The Amazing 5R Formula
That Plugs Profit Leaks
In Your Online Copy
& Supercharges Your Sales!
Part 2
In this issue:
- What makes an ideal spokesperson?
- Why bonding multiplies the power of proof …
- Four sure-fire ways to build an almost blinding rapport with your best prospects …
- And more!
Dear Web Business Builder,
Last week, in part 1 of this series you covered a lot of ground. You asked yourself a bunch of key questions about your audience. And you tested your sales message against the answers to those questions.
Now it’s time to look at step 3 in the process.
Step 3 – The Right Person Doing the Communicating: First of all, do you have a spokesperson? Realize that if you’re asking for any kind of significant action on your web page, you are seriously limiting your conversion potential by not having a strong spokesperson delivering your sales message.
People respond to people much more readily than they do to faceless, formless entities. So if you don’t already have a spokesperson prominently pictured on your web page, clearly signified as the person "speaking" the majority of the copy, seriously consider it.
What makes a great spokesperson?
In a perfect world, your spokesperson is someone with whom your target audience already identifies with. Additionally, this person should have a need for the product you’re selling, and actually use it. And finally, your target audience needs to be able to accept this person as an authority figure.
Obviously, if you can find someone who fits this description, your job becomes substantially easier. Your copy simply needs to remain consistent with the existing positive associations. If on the other hand, your spokesperson is unknown to the target audience, you have your work cut out for you.
Thankfully, there are many ways to engineer these qualities into your spokesperson with your copy and your graphic design.
OK, so you’ve chosen your spokesperson, what’s next?
You’ve got to create a bond between your audience and your spokesperson, especially if your audience does not already know him or her. Why? Because if your audience likes your spokesperson, they are much more likely to take the action he or she directs them to take.
This requires much more than simply throwing somebody’s picture up on the page. Believe it or not, the expression on your spokesperson’s face is incredibly important …
Halos and Horns …
Social scientists have identified a peculiar trait of human nature termed the "halo" effect. The halo effect is all about first impressions. If our first impression is positively impacted by some trait we observe in another person, we tend to turn our critical discrimination off to a large extent, and automatically assume every other trait that person has is similarly positive.
Of all personal traits, physical attractiveness contributes most to the halo effect. We see someone who is physically attractive, and we automatically assume that person is more likeable, trustworthy, honest, intelligent, competent etc. than somebody who is less attractive.
Now here’s another incredible secret for you …
A big part of physical attractiveness, and therefore likability, is attributable to the expression on a person’s face. A person of average attractiveness who smiles warmly and whose eyes sparkle with friendliness will be perceived as being more attractive than someone with perfect features, a faultless complexion, and a glum look on their face.
I proved the power of this principle for myself in the early nineties. At the time I was selling phone systems, and in order to do so, needed to book appointments with the decision makers at the businesses I was selling to. A big part of the game was getting by the receptionist or secretary who had been instructed to "protect" the decision maker from the hoards of barbarous salespeople who accosted them.
Using an identical script, I would approach the gatekeeper, one day in a normal manner, and the next day with a hyper-effervescent smile and sparkling eyes. The difference in results was stunning. With a thousand watt smile and all the charm I could muster, I booked at least 4 times as many appointments. Even more amazing, it worked just as well over the telephone.
So what does this have to do with the spokesperson on your web page? Plenty. You see, the picture of that person can have the same kind of "halo" effect. If your spokesperson has a warm smile, sparkling eyes, and is making wonderful eye contact, your prospects will automatically like that person more, trust that person more, see that person as being more competent, and buy more readily when that person asks them to do so.
Just as powerful as the "halo" effect is the "horns" effect. If your spokesperson has a frown, or is looking away from the camera, or in some way looks shifty and unattractive to your audience, every positive word you put in that person’s mouth will be suspect.
The same holds true for the way your spokesperson is dressed, and the setting in which he or she is displayed. Your web page is your spokesperson’s virtual home, and its aesthetics contribute to your audience’s perception of that person. If your copy and graphics are sloppily formatted, it can put "horns" on your spokesperson, and damage your response.
Before we move on, take a look at your page and evaluate the image(s) of your spokesperson. Pretend you don’t know this person from Adam, and ask yourself: do I like this person? I know it’s an unusual question. But I assure you, you, like your prospects, do make snap unconscious judgments based on a person’s appearance.
Could this person have been photographed better? Could they have been dressed in a way that makes them look more authoritative… or in a way that will allow your prospects to identify with them more easily? What kind of "props" could have been used to show your spokesperson enjoying the dreams your prospects aspire to?
Let’s say that in step 1 of the 5R process you identified "a carefree retirement with enough money to travel the world in style" as being one of your target audiences biggest dreams for the future. You can show your spokesperson doing just that, with his or her significant other in tow. Do you get the idea?
Now what about the copy?
Four sure-fire ways to build an almost
blinding rapport with your best prospects …
Your spokesperson’s track record is powerful proof of their competence. The more specific the facts and statistics you can put forward concerning that track record, the more competent your spokesperson will appear. Go back over your copy now, and examine the proof statements you’ve made that reflect on your spokesperson’s track record. Look for ways to make them more specific and tangible to your prospects.
Are you giving enough detail to convey maximum believability? Are there ways that you can make the numbers come to life? For example, did your spokesperson help Joe Blow make a million dollars last year? How much is that a week… a day… an hour? Help your prospect to appreciate the significance of your spokesperson’s abilities. Draw comparisons between where Joe Blow was before and after buying the product.
