors to accept a few new clients but in an agency-style fashion. Thing is, most online veterans know me. But since I’m taking on new clients, the design is therefore playing an important role.

Coincidentally, a recent study proves what I’ve been teaching for years. Dealing specifically with web design, the study, revealed in a BBC article and conducted by Carleton University in my own home town of Ottawa, Canada, revealed how people make split-second decisions about websites they visit.

I particularly liked this passage:

The researchers also believe that these (quickly formed first impressions) last because of what is known to psychologists as the “halo effect”. If people believe a website looks good, then this positive quality will spread to other areas, such as the website’s content.

Since people like to be right, they will continue to use the website that made a good first impression, as this will further confirm that their initial decision was a good one.

I would add that they would also frequent other websites and buy other products from the same vendor or marketer because of that first impression. Does this mean to go out and spend a huge chunk of change on dazzling graphics, fancy animations and stylish designs? No. I did say “clean,” not “clever.”

Copy will always be the most significant element on which you must focus. But don’t do so at the expense of other elements that will stifle that powerful first impression. Because poor design can immediately deter your readers and make your offer suspect — or stop people from reading your copy in the first place, which is where the sale is made. They will ask themselves, “How can he take care of me when he can’t even take care of himself?”

In fact, according to the study, a first impression, being a “split-second decision,” is not too far from the truth. It really is a split of a second. The study concluded that people make a decision not in a few seconds, as originally thought, but in a 20th of a second.

People don’t read at first. They scan. What they see the moment they hit your website is more important than what they read. So it goes to show that your appearance communicates as much as your copy does — or at least prepares the reader for what they are about to read. And it does so very quickly.

What does your design say about YOU?
—
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog at http://www.michelfortin.com/ and subscribe to his RSS feed.
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Tags: clean copy, Copywriting, copywriting tips, michel fortin, rough copy

Michel Fortin: Short Copy Outperforms? Heresy!

Guest Post By Michel Fortin

An interesting discussion is going on in one of my favorite online forums, The Warriors Forum, about short copy winning over long copy. And the author of the thread cited a study he conducted, where he proved that shorter copy won over long copy.

Some people are screaming “heresy!” Others agreed.

Personally, I believe the study conducted is indeed valid because it makes sense. In this particular case, short copy was warranted for this particular market with this particular offer.

But is this true in all cases? When you look at his study closer, you realize that it lacks information about the variables involved, which makes the study, and its findings, a bit misleading.

Here’s what I mean.

I truly believe that long copy sells better than short copy. But I base my opinion on the average, not the universal. Because, in some cases, shorter copy does sell better. But there are very specific reasons for this, and I want to go over a few of the important ones that I see all the time.

However, before I give you some of those reasons (and there are many, which I cannot go through in the scope of this one article), I’d like to make a distinction, if I could, so you understand the factors that come into play.

When people often look at short copy, even test it and then realize that it works better than long copy, there are many variables that one fails to look at. The price, the industry and particularly the target market play a significant role.

But there are also two others that I’d like to go over today: a) the product category or type, and b) the pre-selling process (i.e., the mindset of the market).

First, the product type.

When I used to teach marketing principles in college (part of the Business Administration curriculum at Algonquin College in Ottawa, Canada), my students learned that there are four textbook categories of products:

• Convenience products
• Shopping products
• Specialty products
• Unsought products

Each product category has a different sales process and marketing requirement. Why? Because the level of commoditization of the product delineates how much marketing, promotion and relationship-building is required to sell the product.

(And when I say “marketing,” I mean all types of marketing, from branding to pricing to availability to distribution.)

To give you some examples, a “convenience product” is one often purchased to fulfill immediate needs. The purchase is done at an almost unconscious level, too. Pricing is often moderate to low, and brand equity, reputation and relationships do not make a big difference if any.

The product has penetrated the market en masse. It is widely available. And more often than not, convenience products are impulse purchases. They are also staples, in most cases.

Take, for example, bread, milk, batteries, etc. These are often the types of products you find in convenience stores or in the supermarket checkout lines, where people just grab them and add them to their orders just because “they’re there.”

No real thought has been given into making the buying decision. Price may either be low or a non-issue, in most cases. And copy, if any is used, will be relatively short and brief. A small POP display (point of purchase stand, cardboard ad, logo with product name and description, etc) is all that’s required.

As for “shopping products,” those are less commoditized products. They are a little higher in price. A little more thought is required into making the purchase. And people tend to “shop around” when deciding on buying such products.

They either weigh the pros and cons before buying it, or they make the decision to buy relatively quickly — albeit less quickly than a convenience product.

Other times, they take a bit of time to decide, depending on the price, the availability and the market. They will analyze first, and they often require a bit more copy to gather enough information to justify their decision.

Products like cars, appliances, computers, etc are shopping products. (They can be more or less in price too, such as videos, movies, homes, vacations, even software and online services.)

