Write copy that connects with your audience.

In this article:

• From fears to hopes: what to include in your buyer persona portrait?
• How to make empathy the basis of your messages.
• Example of how companies use customer-centric content.

When visitors land on your website, they are probably looking for a service or product that could help them solve their specific problem: surprise.

But before making a decision and hitting the “contact us” button, they need to make sure that you are someone who understands what they’re going through.

Working with software development companies, I’ve noticed a pattern. They like to talk about themselves.

But what if instead of showing them what you do, you show them what they get?

CREATE A HERO

In his book “Building a Story Brand,” Donald Miller suggests we use the Hero’s Journey to shift the focus from constant marketing messages and structure your copy to make it about your customers, not about you.

But it requires changing your perspective and walking a mile in your prospect’s shoes.

According to this structure, a character (your prospect) has a problem, and even though they might not know you yet, they find you (either come across your ad copy or article). This is where your brand enters its journey.

How to ensure that your web copy resonates with your potential customers and shows that you understand their problem? The answer is EMPATHY.

Empathy in copy shows that you are on the same page with your customer.

But first of all, you need to identify your customer persona. I would suggest expanding on the buyer persona profile and focusing more on the following points:

• Their pain points and frustrations.
• Their expectations from a service or a product.
• How will they benefit from your product or service?
• Arguments for how you will help solve their problems.

At first glance, it’s easy to answer these questions. But you can get stuck when you have to convey these messages into compelling copy.

That’s why such a customer profile will become a valuable asset for copywriters, as they will have more strategic information to create a content plan for a blog and write more convertible landing pages.

You don’t have to focus on user needs and problem-solution copy purely. You still have room to talk about your company. Just make sure to cut off unnecessary lyrics about how great you are.

Created by me in Canva

HOW TO IDENTIFY CUSTOMERS’ PROBLEMS?

I suggest using the following five steps:

1. Interview your customers. If you already have clients, it’s the best source of your problem-aware content. Just talk to them and define what challenges they’ve experienced and how your solutions can help them.
2. Browse review platforms. For example, if you are in software development — clutch.co and similar are your little helpers. Just choose companies that provide services similar to yours and read about the challenges they solve for their clients. You will find so many problems described in these reviews.
3. Learn from network communities. Quora and Reddit are sources where people constantly ask various questions. You have to browse the relevant ones and look for the question with the highest followers and upvotes.
4. Talk to your sales team. They are in touch with your prospective customers almost daily, making them experts on your prospects’ pain points.
5. Just Google it. Read blogs relevant to your niche or case studies of your competitors, study them, and take notes.

WEB COPY EXAMPLES

Sometimes, we all get tired of the amount of content we absorb and the number of tools we use. Dropbox Business addresses the purpose in its headline, “everything you need for work, all in one place,” and quickly explains the details in its subheading. No messing about — just exactly how the reader will benefit from the Dropbox Business.

In the example from Soapbox, the hero section introduces the problem the visitors can relate to and then explains how Soapbox helps them solve it.

This copy is the intersection of the problem the customers have, “annoying admin work,” the benefits they want, “being high performing team,” and how this tool can bring them closer to their goal of “streamlining objectives, meetings, and morale into one workflow that gets the results you need.” As proof, it also states how many companies have signed up for Soapbox recently.

When I work with small businesses or startups, I notice that not all can afford to hire an SEO specialist in the early stages. But at the same time, everyone is aware that SEO has become an inseparable part of digital marketing strategy. Ahrefs helps solve this problem: they created a tool that allows people far from search engine optimization to improve their website performance.

They’ve clearly described this pain in their web copy. The Ahrefs team wants to tell you, “Hey, relax. We took care of it. Just use our tool and get more traffic”. They could have written something unattractive and straightforward like, “Increase your website traffic with our innovative SEO tool,”… But instead of dry and promotional descriptions, they used outcome-centered language.

In the example above from FreshBooks, the copy mirrors common customer pain points: the difficulties with bookkeeping if you’re not an accountant by yourself. The solution is their tool that helps non-accountants to send invoices and capture expenses easily. The call-to-action button also looks attractive as they don’t force you to buy their product or sign up. They kindly suggest that you try it for free while also adding that you don’t have to provide personal details and are free to cancel anytime. Do I have to add that this is a purely customer-centric copy? Love it.

CrazyEgg grabs the bull by the horn — who doesn’t want to improve their website right away? The headline is concise, yet it keeps the visitor on the page longer. It’s an example of when a headline engages, and the subheadline delivers the value proposition — what makes the product so awesome?

SUMMING UP

Writing a copy about your product without directly selling its benefits is undoubtedly an art. But it’s possible. You have to find the right copywriter.

So, before you write a single word of your web copy, do your homework:

✔️ Research buyer persona.

✔️ Answer questions that can help turn your customers’ challenges into solutions in your copy.

✔️ Read blogs, review platforms, and stay up-to-date with current market demand and trends.

✔️ Stand in your customers’ shoes and write with empathy.

Thanks for reading

KK.