Remember also, that all of these proof statements are far more powerful if they are stated in a voice other than that of your spokesperson. Look for ways to move some of these competency proofs out of the running copy, and into sidebars where they can be voiced by a customer, or another authority figure. Also look for ways to fortify the facts and figures in your copy with visual proof. Show Joe sitting on the hood of his brand new Bentley Arnage.
As powerful as competency proofs are, they are not enough on their own to ensure conviction. Your prospects must give themselves permission to believe the facts you put before them. No matter how cut and dried your evidence may appear, there are two other factors at play.
Why bonding multiplies the power of proof …
There’s an old axiom that says: "They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care …"
It’s another one of those hackneyed old sayings that contain a healthy dose of truth.
Before your prospects will allow themselves to believe your proof statements, they must also believe your spokesperson is honest, and has a genuine passion for wanting to help them.
You must communicate these intangible qualities in your copy if your spokesperson’s credibility is to be fully accepted. Accomplishing these additional objectives is the job of your opening paragraphs of copy …
One of the most powerful ways to build rapport between your spokesperson and your target audience is to demonstrate that he or she is like them, and can therefore empathize with them.
Don’t try to make your spokesperson super-human. Show him or her as having some of the same beliefs, ideals, desires, frustrations, feelings, faults and frailties as your target audience. And communicate these things in the same words they use to describe them.
I had you stalk blogs and forums, put entry and exit surveys on your sales page, and call buyers on the phone in step 1, not only to discover what your prospects were thinking and feeling, but also to uncover the words they might use to express those thoughts and feelings in casual conversation.
At this point, I want you to stop thinking about your target audience as an audience. Read over all of your research notes now, and build a composite prospect in your mind. From now on, you are going to be communicating with that person, and that person alone.
Do you have him or her in your mind? I find it’s helpful to take a few moments to describe this imaginary person in writing, or picture somebody you know who is like them.
When you’re ready, imagine sitting across the table from this person in the flesh. How would you talk to them?
Would you say something like the following? "With the growing prevalence of unsolicited email, American business people today are finding it increasingly difficult to manage their inboxes. XYZ company realizes this, and has just…"
No! You’d speak plain English, wouldn’t you?
You’d get the same point across in a much simpler and more casual way. Perhaps you’d say something like: "I don’t know about you, but I’ve had it up to here with spam. Up until just recently, I was spending a good 2 hours a day just deleting the damn stuff…"
It’s easy to fall into the trap of using the kind of detached language I used in the first example, because that’s the way we’ve been trained to write in school.
So go through your copy now, and look for opportunities to make it more personal, replacing references to third parties with references to your prospect wherever possible as in the second example. You might be surprised by how many opportunities to do this you’ll find.
Flattery will get you everywhere …
Another way to get your prospects to like your spokesperson is to compliment them. Show them they’re the kind of person your spokesperson admires. "In my book, TOTAL PACKAGE readers are today’s real heroes. You tend to be fiercely independent, tough-as-nails individualists, with the hearts of lions… and a steel-willed competitiveness… ready to take on the world, and WIN!"
How can you not like me when I say things like that about you?
I saw a similar phrase in the Daily Reckoning recently that went one better. I don’t remember the exact context of the passage, but the phrase I remember went something like this …"It’s the same stuff all good Americans used to be made of – a robust spirit of self-determination, a healthy distrust of big government and its propaganda, and more than a dash of orneriness and grit."
Do you see the implied common enemy mixed in with the flattery there? That phrase packs a walloping one-two punch that’s almost certain to build a blinding rapport with a properly targeted audience. The presence of a common enemy "big government", binds the prospect and the spokesperson together still further.
Have you ever wondered why the exposé format is so popular? It’s not just the curiosity factor, or the vengeance angle. By its very nature, an exposé implies an injustice, which in turn allows you to easily position your spokesperson as an advocate fighting for your prospect. Having a common enemy galvanizes them.
Go back and look at your copy now and see if you can’t incorporate flattery or camaraderie — or some clever combination of the two — in the opening sections of your body copy. Position your spokesperson as a tireless hero, doing battle against a common enemy, simply because he or she is committed to helping the kinds of people your prospects are. Try to give your spokesperson a passionate cause that transcends the product sale.
You have to give before you get …
And finally, true friends are generous with one another. They give before they get. By giving your prospect something of value without requiring him to buy anything, you endear him to your spokesperson.
Your web page should read like an editorial imparting useful information. If you do this properly, your prospect will feel subtly indebted and obliged to reciprocate by taking the action your spokesperson directs him to take when you close in the copy.
If you have not already written your copy in this style, put together 3 to 7 pieces of useful information that will help your prospect to better understand what he needs to do to solve his problem, and plop them into your copy somewhere after your opening. I’ll show you how to integrate it properly in step 5. For now, just rough it in.
You now have the right person, communicating the right message, to the right audience. Stay tuned for part 3 of this series, where we’ll be working through step 4 of the 5R process for plugging the profit holes in your online copy and supercharging your sales!
Until next time, Good Selling!
Daniel Levis
Editor, The Web Marketing Advisor
THE TOTAL PACKAGE
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Daniel Levis is a top marketing consultant & direct response copywriter based in Toronto, Canada and publisher of the world famous copywriting anthology Masters of Copywriting featuring the selling wisdom of 44 of the "Top Money" marketing minds of all time, including Clayton Makepeace, Dan Kennedy, Joe Sugarman, John Carlton, Joe Vitale, Michel Fortin, Richard Armstrong and dozens more! For a FREE excerpt visit Sellingtohumannature.com
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