Copywriting Secrets: 8 Powerful Ways to Add Proof and Credibility |
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When it comes to buying anything online, consumers these days need to know that something is as good as it claims to be. They will often seek the opinion of others and will be searching your copy for help in reducing their skepticism. It’s your job to write in such a way that you can help them to create belief in your product.
In this article we are going to look at what you can do to give them the proof that they are looking for and credibility that you need in order for them to feel comfortable enough to buy. So it’s your turn to get comfortable, sit back and relax whilst we review how you can build trust with your readers to increase your response rate. When it comes to buying anything online, consumers these days need to know that something is as good as it claims to be. They will often seek the opinion of others and will be searching your copy for help in reducing their skepticism. It’s your job to write in such a way that you can help them to create belief in your product. In this article we are going to look at what you can do to give them the proof that they are looking for and credibility that you need in order for them to feel comfortable enough to buy. So it’s your turn to get comfortable, sit back and relax whilst we review how you can build trust with your readers to increase your response rate. Questions that you have to answer Making claims about a product is all very well, but you need to back those statements up with some explanation on why your vacuum cleaner is the best on the market. You need to provide readers with reasons why they should believe what you are telling them. You also need to clearly demonstrate your product in use giving the results that you have claimed it can produce. Here are some of the elements that you can use to convey proof and build credibility: Proof and credibility tools There are plenty of ways that you can build trust in your copy. Let’s take a look at the many different tools that you can use to provide proof and credibility for your reader:
Case studies for demonstration Consumers are very skeptical, in particular online. They’ve looked at so many products in their lifetime that they no longer believe all that is said. A case study is one way to help to alleviate them of some of this skepticism. Case studies are usually a one or two page document or article that gives the specifics about how a product helped in a real life situation. It might be that you are selling a software package to businesses, so the case study takes the reader behind the scenes of the business to look at the results gained from using the product. It will also quantify the results that were gained from implementing your product as a solution. One of the essential elements of case studies is that they need to be relevant to the reader. If your target market is small businesses, then use a typical small business in your case study – using another type of example will only alienate your reader. Use typical scenarios that a small business has. Use the name of the customer if possible, if they don’t approve then you could detail their company as ‘a Successful Bakery in San Francisco’. To be most effective, the case study should be positioned so that it is available to be viewed directly after viewing details about the product. Be highly specific with data Being specific is very important as it will come across as more convincing. If you are need to use data to make a point, then put the specific data to do so. Saying ’61 out of 64 housewives improved their cleaning with our product’ is far more credible than saying a non-committal ‘most housewives’ or an approximate ‘nearly all housewives’. Use images to show how other people use the product and the results that can be attained Images of people happily using your product can go a long way with helping your consumers come to a buying decision. It’s also wise to use images to show how dire a person’s situation was prior to using your product and how amazing it is now that they have used it. You can ask happy customers to take photos and to document how your product has helped them get to where they are now. It’s important to build an image of the reality of the product. The more tangible and real you can make it appear to the consumer, the more he will be bought into the idea. It’s not so much that you are showing how it works with this tool, it’s more about using imagery to show the details, and train the consumers brain to become more familiar with the product as it comes to life for them. Offer further demonstration through videos By providing a video of a customer using your product consumers can see for themselves how your product works. They can actually witness the changes taking place that you have promised them in your copy. The use of video will also allow the consumer to get more involved with a product by experiencing how it works, what it looks like and to imagine how he is going to be using it himself to gain the same effect. Demonstrate that other people like it through testimonials Something strange, but true is that your sceptical consumer will be subconsciously and consciously discounting virtually all that you say until he gets bolstered by some good testimonials. These however will need to be specific as to why something is good and they will also need to include the name of the person. If you can, then even go so far as to add a person’s face to it as this technique works well. Use testimonials to back up a variety of different benefits. Headlines should be used to summarise and highlight the main benefit detailed in each testimonial. Remove the risk with guarantees Consumers are against risk when it comes to buying. If you can remove it altogether by offering an excellent guarantee then this is going to help them to buy. If you can get the representative of the company to write and personally stand behind a guarantee then there is somebody who is personally committing to the guarantee and it will come across as stronger. You don’t have to say that you’ll give back all the money if they aren’t satisfied, you could say something like ‘if you aren’t feeling full after eating our succulent steak, we will continue to feed you until you can eat no more’. Domino’s Pizza built their success on adding a guarantee: - ‘Delivered in less than 30 minutes or it’s free’. Expert endorsements People love products that have been endorsed by industry experts. These types of endorsements bring credibility from a place that has already had credibility established to cast it’s positive glow on to your product. The easy way to add this element is to make a list of all industry experts. Now study all material that they have written and interviews that they have given to look for a tie in with your product. It might be that you need to go for one of the materials or concepts that it’s based on. Process diagrams Showing exactly how something works through visual imagery can help a sceptical consumer deal with their objections. For example if you are promoting a new fireplace then you could use infrared heat detection to display how it is heating the whole house. Where should you put your proof for best effect? These proof and credibility building elements should really be placed early on in your copy. After all, with so many marketing messages bombarding consumers every day you need to build credibility whilst you have their full attention. Here are some actions that you can take away with you to improve the credibility of your copy: Action steps to add proof and credibility to your copy: Take a look at your existing customers to determine if there is anybody that you could work with to create a compelling case study, testimonial or that you can ask for images from.
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