Conversational Copy That Closes The Sale Quickly
By: Sandi Krakowski
Scanning through emails, deleting the junk and doing my best to read as fast as I could the newsletters that I love. While not necessarily my normal mode of operation, I was in an airport and had little time to clear up my "in" box.
I'm one of those retentive types, can't stand an overload of things inside of my "in" box and despise long drawn out details and processes. Faster road to a result! You've heard me say it before. I live it, love it and teach it!
Then it happened. One email…. began to scan and bam! Reading….. I know I should be doing something else, but hooked! OMG you have got to be kidding me! They did that at an airport? ( The story teller was sharing a recent experience)…. I looked around the airport I was at to see if what he elaborated might be going on here, at Chicago O'Hare as well.
Slowing down, reading every single word, not wanting to miss a thing.
Has that happened to you before? An email comes through that hooks you so fast, so deep and so beautifully that before you know it you're now on a sales page clicking, "Buy Now" and you can't even remember what the heck it is you're buying but it was so good you have to have it?
It doesn't happen to me very often but when it does, it usually comes sharp, hard and swiftly! I've had emails like this cause me to purchase not one, not two but THREE of one product because I simply was afraid I might miss out! Rather than taking the time to check my "In" box or my bank statement my desire to not miss out was so strong I figured if I ordered it before I'll just give it to a friend but missing out was NOT an option!
This, my friends, is conversational copy at it's finest. It's an art. Like a very specific recipe for whole grain bread that tastes as soft as that white store brand poisoned with filth but now full of nutrients, it is a craft that takes time, precision and accuracy.
What makes conversational copy sell? Here are three key ingredients to use in your next email:
1. Speak to your clients or prospects in the email like you're writing a good friend. People relate to friends, they desire to be with them and long to hear from them. So if your email is written like a friend it's more likely that you'll get a higher open and read rate.
Want a few tricks for seeing how friends write? That's an easy one. Go to your email "In" box now and scan for letters from friends. What do their subject lines say? I can guarantee you what they don't say! They don't say things like, "Next best thing!" or "Close out sale!", do they?
Write your emails like you're writing to a friend. Doesn't matter if it's your newsletter intro, auto responder or sales lift note. Write to me like we know each other and I'll be more likely to keep reading.
2. Tell me a story. Take a look at this article here for example. As I began this article, did you find yourself being drawn in? Forgot what you were doing for a few quick seconds? Felt compelled to keep reading? That's because the story 'hooked' you. It was a true story, and because it was true, easy for me to write about. Tell me a story, bring me into your office, your life or something personal. Lure me in by leaning forward in your copy, whisper even, add a few "OMG!" to the approach if that is how you tell stories!
Tell me the story like we're chatting at a cocktail party or a luncheon. Don't tell me the story like a Harvard Graduate scientist! Add enthusiasm and emotion. Think of the stories you love to be told. Do you have any CD or MP3's with narrated books that you just love to go back to over and over again? No matter what the topic is I bet it's been done in a very 'story telling' type of way.
Teaching something through a story telling model actually causes defenses to fall, interest to increase and therefore, your results to soar. So tell me a story!
3. Use language that I tend to use. If you write me an email, be sure to talk to me in the way we'd chat over coffee or drinks. Whatever you do, don't put on your "Stuffy Arrogant Business Professional" tone or I'll most likely hit delete and send you to my blocked lists of email senders.
If you're writing to me about nutrition write in such a way that all the newsletters, magazines, books that I read line up with what you're saying. Throw in a few 'personal' touches and make it interesting for me. If you already know there are 'disbeliefs' in the niche I'm in, such as, "Does Splenda Really Cause Pain In The Body?" talk to me from the consumer side of things, in the consumer's language. Don't talk to me from the technical, scientist, professional who is after my money's side of things.
One of our A Real Change Experts, Shane Ellison, known as The People's Chemist, is a master at this! The guy has 10 brains in his head, is truly a genius but succeeds wildly by talking to people without letters after their name in 'everyday common language'.
When you're learning about heart disease, 'hormonal intelligence' and how to live longer with simple nutrition, even though he is a former pharmaceutical chemist, he talks to me with 'street talk' that is common. Many times it's down right hysterical! And his audience loves it!
Copy that sells is copy that causes me to 'hear' a conversation in my head. Build a closer relationship with your clients through regular conversational copy in your emails, on your website, through social media and quite frankly, everywhere you connect with your clients!
