You Are Not Your Customer!
As a copywriter, I have to be prepared for a number of scenarios whenever I deliver my completed copy to my clients. And one response I often get is clients often projecting their reaction to the sales letter unto their customers. They already know what the customer would think.
So even before the copy is tested in the “real world” the client would, maybe, give his spouse to read the copy and takes her opinion as the standard for the prospective reader.
Then I’ll have to drill in their heads, “You are not your customer!”
But what do I mean by this statement? Well, mainly three things:
1. You are so familiar with your product or service that you’ll often assume the customer knows just as much. But you can never give too much information or be too simple in your explanations. On the contrary, you are more likely to overestimate the intelligence level of your customer. It was P. T. Barnum who said, “No one ever lost money under estimating the intelligence of the American public.”
Just think about the last time you made an important purchase. How much did you research and read up on the product before you made the final decision? As business owners, we are apt to think we’ll bore the customer by giving too much details but you cannot have enough information about a subject you are interested in.
I recently bought a new computer because I’ll be doing some online video production and I went to every review site I could find online before settling on a particular brand. Now if I had to read that amount of information otherwise, I may have found it tedious and boring.
If your customer is interested in the product she’ll read every word you write–sometimes even if it’s boring.
2. The customer doesn’t care two hoots about you, only what you can do for her! I mean, I can write to flatter my client so she’ll want to give me even more money than I ask for. And you see this type of writing on the web all the time. I’m talking about the boring “we” talk–how long they’ve been in business, all the awards they’ve won, how their product is the best, etc.–all about the company and nothing about the customer.
You’d think the “sales letter” was supposed to sell the company on how good they were! Talk to the customer in her language about things that interest her and you have a sale.
3. Sometimes you have to be outside of the box in order to think outside of the box. For example, I can often see added benefits for my clients’ products than they’ve shared with me because they are sometimes too close to the trees to see the forest.
In other words, I often imagine myself as their customers and brainstorm on what I’ll want from this product or service and so write from that perspective.
You have to listen to what your customers to find out just what they are getting from your product or service and then adjust your copy to suit those needs. If you listen, they’ll tell you how to improve your sales letter to sell even more products.
For example, most of my clients often tell me they like my style of writing (blush). That’s one strong benefit no other copywriter has-”my style of writing.” Because it’s from me, and I can’t be copied. A copy of me is NOT me.
But I like the style of writing of some other copywriters and don’t see anything special about “my” style. So, I’m also NOT my customer either!
The bottom line is that you have to ensure you are reaching those your target market, and forget the ego-caressing, trumpet-blowing kind of writing which reads like an award ceremony speech to honor your company.
Remember, you are not your customer!
Filed under: Marketing Tips