As such, a little longer copy is required, often to differentiate the product from its competitors, and sell the uniqueness and the specific benefits of the product.

Third is the “specialty product.” This is a product that definitely needs more copy and a lot of selling is required. Specialty products are higher priced, highly targeted and more valuable — especially for very specific target markets.

(That is, they might not be of any value for others but of high value for a select group of individuals.)

Exotic goods, luxury cars, expensive jewelry, art and so on are specialty items. Take Mont-Blanc pens, Porsche cars and Pearson yachts, for example.

(A popular magazine is the Robb Report, which is a magazine for the affluent. Take a look at some of the ads in it, and you’ll see exactly what I mean.)

In my marketing classes, the example given was a particular brand of gourmet bread that was gluten-free, created with an exotic herd of mountain sheep’s milk grazing on the alpine slopes, flavored with rare spices and condiments grown in the Amazon jungle, fire-oven baked to very specific temperatures, and gift-wrapped inside a special, ornamentally carved wooden box shipped directly to people’s doors.

(And yes, a loaf can cost you up to $500 each.)

Therefore, longer copy is definitely needed in this case. The goal would be not to differentiate it from its competition (since there’s very little of it) but to create value, justify the purchase and add reasons why.

In other words, why would someone pay $500 for a loaf of bread? There are very specific individuals who would and very specific reasons they would, too.

Finally, “unsought products” are exactly that: unsought. Products that no one would have ever known about or looked for. Now, this doesn’t mean exotic and fancy products, either. This means products people don’t necessarily look for or believe they don’t need. At first.

Preventative type products fall in that category (i.e., life insurance, pre-arranged funeral services, financial investment services, etc). Almost all information products fall in that category too, by the way. (If not, they probably fall in the “specialty” category.)

Consequently, long copy is a must in these cases. And the copy is not only meant to differentiate, add value and justify the purchase, but also to create a need and a desire for the product.

What I mean is, you need a lot of copy to educate the market on why they need (and subsequently want) this type of product. You need a lot of copy to really build a compelling case for buying it.

Granted, these categories are not universal. Because another element comes in, which is the second one in my list mentioned earlier.

And that is, the process.

The process can help identify, isolate or even create certain markets (and therefore certain mindsets) that will buy a product with more or less copy. And that process is not limited to words — or to selling itself, for that matter.

Long copy is often attributed to a long copy salesletter. But that is not often the case. Copy is not limited to a salesletter or website. It can often take many forms, take place over time, and communicated and delivered in many different ways.

When all added, they take the form of, and replace, a long copy salesletter that would otherwise be required if none of these other steps were taken.

For example, if you have an affiliate program, then your affiliates can and should “pre-sell” the product for you. Their “copy,” in other words, is part of the entire sales engine. When they hit your site, and if they’re highly targeted and qualified from moment they hit it, then you need less copy to sell them.

In fact, if your affiliates did their jobs right, they’ve already sold your prospects even before they read your copy.

Even if your affiliate (or even yourself, when you sell to an established list of paying clients) doesn’t use a lot of copy to pre-sell, the “uncommunicated” copy was delivered in the form of building the brand (and that brand can also be you and your expertise), trust, credibility and relationships.

For example, when you promote a new product to an established audience (or if your affiliates promote your product to their established lists), a relationship already exists. The process didn’t start with that promotion but a long time ago.

How many times have you already sold this audience in the past? If you have done so, particularly several times, the likelihood that little copy will be required for the next promotion.

You don’t need copy to build credibility or educate your market, in this case, because that job has already been done.

In other words, copy was already used, albeit indirectly.

How much copy in other promotions have you used? How many times did they read your articles, websites and blog posts before they bought from you? How great is the relationship you created with them before you sold them anything? How much did they read about, learned from and educated themselves on: you, your expertise, your business or even your affiliates’ businesses?

That’s copy. All of it.

It’s all part of the sales process. And “copy,” in the case of selling to an established, qualified market, didn’t start with that salesletter. It started a long time ago through other means.

Try to sell to a brand new market for the first time, one who has never heard of you, and you’ll need copy. Lots of it.

Hire a sales representative to sell for you, and that’s copy too, albeit delivered incrementally, in different ways, over time. For example, include all the prospecting steps, qualification questions, needs analyses, phone calls, sales presentations, written proposals, objections handled, and closing attempts the salesperson did.

But it’s still all one big piece of copy. Remove all of those steps and start fresh with just a salesletter, and you will definitely need a long copy salesletter. Without question.

In other words, if you had to replace all those steps with just one, the process would have taken the form of one long-copy salesletter.

Finally, there’s also a correlation between my two points, i.e., between product categories and processes.

Because a product, which may at first be an unsought product — with a bit of copy, awareness, brand equity and credibility built over time — can change and be promoted to another category.

They can go from unsought, to specialty, to shopping, and even to convenience, after a specific point in the sales/life cycle.

