How To Get Prospects Emotionally
Involved In Your Copy

All buying decisions are based on emotions – it’s as simple as that. Logic only serves to justify those decisions afterwards.

Which means that before you ever get to your prospect’s brain, you’ve got to convince his heart. You’ve got to stir his emotions and get them involved in what you’re telling him.

Because the more you can get your prospect emotionally invested in your copy, the better your chances are of making your sale.

And unfortunately, benefits alone just aren’t enough to do it anymore. Telling your prospect all the wonderful things your product or service is going to do for him just makes you sound like any of the 500 other sales pitches he’s heard today.

Instead, you’ve got to show him.

Paint A Picture That Entices

Show him a warm, sunny day when he's playing catch in the back yard with his five-year-old. His son is making memories, and the snobby neighbor next door looks over in envy at his gorgeous lawn. All because he used your grass seed.

Show him moving into the big, corner office. He looks out his window to admire his shiny new sports car. His former rival comes in to grudgingly congratulate him on his new promotion. But he had an unfair advantage getting here -- your newsletter.

Show her shopping for a new wardrobe. Admiring heads turn as she walks down the street, all because she took your nutritional supplement.

You want to make your prospect a promise. Identify a fear or desire, and then show him what you're going to do for him that will eliminate this fear or fulfill this desire. Make him "see" himself reaping the benefits of your promise.

It goes without saying (but I'm going to say it anyway) that your promise had better be real. You may sell someone once on a false promise, but in the long run you're hurting yourself.

But when you show your prospect the honest-to-goodness benefit of doing business with you, he's that much more likely to want what you have to offer.

Engage Your Reader's Senses

Imagine a bland, colorless existence. Where food had no taste, silence surrounded you and everything smelled the same.

Not very appealing, is it?

Now imagine a crisp, fall morning. The sun is burning away the last of a lazy fog. Robins are singing sweetly on branches covered with bright yellow leaves. You swing gently on a creaky porch swing, sipping your Chocolate Caramel Latte and thinking about how much better this is than the first paragraph.

Did you see it? Did you hear the Robin, and the creaky swing? Did you taste the coffee?

Most importantly, did you notice how much easier it was to get involved emotionally with the second scenario than it was the first?

Copywriting is most powerful when it connects with, and stirs up emotions in the reader. Engaging her senses with your copy draws your prospect in. It helps her see herself experiencing your product or service. And it starts forging that all-important emotional connection.

Of course, like any good technique, it can be overdone. You stimulate the senses by adding detail. But if you add too much, you just call attention to your writing. And that is the kiss of death to your response.

Notice I didn’t say, “You swing gently on a hard, wooden porch swing, whose one-inch slats are light gray, faded and splintery, and whose metal chain is rusted, stiff and creaky.” That’s a bit much, unless maybe you’re selling a new porch swing. I also didn’t have to describe the taste of the coffee. Naming the flavor told you all you needed to know.

You don’t want to jam too much sensory input into one message, either. Ever walked into a candle or import store that was burning incense? So strong that it made your eyes water and your nose clog up? It didn’t make you want to buy anything, did it?

Sensory details should be sprinkled through your copy like fresh ground pepper on a crisp garden salad. A little ads flavor. A lot calls attention to itself and ruins the whole experience

The Selling Power Of A Story

Possibly the most powerful way to involve your prospects emotions is by telling him a story.

A good story disarms your reader or listener. He forgets for a moment that you are trying to sell him something and instead relates with what is happening in your story. He connects emotionally with what is happening, and eventually (at the end) with your product or service.

And he remembers what you’ve told him far longer, because stories stick with us much longer than facts. A good story speaks straight to the heart and forges a lasting emotional connection.

Building a good story is not as hard as you might think. Even if you’re not a writer, you tell stories all the time – about your day, about Aunt Rosie, about the funny things your kids do.

Every good story has three things: characters, conflict, and a climax/resolution. Your characters are simply who your story happens to. They can be people, or things like a car, or a business. There really is no limit other than your imagination. Just remember that the best characters have unique personalities. It’s the characters that make us relate to the story.

The conflict is the problem to be solved. It’s the reason there is a story to tell. What is the need that your product or service fills? A character facing that need is your conflict in a nutshell.

In the climax and resolution, your character’s problem is at it’s worst. Then along comes your product or service and makes it all right again. Your character is happy, and anyone listening will be, too if only they will do business with you.

Now For The Easy Part

Once you’ve got your prospect’s heart involved in your message, the hard part’s over. You’ve got him! All that’s left now is to keep him by proving all of your promises and showing him the Reason Why the benefits are true. Do that, and you’ll have a very loyal customer.

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Does your marketing forge an emotional connection with your prospects? It can. Lisa Packer is “The Copywriter You Can Count On” for powerful, persuasive copy that makes you money. Visit www.lisapacker.com and unleash the power of words in your business today!