Touchy-Feely Marketing: Making Emotional Copy Work for CRO (Part 1)

Imagine you need to buy something. This item isn’t something that you simply want – it’s something that you actually need – like a new computer for work, or a coffee machine. Buying something you need is typically more stressful because you can’t just give up and go home if you’re not sure. You’ve got to make a decision, and you might need someone to help you.

Now imagine that you’re approached by a salesperson who empathizes with your needs, understands what you’re looking for, and even tells you story about their own coffee-based issues. You’re likely to find that person far more relaxing, and trustworthy, than someone who simply shoves products into your face without any emotion – bleating out statistics about coffee grinds and milk.

This is why emotional selling works.

I’m not saying you should be crying over a tub of Ben and Jerry’s with all your leads – but a little emotional connection can’t hurt.

Though all of your prospects won’t necessarily respond to your messages in the same way, the chances are that you’ll get an overall more positive result from turning on the emotional faucet. According to the Harvard Business Review, when a bank introduced a credit card with marketing designed for emotional connection, use among the Millennial segment skyrocketed by 70%, with new accounts building by 40%.

Today, good sales tactics aren’t just about having an awesome product. You’ve got to get a little touchy-feely with some emotional copy too.

CRO Step 1: Implementing Emotional Copy

So how can you implement this emotional mumbo-jumbo? The first step is to change the way that you word things throughout your website and advertisements.

In economics, a world based on cold, hard statistics, we typically assume that people make decisions rationally, based on maximizing utility options. However, if this was true, then buyers would be constantly choosing the products with the lowest price for the highest features. In other words – marketing would be redundant.

Clearly, that isn’t the case – because we still have a job.

We know now that emotions play a huge part in determining consumer behavior, and everything from nostalgia (your favorite childhood toys), to brand loyalty and emotional reactions to cute puppies on marketing materials can change the way you make buying decisions.

Okay – so where does the emotional journey start. Well, your copy should include a range of important features intended to persuade your target buyers. These features should be:

  1. Ethos: The appeal to credibility or ethics. For instance, you might try and sell someone a chocolate by saying that your chocolatier friend of 40 years thinks it’s the best thing he’s ever tasted.
  2. Logic: This one speaks for itself – it’s not enough to say your product is amazing, you’ve got to make it plausible too. For instance, telling your buyers that on a blind taste-test, your volunteers picked your chocolate 98% of the time.
  3. Emotion: Finally, you appeal to something important to your market. Something that will spark their emotions. For instance: this chocolate will make the perfect gift for friends and family.

The chances are you see that stuff all the time in market. However, after a while – it’s all too easy to become numb to lists of features and expert testimonials. That’s why emotional triggers can help to jolt your readers out of their bland indifference, so that they make the decisions you want them to make.

Emotional copy works because it makes you stand out from the crowd. It makes your marketing unique, and helps potential customers to care more about what your product can offer. If you can convince someone not only to be interested in your product – but actually care about your company, then you’re far more likely to get a sale.

After all, you’d be much more likely to buy something from your friend, than a stranger – right?

Come back next time for more insight into the world of touchy-feely marketing, or get in touch here to start your own journey into emotional copy.