Meaning creates emotion. Emotion is what ultimately gets people to buy. What do I mean?
You have to change people’s state of mind in order to get them to buy anything. If you don’t create a change in state, there’s no reason for them to buy something because they’re satisfied with where they are right now. The fastest way to change someone’s state of mind is to change their emotional state.
Think about this.
Sell chips? Make people hungry (change state) and they buy.
Sell cars? Make people envious of others or feel the status or utility that comes with that car and they buy.
Sell pregnancy tea? Make people feel the pain of morning sickness and they buy.
Sell accountability coaching? Make people feel the pain of past failure and procrastination and they buy.
Whatever you sell, if you can make people emotional, that emotion changes their state. When you change their state, you can get them to make a purchase decision much faster (and with less sales copy).
The key to this whole process of selling online is to tie the most effective emotional meaning(s) to whatever product, idea, service, or software you sell.
Reality check. I know that what I’m telling you to can be difficult at times.
I think the reason people have trouble figuring out the emotional meaning of a product’s features and benefits is the same reason as when you ask somebody what they want and they have a hard time telling you.
Most people talk in generalities like “I want more money” or “I want more freedom” or “I want more time off.”
But when you ask them what they don’t want, they can get VERY specific, very quickly.
“I’m tired of only having $20 in the bank.”
“I’m tired of being 50 pounds overweight.”
“I’m sick and tired of my spouse doubting me and not taking my dreams seriously.”
When you want to reveal the emotional meaning behind a feature or benefit, start by asking the question “What is life like without this product?”
For example, I recently did a consultation with a lady who sells pregnancy tea. This tea helps pregnant ladies get rid of morning sickness. She was encountering trouble figuring out the emotion and meaning behind her tea. But then we looked at it from the other perspective of “What is life like without the tea?”
All of a sudden everything got into perfect focus. What does it mean to not have this tea? It means:
- You’re going to feel the pain and distress of throwing up all the time.
- You’re going to feel super miserable all day, every day, and your family will suffer too.
- Every moment of your life gets lived under the fear of throwing up at any moment.
- Since your whole pregnancy feels chaotic and stressful, you’ll live the rest of your life with the regret of missing out on a peaceful pregnancy.
- You face the fear, doubt, and guilt of possibly bombarding your baby 24/7 with negative energy because you’re living in a constant state of stress and sickness (and didn’t do anything about it).
Looking at the absence of these features and benefits your product or service offers opens up the well of emotion that might otherwise get missed.
I don’t know why as human beings it’s hard for us to figure out emotionally positive payoffs. But it seems like we can immediately identify negative emotional consequences. Why not use this to your advantage?
When you’re thinking in terms of the emotional impact of your product, look at it from the standpoint of, “If I can’t figure out emotionally compelling component in the positive, what are the consequences of not having it?”
Look at it that way and I think you’ll come up with some really cool and powerful answers. Take action on this. Make a list of all the things your product does and then figure out the emotion(s) tied to those features and benefits to find that meaning. This is the secret sauce that gives your sales copy super powers.
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