Allen Baird PhD
Copywriting is designed to produce an emotional response that leads to an action. But, what is it – exactly – that makes some take the action you want?
There are many ways to create compelling copy, such as use of headlines, benefits and call to action (CTA) buttons. But the most obvious way to achieve this is through selecting persuasive or emotive words. This selection ranges from basic grammatical considerations to sophisticated narrative structures.
9 Ways to Create Compelling Copywriting
- Don’t forget the first principles of good writing (see How to Write in Plain English). Use short, simple words. Use the active rather than passive verbs. Use ‘you’ and ‘we’.
- Write from your audience’s viewpoint. Use your audience’s language (see When to Use Jargon in Copywriting). For that, you’ll need an accurate, detailed and concrete customer persona. Otherwise, you’re throwing out technical words and emotive words alike at random, hoping one of them happens to hit home.
- Employ emotionally triggering words. There are single words that carry tremendous emotional power. Empower. Overcome. Destiny. Freedom. Assured. Choice. Use them intelligently and selectively. Lead up to them. Build around them.
- Turn negative words into positive ones. Some words are powerful but in a bad way. Words like fear, shame and hate are emotive. But they are rarely suitable. Instead, use world that express positively, such as beauty, future, relax, and hope.
- Use the power of group emotions. No one in your audience is an island, complete in itself. They are part of some group or crowd. Use words that relate to their sport, a hobby, or allegiance to a brand. Use affiliation words like us and our team and we.
- Use the power of emotional attachment. Your audience has attachments to all sorts of people, places, pets, objects and actions. These might be connected directly with your product or indirectly, in the world that they inhabit.
- Sensory words provide the ultimate in description. Sensory language places the reader right where you want them. They can see the brightness or sheen, smell the fragrance, hear the buzz, feel the textures, and taste the success. Such sensory words provide a powerful sense of immediacy and personal connection copy.
- Stories carry massive emotional weight. This can be your personal journey, your brand’s evolution, the illustrate of a process to create your product, or better, the story of your audience. What better way to show that you understand exactly what they’re feeling? But your copy can also use story to lead the reader through a path from grabbing their attention all the way through to the action and beyond using a series of journey steps.
- Create a sense of value. Appealing to scarcity and urgency. Scarcity is conveyed in words like limited or phrases like book your Early Bird by the end of the month. Fear is one of the oldest human emotions, and fear of missing out (FOMO) is still with us. Words that create urgency include deadline, quick, fresh, and phrases like left behind.
There’s more to compelling copywriting that words – much more. And it starts even before the first word is written. But if the words you use lack the proper emotional connection and tone, the rest is a waste of time.