Copywriting Q&A: Mindreading for Fun and Profit

To write great copy, you need to use words that the readers relate to. But wouldn’t it be so much easier if you could just get in their heads and find out what those words are? Well, even if you’re not a registered psychic or medium, you can. How? Read on…

Today’s question comes from Kimberly L. who asks, “I know that I need to make my copy connect to my target audience. But do you have any special tips for doing that?”

Oh, do I!

We’ve all seen a magician offer someone a deck of cards, have them pick one and memorize it, then put in back in the deck. The deck is shuffled but, a moment later, the magician somehow picks the exact right card. Amazement all around.

Well, we’re going to talk about something similar today: We’re going to talk about reading people’s minds.

Oooookay. If I’m going to be honest, we’re not really going to read people’s minds. Instead, we’re going to anticipate what they’re thinking so well that they’ll be utterly disarmed by how accurate and astute the copy we’re writing is.

The thing is, nearly any kind of action we ask people to take with our copy—whether it’s to make a purchase or to sign up for a newsletter—carries some kind of risk for our audience. What if they don’t like the purchase? What if it breaks? What if they don’t use it? What if they find the something similar that’s cheaper or better later?

These questions are their “objections to taking action.” (For our purposes, we’ll call them just “objections.”) Everyone has them and everyone is, either consciously or subconsciously, thinking them as they read through your copy.

So what are you going to do with this information? These objections you know they’re thinking of? You’re going to say them. You’re going to write them right in your copy.

Now, this might not be appropriate for every project, but you’ll be surprised at how often it is. Just think about it: Calling out an objection and then overcoming it with your copy is a major step toward getting people to take that action.

And calling out the objection should, as much as possible, really come in the words your audience would use. If you’re selling a new exercise product, you know that “What if I don’t use it?” will be a big question on people’s minds. So call it out! Create a section that literally says “What if I don’t use it?” and then address that point in your copy with whatever information your client has. (Maybe they have online groups to keep people motivated or shorter workouts for busy days or things like that.)

Often, you’ll be able to get a pretty good guess at what people’s objections will be, but if your company/client gives you the opportunity, get on the phone and actually talk to current clients and prospective clients. Ask the current clients what they worried about before they bought the product and ask prospective clients what they worry about that’s keeping them from purchasing.

And take good notes! Any time you can, you want to use the actual words that your target audience uses, so these phone calls are exceptionally good ways to get a list of those words and phrases. Any time you can talk to an actual customer/prospective customer or watch a user testing lab or focus group, do it: It just helps you get into people’s minds even more.

This tactic of taking what people are already thinking and putting it into your copy is going to help to disarm their objections, let them know that the company understands them, and make it that much easier for them to take action. It might not be literal mind-reading, but really, it’s just as magical!

Your turn! What objections have you had to overcome with your copy? Or how have you gotten into your target audiences’ heads? Let us know in the comments below!