This is largely overlooked by many Copywriters and Marketers,
Yet, it is as important as the P in Persuasion.
Here's the reality (mimicking your prospect) :
Sure, I'm interested in what you're saying,
I've seen your testimonials,
People are getting results with your product, but....
- What's your story???
- Why should I believe you can help me????
- Have you been in my shoes before???
- And how do I know you really understand my struggle?
You have to answer these questions satisfactorily.
Remember, your customer buys you before they buy the product
Here's a little eye-opener
Most times, the deal breaker is NOT your big idea, or your offer....
Sure these things count,
But 9 in 10 times, it's the street credibility that gets your reader to believe
Make no mistake about it,
Street Cred is a very powerful element in writing copy that converts,
Especially when you're selling a coaching or consulting program, a newsletter or any service built around the expertise of an individual or company!
It's you telling your reader that you walk the talk.
You've been in their shoes,
You're not just teaching people to do X
You actually do this thing yourself.
You're in the trenches everyday getting your hands dirty
Something like that.
And even if you're selling a physical product,
This is important too.
- What's the story behind the discovery of this product??
- Did you suffer like I'm suffering now?
- Have you been helping people long enough to say you can help me too?
- These are questions your reader will be asking
And you better be able to answer them satisfactory in your copy,
Else...
No deal.
I'll tell you a story....
In his Classic book, Copy Logic,
Mark Ford (the genius behind Agora's $1.5/year success story...) tells the story of how they ran a financial promo once and the competition was murdering them
Sales were very embarrassing
They weren't even breaking even on ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
So they compared their copy to the competition's copy
They (Mark Ford's Client) had a more solid Big Idea,
They had a better offer,
And they had more testimonials,
But soon, they realized they didn't establish credibility for the expert being used for the promo...
The guy had skin in the game, he was quite popular,
And for some reason,
The Copywriter assumed it wasn't necessary to establish cred.
A big mistake that cost them thousands of dollars in Advertising.
And funny enough,
The area they chose to ignore was the one area their competition hammered on through out their copy.
So they went back to their drawing board, and rewrote the copy
That one tweak (establishing cred) made all the difference.
They sent out the new copy and in the weeks that followed,
Conversions skyrocketed.
And they got over 10,000 new sign-ups on the front end from that offer alone.
Think street cred doesn't matter???
Think again.
Stay frosty
A.
P.S: What if you have something of value to teach, and you have testimonials, and you have a track record of helping people...
But you don't have street cred ??
There's a simple technique around this...
And I'll tell you about it in my next email...
Or in one of my subsequent emails.
P.P.S: I'm currently in that mental state where all I want to do is eat properly spiced bush meat and drink fresh palmwine.
I've been asking around but nobody seems to know,
Abeg, If you're in Lagos,
Do you know anywhere on the Island (especially the Lekki-Ajah axis... ) where I can get good bush meat and palm wine???
Or is there a way it can be arranged??