How do you know - exactly how they feel?
the magic ingredient in your email copy is being able to feel and think like your prospect
So in my last email I said "It's essential that you write with empathy."
Because you want your prospect to become a lead…
your lead to become a buyer…
your subscribers to become buyers...
and your buyers to become repeat buyers.
To write with empathy means you're able to show your reader
you feel what they feel...think what they think.How do you do that?
You listen to your ideal buyer.
This is when social media and review sites and forums become your best research tools.
Let's say you offer a diet/food based program designed to heal digestive systems.
While you - personally - experienced the pain and frustration of severe inflammation...intestinal ulcers...and possibly worse...
it's been over 10 years since you last experienced these physical symptoms.
That's a long time to be pain free.
What would it be like for you if the pain came back - right now?
Difficult to describe, isn't it?
Here are 3 ways you can find out exactly what it feels like:
Go to Amazon. Search for a supplement or book that your ideal buyer would look for. Find the products with 1000+ reviews…sort the search results by Avg Customer Review and you’ll quickly see products with tens of thousands of reviews. This is where you will see people freely sharing their experiences and symptoms and frustrations.
Search on Google for "alternative health forum". You'll get a variety of results. Click on some of the links and check out what people are saying about healing their digestive system.
Search for "healing my digestive system forum" [be sure to have forum in the search phrase]. You may or may not get as many results. It doesn't matter. Click on the links that look like they would be helpful.
It doesn't matter what product or service is being sold or talked about. What matters is that you see people sharing real world...real time symptoms and frustrations.
Copy and paste their comment to a document. Because now you have their words you can use in your email.
Do this until you have at least 10 comments copy/pasted in your working document.
Now look at only at the comments. Read them again. Read them out loud. Hear the words as you speak them.
Think of the commenter or reviewer as someone you want in your program.
Note the words they are using. Can you see how they're describing the pain? This is a person who is in pain - right now. They are telling you about it - right now.
How do you respond to them? How do you show them you understand their pain?
You mention it in the first sentence of your email.
ask a question
paraphrase a comment
reference a current customer
introduce a list
Try it. Remember, until you send the email it’s a draft. So now is the best time to ‘play’, experiment, try out a phrase or line.
Does this make sense to you?
Can you see that when you know how your subscriber feels while they are in the problem makes it much easier to talk to them?
To share a similar problem with them?
To share why your solution is what they need?
This type of research is what I've been doing since 1995 when I got involved with my first bulletin board forum.
It's incredibly revealing and will make your copy - and other communication with your customers and prospects - much more powerful.
Okay, that’s it for the moment.
Have something you’d like to say or share? I’d love to hear it.
Want to know something specific? I’m happy to answer questions or share details.
Leave a comment.
Talk soon -
Charlene Burke
PS I’m happy to share ChatGPT4 prompts (with paid subscribers) that help with research and writing draft copy. Why ChatGPT4? Because there are plugins that allow you to search specific websites, find websites, and more. I use other tools to read and summarize the PDF report of a competitor, identify pain points, and so much more. now would be a good time to become a paid subscriber and then ask questions about AI, ChatGPT, and more.
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“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully.” ~ Ernest Hemingway