5 secrets to persuasive copywriting
Andy Maslen, author of ‘Persuasive Copywriting’, says “Good copy should appeal to the reader’s emotions, not the writer’s emotions”. I couldn’t agree more.
The reason good copy will evoke certain emotions in a reader is because emotions are at the centre of our motivations. And every copywriter wants a customer to take a certain action, whether it’s to make a purchase, sign up to a newsletter or provide a donation.
The aim of every copywriter should be to evoke the emotion that will motivate the customer to take the desired action.
These are my top 5 secrets to persuasive copywriting:
1. Be creative
Getting your reader’s attention with a snappy headline and hold that attention and get them to read beyond the headline. One of the best ways to do that is to use creativity when writing copies.
One of the best ways to be creative is to keep writing, but don’t just limit yourself to copywriting. Write the way you want, about whatever subject you like or enjoy the most. Your writing may take the form of book reviews, journaling or character sketches. The more you write for yourself, the more you will develop your voice and strengthen your creative muscles.
You should also think about reading more fiction. Novels are an endless source of creative writing that can inspire useful ideas, and they often provide key insight into human emotions, which is the very thing your copy should be focused on.
2. Use special considerations when writing for mobile, social platforms or content marketing purposes
No matter what kind of copy you are tasked to write, your client should give you a brief which provides you with guidelines about the copy you are expected to write. These guidelines should include what’s being promoted, what kind of benefit the product or service provides, what kind of person the prospective reader is and what kind of brand voice needs to be used. If these things are not included in the brief, then you are going to struggle with the copy or turn in something that will need to be rewritten. No one likes to waste time!
If your brief is to come up with copy for social media or mobile platforms, then you need to think about how your content is going to look on the reader’s screen. Try not to make your readers scroll any more than is necessary by being upfront with the point of your copy.
And, of course, don’t forget the tone of voice! Social channels are generally best served by copy written in a personable, casual, engaging and natural tone.
3. Use curiosity, secrets and storytelling to engage your readers
One of the oldest formulas out there to writing engaging copies is known as AIDA; this stands for:
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
You want to gain the reader’s attention, hold their interest, and tap into their desires to convince them to take action.
Another engaging technique is to share secrets. If you suggest that you are in possession of exciting insider information, only few readers will be able to resist leaning in and asking to hear more. This can work for anything, from business tips to cookery utensils. “5 Secrets to Persuasive Copywriting”.
Telling a story is another way to grab and hold a reader’s attention. So keep the four elements of storytelling in mind: the protagonist, the problem, the description of what happened, and the resolution.
4. Use flattery - this will get you everywhere
Some of the strongest emotions you can use in copywriting are those that stem from a person’s ego, so don’t be afraid to use language that subtly inflates your reader’s ego.
Let’s say your product is an airline membership that can save people time and money. Instead of using a generic beginning message like “As a valued customer we’d like to offer you …“, you could write something specific and flattering like “As someone who spends many hours in the air…“.
Directly appealing to a person’s ego is a powerful way to get that emotional connection and make the reader feel special.
5. Don’t pay too much attention to the grammar police
Good copywriting should always be pleasurable to read. That said, don’t get too distracted by the grammar police when writing your copy. What really matters is what’s effective.
Of course, grammar is important in writing, but often, what people call bad grammar is really an issue of style. Sentences ending in prepositions and nouns being used as verbs are completely acceptable nowadays.
Conclusion
Good copywriting is empathetic, as it’s all about understanding your reader’s emotions and using those emotions to be persuasive.
There are many techniques that you can use to gain a reader’s attention and emotional engagement. These include stimulating curiosity and exploiting our natural interest in storytelling.
It’s also a good idea to appeal to the reader’s ego and their attraction to secrets and exclusivity.
TOP TIP: Using pictures is a great way to make your copy more engaging. If you are trying to impress the reader with statistics, you can grab their attention with an image that illustrate these figures. If you are passing along a testimonial or telling a biographical story, use a photo of the person in question to make your story come more to life.