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How_To_Give_Your_Visitors_A_One Way_Ticket_To_The_Shopping_Cart
| How To Give Your Visitors A One-Way Ticket To The Shopping Cart
When web surfers visit your sales page online, they can be in
various stages of emotion at their time of arrival. Advertising
becomes more than just words on a page when you see your website
from your visitor’s perspective. If you consider a purchase to
be just a logical action by your visitors, you’ve missed the
biggest reason people buy.
No matter what mood your visitors are in when they visit you
online, the most effective web copy will develop something
inside them the average web page would not. You become, in a
sense, an exciter as a copywriter.
The best copywriters in the world are able to bring out certain
“planned” emotions in their audience that would not normally
occur by just looking at a regular sales letter or sales page.
Your first step as a copywriter will be to figure out what
emotional needs your product satisfies. This cannot be
determined with logical calculations; rather, it is a discovery
of feelings for you. If you were them, how would using your
product make them feel? What feelings would have to be developed
in you just before pressing the ORDER button to complete the
sale?
The feeling your customers get when using your product cannot be
left only to the sales letter. This emotional attachment to your
product must be so complete, they almost feel as if they’re
feeling something new just by using it.
This is not something you can completely control after the
purchase is completed, but you can ensure you guide them to the
purchase with a certain handful of emotions in tow. These
emotions you bring out in them must be so strong, they last a
short while after the sale, as well. Customers often get buyer’s
remorse shortly after a sale, but you can overcome this by
making sure they’ll walk away possessing a feeling of doing the
right thing. If not, chargebacks for you will be monstrous.
These emotions will complete the sale for you and close the
deal, almost as if you’ve grabbed them by the hand on the way to
your secure online shopping cart and held onto their hand for
the two weeks or so afterwards. One way you can ensure this is
to send them a couple of emails or letters, spaced apart, with
copy in them that makes the customer feel good about buying once
again. Phone calls will sometimes work, also. Keep that feeling
of pride in owning your product for a little while longer to
make sure the product really sticks.
Stuart J. Agres references Puto & Wells by describing this
phenomena in his book “Emotion in Advertising: Theoretical and
Practical Explorations”. Mr. Agres says, “A transformational
advertisement is defined as "one which associates the experience
of using (consuming/owning) the advertised brand with a unique
set of psychological characteristics, which would not typically
be associated with the brand experience to the same degree
without exposure to the advertisement" ( Puto & Wells, 1984, p.
638).
It is essential therefore, that your advertising copy transforms
your prospects. You must be able to incite certain emotions in
them they believe your product gives them. They must be made to
feel they would not feel these emotions if your product was not
in their possession.
Have you ever read sales copy that just swept you away? You look
up from your computer screen, not realizing you have been
mesmerized for the last few minutes or so, carried away by great
copy. It is usually a great story of some kind, with emotional
curves in it, that sweeps you away from reality for awhile.
After reading this type of copy at least once in your life,
you’d recognize good copy anywhere. We’ve all seen it. Words are
so powerful, they can make us feel hurt, scared, happy, sad, or
any other variety of emotions.
If you’ve ever read a Stephen King novel, you know what it’s
like to be carried along by a writer. The fear you feel is so
real, you sometimes have to pull yourself out of the book to
turn on a light in the room to keep the monsters away!
The best copy I have ever read is a personal story that travels
along very quickly, telling a compelling tale that concludes
with the happy ending of why the product was necessary for
happiness or security.
Decide what emotion you would like your product or service to
fulfill. Tell your prospects a wild tale filled with strong
feelings. They’ll stick with you long after the sale.
About the author:
Lynne Schlumpf is Editor of Seed Your Web
http://www.seedyourweb.com and the author of a new book "The
Little Website That Could". The book's official site can be
surfed to here: http://www.littlewebsitethatcould.net
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