Take bottled water, for instance.

Bottled water was once unsought when it was first introduced. Over time, it became a specialty product. After a while, it then became a shopping product.

(And in some cases, I’d even venture to say that bottled water is now a convenience product, especially in certain markets such as gyms, schools, offices or certain locales where water quality is known to be poor.)

So when you really look at it and think about it, long copy always wins. Always. It’s just not a long copy salesletter every time. Granted, after a period of time, it’s not always needed when the audience is pre-sold, or when the product is a low-priced convenience product.

Bottom line, copy doesn’t need to do a job that’s already been done. So the question is not “how long should your salesletter be?” But rather, “how qualified, targeted and sold is my target market before they even read my salesletter?”

And therein lies the key: the market, not the copy.

—

Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog and subscribe to his RSS feed.

Tags: copywriting tips, long copy, michel fortin, short copy

Does Your Copy Have Personality?

Guest Post by Michel Fortin

Some people like hypey copy, while others prefer newsy copy. Some people like long, others prefer short. Some people drama, stories and testimonials… Others data, statistics and facts.

Does it all matter? Absolutely.

What makes one style of copy more favorable than another? Why does one person buy from one type of copy and not from another? It really comes down to the buying behavior of your market. And in fact, there are four major personality types.

The style you choose will not appeal to everyone. It never will. Even some of the best ads miss the mark with at least half of their target audience.

You may have heard me say this before, and I’ll say it again: Trying to be all things to all people is a death knell for your business.

By trying to be all things to all people, you must paint your copy with broad brushstrokes in order to appeal to everyone. Thus, when your target market reads your copy, it will often shrug it off because they feel you are not catering to them specifically — even if what you’re selling does.

Similarly, ads crafted so as not to offend anyone will be counterproductive. It may even backfire.

Why? Because the more you try not to offend anyone, the more generic you become with your copy. And the more generic you are, the more your copy will be disconnected from your audience.

In other words, to your prospect, you appear as if you DON’T understand them, and that your copy DOESN’T cater to their specific, individual needs, goals, concerns, budget and unique set of circumstances.

As a result, you alienate most of your market that way.

Sure, you may avoid offending a minority. But now you inadvertently offend the majority — perhaps in a subtle, indirect or unconscious way — because you appear as if you simply don’t care.

You see, ads are distinctive. They’re alive. They’re like pieces of art.

Each one has a certain personality. And no matter what you do, that personality may attract some people and repulse others at the same time.

Try to be too general (or better said, “too generic”) with your copy, and the result will be copy that’s bland, anemic and unproductive.

Instead, appeal to the majority, even to the detriment of the minority. It’s not just because it will be conducive to the greatest results but also because your copy offers more than just information. It also presents that information in a way that is favored by the majority of your target audience.

Said differently, it’s best to cater to one predominant market, i.e., one predominant buyer personality. That way, your information is presented in a way that your market feels the copy is centered on them. And them alone.

Over the years, many psychologists and behavioral scientists have categorized personality styles. They may have labeled them differently, but the result is essentially the same.

Is this some kind of new science? Not at all.

Around 400 BC, Hippocrates, in “Air, Water And Places,” dubbed these 4 personality types as Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric and Melancholic. In more recent years, behavioral scientist and sales psychologist Dr. Tony Alessandra labels them Directors, Socializers, Relaters and Thinkers. Same thing.

(If you want to know what kind of personality style you have, you can take Dr. Alessandra’s quiz on his website “The Platinum Rule,” which Tony defines as “Do unto others as they would want to have done unto them.”)

But the most common labels given to them (and the ones Dan Kennedy, Brian Tracy, even marketing textbooks use) are: Driver, Expressive, Analytical and Amiable.

A personality style is defined by a person’s level of assertiveness and responsiveness. Responsiveness is how well they respond to other people. It is outwardly. Assertiveness, on the other hand, is inwardly. It’s how well they are willing to take a stand.

On one side of the scale, some people are ego-driven while others are known “people-pleasers.” Some care less about the people around them (or the relastionships they hold), while others focus much on how they get along with others — often, to their own detriment.

Some people are task-driven, others results-driven. Some dramatic, others factual.

Each level can be high or low, in varying degrees. The combination of the two is what defines a particular personality style. For example, a person can be:

• High assertive, low responsive
  
• High assertive, high responsive
  
• Low assertive, low responsive
  
• Low assertive, high responsive

Your market will predominantly fall into 1 or 2 personality styles. Of course, with all things being equal. (Unless you’re a large, brand-name retailer, department store or business.)

Your audience may not necessarily and precisely fit into a single, neat personality category, and your entire market may not fit one specific style. Keep in mind that the keyword here is “predominant.”

But depending on your product, your industry, and both demographics and psychographics of your target audience, it is safe to say that the majority of them will likely demonstrate one particular style more than any other.

