After a lot of work, you finally have people coming to your website but people aren’t buying your products. What now?
In this post, I’m going to answer the question of how to get people to buy your product with the help of storytelling. Good stories stimulate a whirlpool of emotions and can get people to trust you which makes them more willing to part with their money.
I’m going to break down different elements used in stories to sell products and what the purpose and psychology behind each element to see why it works.
There are probably thousands of blogs mentioning different method of selling such as the 4P’s and the AIDA model so to add something valuable to the content that’s already on the web I thought I would go a little deeper, but make it simple enough to be used the moment you’re done with reading this post.
After you’ve read this post you’ll know exactly how to structure a story that makes people trust you and make you relatable so they’ll be more willing to buy what you’re selling.
Grab Their Attention And Roll With It
Purpose:
It wouldn’t be an over exaggeration to say with so many options it almost feels that people nowadays have the attention span of a goldfish. People value their time so you have to immediately let them know they’re in the right place and show them proof that if they keep reading they’ll benefit from it. To make this easy I split “Attention” into a few parts. Do this and you’ll have them hooked enough to read the next paragraph. You’ll need to:
- Address your target audience immediately
- Place something that grabs Attention
- Let them know the main benefit of your product
- Stimulate some curiosity
- Preview how you’re going to make sure they get this benefit
- Solve the main objection
Example.
I took this example from a sales letter I wrote a long time ago. It might be a little dated but the main principles are mostly still there.
Breakdown
Need Copy That Sales?
I’m addressing the target audience who are people in need of direct response copy in short and simple way.
Warning! Expect A Lot Of Casualties
I wanted to put something that would grab attention immediately. I might’ve gone a little overboard, but if it works.
This doesn’t have to be text by the way. It could also be a picture. In one of my sales letters I just made a collage of testimonials all saying how great the product was.
How to Transform Your Website Into a Weapon of Mass Conversion – without even lifting a finger.
Benefit + Adding some curiosity with the without lifting a finger part. If you haven’t noticed already I had a little taste for the dramatic back then haha.
Persuasive copywriting inspired by Perry Belcher’s 21 step formula combined with the 7 psychological rules of sales and principles of the world’s leading dating company.
This is where I preview the “how” which is persuasive copywriting inspired by everything that is said above.
If I would’ve written it now I would’ve added something to dismiss the main objection. It could be that your target audience worries about sales letters sounding too salesy. I would maybe switch out the “…lifting a finger part for something like…”.
“…How to Transform Your Website Into a Weapon of Mass Conversion – Without It Ever Feeling Too Salesy…” or something like that.
Create a Connection
Purpose:
When you offer a product you’re also asking people to believe a lot of things you might not be aware of.
You’re asking them to believe you’re a trustworthy person, that your solution works, that not only other people but themselves will benefit from your offer and the list goes on. The easiest way to answer all these questions at once is to create a connection with your potential clients because it all comes back to trust.
- Show them that you understand them by showing how you struggled with the same problems.
- Tell them about your daily, weekly, yearly struggles
Example.
Breakdown
Right here I showed understanding by naming the thoughts of someone struggling with these problems.
“… Only to see that the only one that’s really enthusiastic about your product is you…”
Nowadays I’d probably share just a bit more about my struggles in a clear and concise way but adding the including me after it is also effective on its own.
Tell Them About The Turning point
Purpose: It gives a glimpse of how people just like you can benefit from your solution and it highlights that your solution
was the reason for your turnaround and not some random co-founding factor.
- What happened to turn this all around. What did you learn, who did you meet?
- You realize you were missing one important thing. What was it?
- How did this change your life on a daily, weekly, yearly basis?
Example.
The moment I received content from my friends mentor I was at a turning point that changed how I wrote my copy forever.
Showcase Your Entrepreneurial motivation
Purpose: Let people know you’re doing this for the right reasons. You don’t know how they think about you beforehand so if this can contribute to the likability factor you should definitely include it in your story. Make them want to root for you.
- What made you decide to make a product out of it and sell it.
- How will selling this product benefit you and indirectly benefit other people
Example.
I’d probably add something like I want to even out the playing field and give people who were in the same situation as me a chance to get their idea out there.
Be Relatable By Sharing Your Failure
Purpose: Imperfections make you relatable. It drives home that you aren’t perfect and just like them make mistakes and probably made some on your way to that turning point where everything changed for you.
- As all startups, you will come across roadblocks tell them about these roadblocks. How did you solve it?
Example.
Present The Entrepreneurial Rise
Purpose:
Here you give the definitive proof that your products work for people other than yourself. I see a lot of websites that immediately start with how many people have benefited from their product which can work if they already have a firm belief that your product works but you’re leaving out a big group of people that you could’ve sold your product to if you just put in a little more effort. What should you include in your story:
- What happened as soon as your clients started using the product.
- How did their daily life change, how did it change on a weekly and yearly base?
This is also the where you can place testimonials from satisfied customers.
Example.
I didn’t have a good example of the rise in this sales letter but I imagine it’s not hard to brag a little about the product you made and how it helped people.
Before You Start Writing Your Story ( Important )
As you might’ve suspected while reading this creating a story to sell your products takes a lot of preparation.
You need to know exactly who your target audience is. The more precise you are, the more effective your story will be.
You’ll need to find out who they are, what they’re frustrated about, who influences them, their limiting beliefs, what they’re trying to achieve, their common enemy etc. This might be a lot to think about so because of that I wrote a blog post that can help as a guiding hand while trying to identify your ideal target audience and their needs.
Now go ahead and make some money!
