Do you follow any structure while writing a copy? Do you follow any model? Or what structure? Many writers follow a purchase funnel, the AIDA model. This structure proposes to secure attention (A- for attention), create interest (I-for Interest), arouse desire (D-for Desire), and make the customer buy (A-for action).
Some also follow a similar structure, AIDCA, in which the C is conviction, while the rest are the same as in the AIDA model. Conviction is the process of convincing the prospect to purchase the product for which a copy is written. Monash Business School defines AIDCA as an “acronym for Awareness, Interest, Desire, Conviction, Action; mental states which supposedly lead a potential customer to a buying decision”;
How to structure your copy more efficiently
Here are some tips on how to structure your copy more efficiently. A benefit isn’t the most powerful thing in the world. Testimonials are less appealing than storytelling. These strategies perform well in any type of sales pitch. With a little imagination, they could also operate well in organisational communications. Because they describe the world as they wish it was in slightly different ways. They get their power from the emotional reactions they evoke in the reader.
As a writer, you need to put in hard work to master these techniques. Describe the life with the product that catches the imagination of your prospect. You aim to get your copy connected with the prospect.
A guarantee or promise that engages emotions
In your sales pitch, the emotions of the audience can be engaged through promises or guarantees. People tend to buy when a product promises to meet their needs or when it guarantees something like a ‘money guarantee on return with no questions asked. Another way of saying this is ‘we promise to accept your return in 15 days free of cost to you, ‘we give you door delivery without extra charges. Discounts, free delivery, money-back guarantee, buy one get one offers- all these are promises or guarantees.
How can you structure that promise/guarantee?
The above kind of statement is specific, triggering an emotion by the promised content. Your copy is tempting a desire in the prospect and invoking his curiosity to know the next what you have to say. Curiosity and a promise combined becomes a powerful tool as it results in a direct benefit to the prospect. With this tool, your copy can become persuasive. Whenever possible, make promises sound like assertions or future happening.
Emotions provoked with exclusivity/secrets/surprises
Let us suppose you are promoting a copy for a superstore’s sales. And superstore decides to open its sales exclusively to its members for a few days before it opens to the public. This becomes an exclusive sale to a selected few before opening to the others.
You have to structure this in your sales pitch content. How you can use these types of phrases is your talent. Another pitch is a limited period sale at an exclusive price that is going to increase after that period. One more pitch is sales are going to increase from say after 10 days from now. You can reveal them as secrets or surprise sales. You can show these words in your headlines. Examples: First Exclusive sales to the members before opening to the others. A secret you should know about the impending increase in sale price. Here is the secret technique to improve your memory. The usage of the word secret is an age-old trick to entice more and more people to read your copy.
Storytelling in copy
It is an open secret that we human beings are emotionally attached to the after-effects of stories because they propagate messages containing both practical and moral values with transformational benefits. We listen to stories curiously to learn what is in store for us. Otherwise, nobody bothers with the stories.
Short storytelling in a long pitch may be ok. It is also ok to have in a corporate brochure to promote its brand. In the storytelling, you can give an example of a customer how he has benefited from a product he purchased from this corporate, and how his life improved. Show the reader just how much the product solved the customer problems. Think in many such ways how storytelling is structured.
Mention the real name of the customer and his actual story to describe the above. It makes your story believable. Selling something through the written word is never easy. Your prospect becomes more suspicious, stressed, and preoccupied as time goes on. Storytelling allows you to avoid much of the cynicism associated with ad content. Appeal to your audience’s primal desire to be enthused.
Call-to-action
When it comes to writing your story, try to be creative. Do research, and keep in mind that your goal is to sell your product, not to entertain. As a result, make sure your story, whether overtly or subtly, connects to your call to action.
Read other articles on copywriting here.