To give you an idea, here’s a brief look at them:

Drivers are concerned with RESULTS.

They are practical, impatient and time-sensitive. A Driver is a person who usually is more concerned with the bottom-line. For example, they want to know how long will it take to get your product, what kind of results they can expect and, of course, how much does it cost.

Bankers, sales managers, purchasing agents, businesspeople, corporate executives and so on are typically Drivers. They don’t care how to get from point “A” to point “B.” They just want to know if you can get to point “B.”

Everything else is irrelevant. So be pithy and give them the bottom line.

Analyticals are preoccupied with DETAILS.

They don’t care much about results. They’re driven by facts and far more interested in the inner workings of your product. They might want to know what is its exact size, where and of what is it made, what are the ingredients, what features does it possess, what kind of guarantees do you offer with it, and what, precisely, makes it work.

Scientists, developers, mathematicians, engineers, computer programmers, doctors and so on are mainly Analyticals. They want specifications. They want facts. They want statistics. They want data. The more, the merrier.

They prefer cold, hard information rather than hyperbole and stories.

Expressives care most about FEELINGS.

Status and approval are important to Expressives. How they perceive things and how other people perceive them take precedence. They are mostly impulsive, colorful, ego-centric, undisciplined and spontaneous. They prefer to talk than to listen.

Actors, teachers, musicians, artists, art lovers, graphic designers, movie directors, comedians, etc fall in the Expressive category. As an example, they’re the ones who buy mostly for the sake of prestige of ownership, or to boost their standing in their communities, their organizations or their peer groups.

(For instance, Expressives are the types who intentionally park their brand new luxury car on the street so that the neighbors can see them.)

Ultimately, tell them how your product will make them look good.

Amiables are interested in RELATIONSHIPS.

They are emotional, caring and humanistic. They are normally those who deal with the public and care deeply about the relationships they hold. How your product will help others and strengthen the relationships they maintain with them will be of utmost importance to Amiables.

It’s not uncommon for Amiables to hold careers as salespeople, consultants, home-based business owners, entrepreneurs, social workers, human resource personnel and so on. If your product can solve a problem, that’s good. But if it can help your prospect help others to solve a problem, that’s even better.

With Amiables, use testimonials, stories and analogies. A lot.

The important question is:
How do you appeal to your buyer’s personality?

For instance, avoid lacing your copy with feelings and emotions when your audience, comprised mostly of Analyticals, wants specifics. Be objective and factual, and refrain from hyperbole or drama. Sure, you can — and must — be emotional. All humans are. But don’t do so at the expense of logic and facts.

While an Analytical will never have enough information, don’t drown your visitors with needless details when they consist of Drivers. Be quick, pithy and straight to the point when dealing with these practical buyers. If you use long copy, make sure it makes a point. Consistently.

However, be sensitive and friendly when pitching to Amiables. Use stories, case studies and testimonials. Take your time with them. Be warm and interactive. In fact, your relationship with them is just as important as the benefits of your product.

For Expressives, talk about how the product will make them feel, help their status and gain recognition, and how it will get others to notice and compliment them. Or focus on how the product will make others around them cringe in horror, turn green with envy or even be humiliated.

Here’s a real-life scenario.

A patient visits a dentist for an initial consultation.

During the meeting, the Analytical will be preoccupied mostly with the details of dental work. Knowing precisely how much freezing will be applied, which specific teeth (and parts thereof) will be repaired and what kind of filling will be used are of enormous interest to him.

On the other hand, a Driver will want to know how long the procedure takes, how fast can he return to work after the procedure and how much it costs. Everything else is unimportant and irrelevant.

But for the Amiable, they are mostly concerned with their ability to please their spouse, friends or boss with their improved appearance. They want to know if going ahead will make others happy, as well as secure others’ approval.

The Expressive, however, will be mostly interested with how good do their new teeth look, how much pain that such a procedure might incur, how their teeth changes their appearance, how natural-looking the result will be and how attractive the procedure is going to make them.

But what if your market consists of more than one?

Again, your market, if you target your market (or at least segment your market into groups), will fall into one (and sometimes two) categories. In other words, your market will fit into one predominant category, and one more than any other.

Depending on your type of industry and product, the style of your message should chiefly appeal to that one specific style. For example, if your product caters to expectant mothers, you will definitely speak to them differently than if you were to cater to entrepreneurs.

But what if your market consists of strong, identifiably different groups? In other words, what if you have more than one predominant personality type in your target audience? If so, I submit that you can have a different ad or salesletter directed at each different market.

It’s market segmentation, pure and simple. Even if it’s the same product.

Market segementation means that you split your target market into groups, and cater to each one individually. Large corporations and retailers have been doing this for years. Take Coke versus Diet Coke, or Levis’ Red Tabs sold in high-end stores, versus Wal-Mart’s Orange Tabs Levis.

