Using Psychographics to Craft Emotionally-Driven Copy
“Want to look and feel good?”
Literal headlines on a site that I just visited.
Of course, I passed judgment. As the head of Mischief-Making and Copywriting around here, I’m allowed. :p
But I did rein myself back in and said, “Let me take a closer look...maybe it’s a fluke of a shitliner.”
Nope. It wasn’t.
Immediately following that headline was the About section (which was far from what an effective, bond-forming About should be).
Then a section on her “approach” which was literally three broken tab link images that didn’t go anywhere and didn’t cover her approach.
As if all of this wasn’t bad enough, the real problem was:
There was NO mention of her ideal client’s
hopes/dreams/struggles/fears anywhere on the site.
One might argue that perhaps the visuals did what the copy did not. But visuals alone don’t mean shit and they don’t convert readers.
Speaking the “Right” Language
Without the words that are specifically targeted for your reader, your reader won’t see his or her themselves reflected in your work.
And service-based businesses that make the mistake of leaving the reader out of the copy put serious profit-inhibiting restraints on what they can achieve.
And while it’s important that the reader SEE herself in the copy, it’s even more important that she FEEL herself experiencing that copy.
You do that through psychographics.
If you’ve created an ICA (Ideal Client Avatar), you’ve likely tapped into who they are:
Age
Gender
Marital Status
Career Status
Income
Children
But if you haven’t tapped into the full monty of your ideal, you might be missing the very details you need to craft that emotional copy that gets them hooked on you, your work, and saying YES!
The information you need is called your ideal client’s psychographics. It’s the literal why and wherefores of their main buying drivers, habits, and triggers.
What do they do
What do they believe
How do they feel
How do they WANT to feel
Funny side note...When clients fill out my questionnaire, they always, always balk at having to answer the questions:
What does your client do on Monday morning?
Why?
What do they do on Friday night?
Why?
What kind of car do they drive?
Why?
What kind of car do they wish they could drive?
Why?
Where do they shop?
Why?
Where do they wish they could shop?
Why?
See a pattern?
Because if you want to craft emotionally-driven copy that converts casual readers to cash, you have to know their WHYs.
And those clients always balk because they rarely know their readers’ WHYs.
The psychographics is those WHYs.
What Does It Take to Get to the Psychographics?
Conversation.
Detective work.
Looking beyond the obvious...into what they don’t even know.
One of the things I’ve learned in all the years I’ve been writing for 7-figure businesses is that conversation is the most important part of the research when it comes to writing emotionally driven copy. But Henry Ford once said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said they wanted faster horses.”
Did he mean not to ask? I think not. I believe that he meant to see beyond what they say.
Because if you ask one person why they drive a BMW instead of a Mercedes, they may tell you because of sleeker lines combined with powerful horses...out of pride. But it may have actually been the reputation that Mercedes has for expensive maintenance after the first three years that pushed them to go with BMW instead.
So...you almost have to become a detective, assessing what they say and cross-referencing it with what they do.
That’s why you want to talk to them, rather than rely on questionnaire answers, alone.
Because when you sit down to talk to people, you get to feel into their vibes, into their dreams, and into their struggles. And there’s something profoundly different about reading it in black and white than hearing it in wavelengths.
So, whenever you can, sit and talk with your people. Tap into their WHY. Into their psychographics.
Then Translate Their Psychographics Into Reflective, Emotionally-driven Copy That Converts
Because that’s where the money is.
Grab your free copy of the Psychographics Master Sheet organizer I use to get to my readers’ languages!
Because when you sit down to talk to them, you won’t be able to write:
“Want to look and feel good?”
You might feel compelled to write something along the lines of:
“Feel like your old self again” if your crowd is the overworked, overtired, professional mom who just wants to feel like she’s 27 again. Hell, you could even say:
“Feel 27 again.” (Of course, you’d need supporting copy underneath and not flow straight into the About section, like our example earlier.)
“Feel like your old self again” taps into the longing of “where did the time go, I just want my life back”. “Feel 27 again” taps into that desire to feel youthful and energized, as well, but it removes the remorseful yearning. Either way, it depends on your audience’s psychographics. ;)
Use your audience’s psychographics to fuel copy that is reflective and emotionally-driven and you’ll ignite your revenue in the process.
Join the free Facebook group, the Copy Arena, and let’s keep this convo going so you never miss an opportunity to tap into your ideal clients’ language and emotions!
Check out the latest episodes of Copy Arena: The Podcast on Anchor.fm