I don't claim to be the greatest copywriter. I haven't studied direct response marketing, and I'm a little shaky on all the frameworks.
I know there's:
- AIDA (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action)
- PAS (Pain, Agitate, Solve)
- PAIPS (Pain, Agitate, Intrigue, Positive Future, Solution)
But I've never fully embraced these frameworks (which is probably a strategic mistake). Regardless of how you structure the sales copy on your website or email, I believe all viewers have three questions on their mind that you need to address (quickly):
- Is this made for me?
- What does it do for me?
- Why should I trust you?
If you don't address these questions, they'll leave the page and forget about it.
Let's break them each down and how you can put them into action.
"Is this made for me?"
We are bombarded with ads and marketing messages every day. Probably not the rumored 10,000 ads, but still a lot.
In order to defend our limited attention, our default is not to engage with every marketing message we see – but to disqualify them as quickly as possible. The quicker we can determine something ISN'T for us, the quicker we can stop thinking about it and get back to whatever it is we care about more.
Our first line of defense when we see anything trying to grab our attention is, "Why should I care?" We see it on short-form video now more than ever – if you don't hook us immediately, we move on.
When it comes to paid products, you also need a "hook" that clearly demonstrates that this product was made for us. The more specifically you relate your product or service to my needs and situation, the more I lean in. Personally, I think this needs to be the first headline you see on the sales page.
Describe your ideal customer. Talk about the problem as THEY experience it. Speak in the language they use.
If it's unclear or non-obvious that a product is made specifically for us, that's immediate permission to move on. Only when something was clearly made for us are we forced to continue considering it.
"What does it do for me?"
If you've convinced the reader that the thing is made for them, they will continue listening, but remember: they WANT to stop paying attention ASAP.
So the next big hurdle is making them care more. They're still wondering, "What does this thing do and how does it make my life better?"
Similar to the premise of your creator platform, your product needs to be legible, compelling, and differentiated.
- Legible: Easy to understand (quickly)
- Compelling: Something that makes us light up (solves a real problem or addresses a major desire)
- Differentiated: How your product is better than competitors for ME
If you can't describe your product in a legible, compelling, and differentiated way, we'll leave the page and stop thinking about it.
But if you've convinced us that you've built a product specifically for us that solves a problem we actually have...
"Why should I trust you?"
Anyone can make a promise. Why should we believe you'll follow through?
In a skeptical world with declining trust, we need evidence. We want to hear from believable third parties that THEY'VE already taken the risk of believing your promise (and can confirm it was worth it). Even more, we want to relate to those third parties.
This is where ratings, reviews, and social proof really stand out. Video testimonials are still the gold standard in social proof (though I'm nervous how this will change in an AI video world).
The more testimonials and success stories you capture, the better. Not only does this create a mountain of evidence, but that gives you more options for people to identify with the person giving the testimonial.
If you want to see an incredible example of this, look at Jeremy Enns's Client Results page here.
By far, my favorite tool for this is Senja. They make capturing and displaying social proof easy – it's all over my sales pages.
Wrap up
If you're not generating as many sales as you'd like, look at your copy and ask yourself whether it addresses these three questions strongly enough:
- Who is it for?
- What does it do? (And are you explaining it in a legible, compelling, differentiated way?)
- Why should we trust you?
The more clearly you address these questions, the more sales you'll see.