Here’s an example: a clever entrepreneur can take a product, package it, price it and sell it in 2 different ways to 2 different audiences on 2 different websites, and thus maximize sales from all potential market segments. Oftentimes, even creating her own competition.

(Take, for instance, AudioGenerator.com versus InstantAudio.com. The former is geared for the individual, small business person, while the other is more corporate, B2B-oriented.)

The bottom line is, give your copy personality, and make sure it speaks to your audience at an intimate level, and your response will shoot through the roof.

Sure, you will aleniate a few. But what would you rather have: generic copy that pleases more but sells less? Or targeted copy that pleases less but sells more?

About Michel Fortin…

Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog at http://www.michelfortin.com/ and subscribe to his RSS feed.

Tags: copywriting tips, michel fortin, swipe files, writing copy

Watch Those Speed Bumps

Guest Post By Michel Fortin

A forum post on my copywriters board suggested that too many italics, bolds, underlines, yellow highlighting and the like are not good. One referred to them as “speed bumps,” which reduce usability and readability.

I don’t necessarily agree with this premise.

First, understand that formatting tricks help to drive important points home, or emphasize key points in the copy you want your reader to read, focus on and remember.

When in a face-to-face encounter, a sale is not only made on what you say but how you say it. Including inflection of your voice, rhythm, tone, volume, pausing, nonverbal communication and others.

Because “how” you say it can emphasize, support or contradict your message.

Lower your voice during an important point in your sales pitch causes people to lean forward to make sure they hear everything. Inflect certain key words or phrases can help drive important ideas home. And so on.

Now, on the web, there’s no face-to-face interaction. You don’t have the same luxury. And therefore, formatting can be used as an effective tool to underline (and I mean that literally and figuratively) important points.

Granted, I agree that “speed bumps” do reduce ease of reading. But you don’t want to make it too comfortable for the reader. Especially with web copy.

What I am saying is that speed bumps, used sparingly and judiciously, are good.

Why? Because copy is different than, say, an article, editorial or entertaining piece of text. If you make it too easy for them, they will doze off, lose track, comprehend less or leave.

Here’s a little story.

Brian Keith Voiles and I once offered contradictory advice. When I told my clients and students to use red headlines, particularly when statistical split-tests showed red increased response, Brian said, “Never use red in your headline… It means STOP!”

First, Brian is right. However, Brian is primarily an offline copywriter. But online, that’s exactly what you want people to do. That is, you want them to stop (stop scanning, that is).

Remember the 3 immutable laws of human behavior, especially on the web:

People never read
People never believe
People never do

So you need to apply the “3 P’s” (or have it in the back of your mind when you write online copy). They are:

Pull them in
Prove your case
Push them to act

People online never read anything at first.

They skim, scan and scroll. You want them to stop scanning and start reading.

“Speed bumps,” if you will, cause little distractions along the way that 1) prod the reader constantly to keep reading, and 2) avoid them from reading text that, if it’s all the same, starts to appear as one big blur and puts them to sleep — or into a trance-like state.

They get bored, tired and lose focus. Best case, and since their time is short, they get tempted to scroll again to save time.

Mind you, great copy should do a good job to keep the reader interested. The content alone should be powerful enough to keep them interested and hanging onto every word.

But…

Formatless copy is like turning a face-to-face sales presentation that’s meant to persuade into a boring, monotone and limp lecture that only educates, informs or entertains at best.

(How many pieces of copy caused you to start reading, and then after 1-2 pages — or even 1-2 paragraphs if not sentences — made you stop and start scrolling up and down again?)

Dan Kennedy teaches a lot about “copy cosmetics,” because the formatting of your salesletter is just as important as the words.

That said, there are a few caveats:

1) Ultimately, copy is not meant to educate.

It’s meant to educate, yes. But first, it’s meant to attract attention, then educate, and then persuade. In that order.

Remember the AIDA formula? It means “Attention,” “Interest,” “Desire” and “Action.” Your first job, above all else, is to capture people’s attention, and then it’s to captivate them… and to keep them captivated.

Large headlines in a color other than black (e.g., red, burgundy, blue, etc), for example, are proven “scan-stoppers.” They draw attention to themselves, which is what you want.

This doesn’t apply to headlines exclusively. Headers (subheads throughout the copy), emphasis on certain words within the copy, Johnson boxes with borders, and so on all help to draw attention to those elements.

So they are indeed “speed bumps.” But on the information superhighway, where people browse at the speed of electrons, people are “speeding by” and will often scroll your copy up and down, quickly trying to find something that interests them — or a reason to justify reading the copy in the first place.

That’s why most people try to look for the price. The problem is, they are not looking for the price to justify their buying decision, but to justify the need to read your long copy in the first place.

And without reading the copy first to understand and appreciate the full value of your offering, prices alone will often push them away.

2) Scientific split-tests have proven it.

