A Short Primer on How to Write Copy (Part 2: Stating the Problem)

In the previous post on how to write copy, we looked at the headline. If you've written a good enough headline for the reader to continue on, you're ready to start pushing your wares. But I can't tell you how many times I've seen novice copywriters make the mistake of jumping from the headline to the product benefits.

Imagine trying to get a girl's phone number. You've given her a successful opener to where you now have her attention (headline). What do you do next? If your next step is to ask her if she wants to go to a hotel with you, you've made a huge mistake.

The same goes for jumping from headline to talking about your product. You're missing something:

How to Write Copy: Rapport

What you're missing is rapport. You wouldn't ask a girl you've just met to go to a hotel because you know it wouldn't work. You need rapport before she'll be willing to even let you touch her. This is also true of sales copy.

You need to build rapport.

Building rapport in sales copy is essentially making the reader know you understand her problem. Once she knows that you understand what she's going through, she'll be willing to listen to how you can solve her problem.

Building rapport is a combination of

1. Stating the problem clearly
2. Evoking the emotions the problem brings

Stating the problem clearly should be easy enough if you understand what you're selling. For a medical service, you'd state the most troublesome symptoms. For a computer application, you'd state the time expense and complexity of the actions the application will help the user perform.

Stating the problem is enough to let the user know that you know where she's coming from. But that's just the first part.

How to Write Copy: Evoking Fear

The second part of stating the problem is making the reader worry. Most of our life problems go on without being solved, and that temporary fear that we feel fades after time. Your job as a copywriter is to bring that fear to the foreground and make your reader want to solve this problem while she's currently thinking about it.

The fear you wish to evoke will also depend on the product you are trying to sell. An electrician who wants to sell a electronic maintenance serve will need to bring up the risks of not maintaining your house's electrical system. He'll want to play on the worst-case scenarios, such as power-outages and electrical fires.

When evoking fear, your main weapon is descriptive language.

Compare the following:

Old, unmaintained electrical outlets could lead to electrical fires that can burn down your entire home. Any house is likely to have dangerous outlets or circuit breakers. A power supply can overload at any time and cause a fire.

and

No matter how safe you think your house is, every single outlet, circuit breaker, heater, and electrical device is a risk that could leave your house in flames. This Christmas, everything you own could be gone in a flash. Your electrician probably told you that your new power supply is perfectly safe. That's true--until you overload it. How much does it take to overload it? That depends on how your house is wired and how much electricity you're using. Even the simple addition of a 25-watt lightbulb could cause an overload, leading to an electrical fire.

Which description is easier to imagine? Which one is more likely to evoke fear? Be visual with the problem, and your reader will begin imagining herself in the situation. In contrast, dry language is more likely to evoke sleepiness than fear, and your prospect might stop reading before you even get the chance to sell anything.

Stay tuned for part 3 of How to Write Copy.