Over the last three days, we’ve covered some major ground in the world of persuasion. We’ve talked about where winning messages come from, why certain campaigns succeed while others flop, and how to integrate research into your marketing strategy by creating and analysing customer surveys.
With these foundational elements in place, you’re already ahead of the curve. But today, we’re taking things to the next level by diving into a powerful tactic that can dramatically increase your conversions: using emotional triggers in your copy.
What Are Emotional Triggers?
Before we can talk about how to use emotional triggers, we need to understand what they are and why they’re so important.
Every decision you make—whether it’s choosing what to have for lunch or deciding on a major purchase, influenced by emotion. This isn’t just a theory; it’s backed by science.
Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio discovered that patients who had damaged the parts of their brain that control emotion struggled to make even the simplest decisions. This highlights the critical role that emotion plays in decision-making.
But it goes further than that. Nobel-prize-winning research by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky revealed that even hyper-intelligent individuals often make decisions based on their first instinct (emotion) & then justify those decisions with logic & facts.
This means that when your leads are deciding whether to do business with you, they’re really searching for emotional confirmation that you’re the right choice.
Using emotional triggers in your copy allows you to give them that emotional confirmation in a genuine way.
The Power of Social Image
There are over 200 different emotional triggers, but today, I want to focus on one of the most powerful: social image.
Humans are inherently social creatures. How others perceive us matters—sometimes more than we’d like to admit. Whether we’re aware of it or not, we all want to be seen in a certain way by different people.
Maybe you want your clients to see you as dazzlingly brilliant, your kids to see you as a super-parent, and your friends to see you as confident, fun, and smart. Your customers are no different—they also want to be seen in a certain way.
If you’ve already analyzed your customer surveys, you’re well on your way to understanding how your customers want to be perceived. Now, the challenge is to use this information in your copy.
Applying Social Image to Your Headlines
The first place to apply this emotional trigger is in your landing page headlines. The headline is the first thing your audience will read, so it’s crucial that it resonates with their desired self-image. Here are two headline formulas that make this easy:
Formula 1 (Self-image):
Have a/Become a [desired self-image] you can be proud of.
Examples:
- Finally, have a routine and lifestyle you can be proud of.
- Become the parent you’ve always wanted to be—one you can be proud of.
- Write and send emails you can be proud of (that also make money and win clients).
Formula 2 (Social-image):
The only [product/service] made exclusively to [enhance social image].
Examples:
- The only presentation software that will make you look like a pro designer.
- The only virtual assistant service that will have people asking, “How does she get all that done?”
- The only online program that helps you become the brilliant cook everyone wants to steal recipes from.
Simply choose the formula that best fits your audience and use the data from your surveys to fill in the blanks.
These formulas have been tested and proven to work for a variety of businesses, so you can confidently use them to craft attention-grabbing headlines.
What’s Next?
Now that you have the tools to create headlines that connect with your audience’s emotions, there’s only one thing left to discuss: design.
In tomorrow’s lesson, we’ll talk about how to use design (and color!) to help the right people choose you. We’ll explore the side of design that no one talks about and show you how to leverage it to enhance your messaging even further.
So, bring your creativity cap tomorrow—it’s going to be an exciting discussion. Until then, keep crafting those emotionally resonant headlines and watch how they start to transform your conversions.
Until then,