For example, “clunkiness” does outperform clean copy. I know this intimately! One piece of copy I wrote bombed. It’s was beautiful — both the message as well as the look. We tested the same copy after adding a few strategic bolds, italics and underlines.

Guess what? Response shot up dramatically.

Am I saying use bolds and underlines and yellow highlighting willy-nilly? No! For one, it loses credibility — working against rule #2 above. But more importantly, too many “speed bumps” are bad because now they bleed into one another. They transform the text into one big blur… again.

But the modest use of cosmetic enhancements is best, as they draw attention to themselves without “blending in” too much with the rest of the copy

Look at it this way.

Too much makes all the copy look the same. Overuse of bolds, italics and so on can thus become counterproductive.

For instance, if people start scrolling up and down with massive amounts of yellow highlighting, nothing stands out and grabs them by the eyeballs, stops them from scanning and forces them to start reading.

Plus, if you’re using formatting to emphasize certain words or phrases, then too much makes all the text look the same and, as a result, “de-emphasizing” other, more important words you wanted to stand out in the first place.

3) People will complain, regardless.

People who think they “are the market,” especially business owners who think they are their own markets, will make assumptions. Often, the wrongs ones. And business owners often tend to jump at the slightest complaint and make assumptions themselves based on that complaint, suggestion or comment.

But what people say and what people do are totally different.

(Especially “who” says and does it, too.)

A few rules by millionaire copywriter Dan Kennedy…

Long copy outpulls short copy.
Clunky-looking copy outpulls clean copy.
Personal copy outpulls impersonal copy.
Hard-hitting copy outpulls soft copy.
Sequential copy outpulls one-hit copy.
(By the way, “sequential” means following up with your prospects, such as autoresponders, or offline, doing a 2nd, 3rd or more mailing to the same market with your copy.)

By the way, here’s an actual story to show you an example of point #2.

Perry Marshall, a famous Google AdWords guru (and also a great copywriter himself), once told me this little story (not his own, but a great story he read about that illustrates a really good point nonetheless).

A retailer was going out of business.

Frustrated, the owner took a piece of dog-eared, coffee-stained cardboard with large chunks ripped from its sides, and with a huge, black Sharpie marker, wrote in big, bold letters:

“BUSINESS SUCKS SALE!”

He put it in his storefront window. The result? His business exploded! It became so busy, people were lining up at the cash counter. (Business certainly didn’t suck anymore.)

So the business owner said to himself, “Wow, that sign really works! I’m going to have one professionally made at the local printer. That should jump business even more!”

The result?

Business went back down.

Way down.

So he had a hunch. He decided to put the hand-made cardboard version back out. And what happened? You guessed it: business went back up again. Go figure. Or not.

4) Too much of a good thing can kill you.

Another side to the issue is not just the usability but also the credibility. Too many “speed bumps” can make it hard to read, which again defeats the purpose. But more importantly, they cause people to judge your entire business based on the image you project.

If you become too “clunky,” then people will assume that your business, your business practices, your products and especially your treatment of customers are just as “clunky.”

I wrote about this in my blog a few months ago. In it, I talk about the fact that first impressions do matter.

But you can still use cosmetics and formatting to emphasize certain words or phrases you wish to drive home but without your copy appearing as if it was created by some preschooler.

(Mind you, Bill Glazer, Dan Kennedy’s partner, once did a mailing campaign using a Crayola-drawn lettering and stick figures, replete with the inverted “E’s” and “R’s,” as one would expect from a preschooler. It was a highly successful campaign!)

I believe there’s a happy medium.

Remember that you do want to create a good first impression, as first impressions are not only lasting ones but also conducive to sales. Including repeat and referral sales.

The second step in my 3-step formula earlier is to “prove your case.” That means credentializing your copy, adding proof and projecting a sound, professional, trustworthy image.

And the cosmetics do communicate this, with or without you knowing it.

In the end, it goes both ways: don’t be overly fancy or “clean” looking, as well as don’t be overly shoddy or “clunky” looking, since either one will kill your sales or your credibility. Or both.

In other words, don’t focus too much on cosmetics, either way, at the expense of the most important part of your copy…

The words.

About Michel Fortin
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog and subscribe to his RSS feed.

Tags: copy formatting tips, copywriting tips, michel fortin

Forget Benefits, And You Will Sell More

Guest Post By Michel Fortin

What’s the single, most important element in copywriting?

Let me say it another way.

You’ve done your research. You found a starving market. Your product fills a need. And your sales copy shines with benefits. If everything is so perfect, then why is your product still NOT selling? Is it the price? The offer? The competition?

Maybe. But not necessarily.

The fact is, these things are not always to blame for being unable to sell an in-demand product, even with great copy. In my experience, I believe it has more to do with one thing:

FOCUS.

(Or the lack thereof.)

In fact, the greatest word in copywriting is not “free.” It’s “focus.” And what you focus on in your copy is often the single, greatest determinant of your copy’s success.

In my experience, copy that brings me the greatest response is copy that focuses on:

One messsage
One market
One outcome

Here’s what I mean…

1. One message

The copy doesn’t tell multiple, irrelevant stories. It doesn’t make multiple offers. It doesn’t go on tangential storylines or provide extra pieces of information that don’t advance the sale.

It makes one offer and one offer only. Too many messages confuse the reader. And as copywriter Randy Gage once noted, “The confused mind never buys.”

It confuses them because they don’t know which offer provides them with the best value for the amount of money they are ready to spend.

Prospects want to spend their money wisely, and that’s the point: lose focus, and it is harder to think clearheadedly as to make a wise decision in the first place. Remember this axiom:

“Give people too many choices and they won’t make one.”

You don’t want to do what my teenage daughter does to me. When we go shopping for a dress, after hours of flipping through hangers and racks, she finally pinpoints one she likes, goes to the changing room to try it on, looks at me and asks, “How’s this one?”

“Perfect!” I say. “You sure, dad?” She asks. “Yes,” I add. “I’m positive.” “OK, then.” So she puts her own clothes back on, walks out and we head to the cash register when, suddenly, she stops, picks up another dress off the rack, and says, “How about this one? Or maybe this one? Oooh, look at this other one!”

2. One market

I don’t want to spend the little space I have for this article to extoll the virtues of niche marketing. But it goes without saying: trying to be all things to all people is impossible. And when it is possible if ever, then your message (your copy) must be generic enough to appeal to everyone, causing the majority in your market to feel you’re not focused on them.

(There’s that word “focus,” again!)

People feel kind of left out, because you’re too vague. You appear indifferent or focused on “someone else’s” situation, when you are able to cater to their specific needs and goals, too.

If you cater to a large, diversified market, I would highly encourage you to at least segment your market. That is, write copy for each individual and targeted group of people within your market. If your market is made up of 2, 3, 4 or more identifiable market groups, write copy for each one — even if the product is the same for everyone.

3. One outcome

“Click here,” “read my about page,” “here’s a link to some testimonials,” “call this number,” “fill out this form,” “don’t buy know, just think about it,” “here are my other websites,” “here are 41 other products to choose from,” and on and on…

Ack!

When people read your sales copy, and if your copy is meant to induce sales, then you want one thing and one thing only: get the sale! In other words, there’s only one thing your readers should do, and that’s buy.

Remember K.I.S.S. (i.e., “keep it straightforwardly simple”).

You would be surprised at how many salesletters I critique where the author asks the reader to do too many things, to choose from too many things, or to jump through so many hoops to get the very thing they want in the first place.

Your copy should focus on one call to action only. Forget links to other websites or pages that are irrelevant to the sale. Why invite procrastination with too many calls-to-action?

In fact, I truly believe that, with web copy, the goal is not to elicit action but to prevent procrastination. Because if people hit your website, whether they found you on a search engine, were referred to you from someone else’s website or email, or read about you somewhere, then they are interested right from the get-go.

So your job is not to get them to buy, really. They’re qualified.

So rather, it’s to get them not to go away.

Ultimately, focus on the reader. ONE reader.

This is probably the thing you need to focus on the most.

The most common blunders I see being committed in copy is the lack of focus in a sales message, particularly on the individual reading the copy and the value you specifically bring to them.

In my experience as a copywriter, I find that some people put too much emphasis on the product, the provider and even the market (as a whole), and not enough on the most important element in a sales situation: the customer.

That is, the individual reading the copy at that very moment.

Don’t focus your copy on your product and the features of your product — and on how good, superior or innovative they are. And don’t even focus on the benefits. Instead, focus on increasing perceived value with them.

Why? Because perception is personal. It’s intimate. It’s ego-centric.

Let me explain.

When you talk about your product, you’re making a broad claim. Everyone makes claims, especially online. “We’re number one,” “we offer the highest quality,” “it’s our best version yet,” etc. (Often, my reaction is, “So what?”)

And describing benefits is just as bad.

Benefits are too broad, in my opinion. You were probably taught that a feature is what a product has and a benefit is what that feature does. Right? But even describing benefits is, in my estimation, making a broad claim, too.

The adage goes, “Don’t sell quarter-inch drills, sell quarter-inch holes.”

But holes alone don’t mean a thing to someone who might have different uses, reasons or needs for that hole. So you need to translate benefits into more meaningful benefits.

You see, a claim always looks self-serving. It also puts you in a precarious position, as it lessens your perceived value and makes your offer suspect — the opposite of what you’re trying to accomplish by making claims in the first place.

Therefore, don’t focus on the benefits of a certain feature. Rather, focus on how those features specifically benefit the individual.

There is a difference.

A big difference.

The more you explain what those claims specifically mean to the prospect, the more you will sell. It’s not the features that counts and it’s not even benefits. It’s the perceived value. So how do you build perceived value?

The most common problem I see when people attempt to describe benefits is when what they are really describing are advantages — or glorified features, so to speak. Real benefits are far more personal and intimate.

That’s why I prefer to use this continuum:

Features ? Advantages ? Benefits

Of course, a feature is what a product has. And an advantage (or what most people think is a benefit) is what that feature does. But…

… A benefit is what that feature means.

A benefit is what a person intimately gains from a specific feature. When you describe a feature, say this: “What this means to you, Mr. Prospect, is this (…),” followed by a more personal gain your reader gets from using the feature.

Let me give you a real-word example.

A client once came to me for a critique of her copy. She sold an anti-wrinkle facial cream. It’s often referred to as “microdermabrasion.” Her copy had features and some advantages, but no benefits. In fact, here’s what she had:

Features:

It reduces wrinkles.
It comes in a do-it-yourself kit.
And it’s pH balanced.
Advantages:

It reduces wrinkles, so it makes you look younger.
It comes in a kit, so it’s easy to use at home.
And it’s pH balanced, so it’s gentle on your skin.
This is what people will think a benefit is, such as “younger,” “easy to use” and “gentle.” But they are general. Vague. They’re not specific and intimate enough. So I told her to add these benefits to her copy…

Benefits:

It makes you look younger, which means you will be more attractive, you will get that promotion or recognition you always wanted, you will make them fall in love with you all over again, they will never guess your age, etc.

It’s easy to use at home, which means you don’t have to be embarrassed — or waste time and money — with repeated visits to the doctor’s office… It’s like a facelift in a jar done in the privacy of your own home!

It’s gentle on your skin, which means there are no risks, pain or long healing periods often associated with harsh chemical peels, surgeries and injections.
Now, those are benefits!

Remember, copywriting is “salesmanship in print.” You have the ability to put into words what you normally say in a person-to-person situation. If you were to explain what a feature means during an encounter, why not do so in copy?

The more benefit-driven you are, the more you will sell. In other words, the greater the perceived value you present, the greater the desire for your product will be. And if they really want your product, you’ll make a lot of money.

It’s that simple.

In fact, like a face-to-face, one-on-one sales situation (or as we say in sales training, being “belly to belly” with your prospect), you need to denominate as specifically as possible the value of your offer to your readers.

In other words, express the benefits of your offer in terms that relate directly not only to your market, but also and more importantly:

To each individual in that market
And to each individual’s situation.
Don’t focus on your product. Focus on your readers. Better yet, focus on how the benefits of your offer appeal to the person that’s reading them. And express how your offer benefits your prospect in terms they can intimately relate to, too.

Look at it this way:

Use terms the prospect is used to, appreciates and fully understands. (The mind thinks in relative terms. That’s why the use of analogies, stories, examples, metaphors and testimonials is so important! Look at “facelift in a jar” I mentioned earlier, as an example.)

Address your reader directly and forget third-person language. Don’t be afraid to use “you,” “your” and “yours,” as well as “I,” “me,” “my” and “mine.” Speak to your reader as if in a personal conversation with her.

Use terms that trigger their hormones, stroke their egos, tug their heartstrings and press their hot buttons. You don’t need to use puffery with superlative-laden copy. Just speak to your reader at an intimate level. An emotional level.
Because the worst thing you can do, second to making broad claims, is to express those claims broadly. Instead, appeal to their ego. Why? Because…

… We are all human beings.

Eugene Schwartz, author of Breakthrough Advertising (one of the best books on copywriting), once noted we are not far evolved from chimpanzees. “Just far enough to be dangerous to ourselves,” copywriter Peter Stone once noted.

He’s not alone. My friend and copywriter Paul Myers was once asked during an interview, “Why do people buy from long, hypey copy?” His short answer was, “Human beings are only two feet away from the cave.”

(Speaking of Eugene Schwartz, listen to his speech. It’s the best keynote speech on copywriting. EVER. Click hear to listen to it. You can also get a copy of his book, too, called “Breakthrough Advertising.” I read mine several times already.)

People buy for personal wants and desires, and for selfish reasons above all. Whether you sell to consumers or businesses, people are people are people. It’s been that way for millions of years.

And nothing’s changed.

Your message is just a bunch of words. But words are symbols. Different words mean different things to different people. Look at this way: while a picture is worth a thousand words, a word is worth a thousand pictures.

And the words you choose can also be worth a thousand sales.

— About Michel Fortin —
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog at http://www.michelfortin.com/ and subscribe to his RSS feed.

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Copywriting Videos

Here are some great videos on copywriting from YouTube.

Included: Ted Nicholas and John Carlton!

Post created in a couple of minutes with Video Utility Poster, available right now.

Copywriting Checklist Point 12 - Bullets

Ted Nicholas - Copywriting Tips For Beginners

Tags: copywriting videos, john carlton, ted nicholas

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