Want to Win Support Without Hitting People With Facts?
Use contrast to connect with your customer’s pain
Comparison and contrast are powerful techniques for influencing people. When you put two different things side by side, you see differences — and differences sell products. You don’t want to hit your customers over the head with too strong a message, however. The best copywriters finesse the message so that they don’t come across too sales-y.
Copywriting is all about pointing out differences
Compelling copy tells you where you could be compared with where you are right now. In the quest to improve our lives, sometimes we see those differences right away and other times we lean in to scrutinize the details. Either way, from the top of the funnel to the final sale, your copywriting is shining light on contrast.
Whether your message is stark or subtle, it shows your reader that her life can be different. It’s up to you to appropriately illuminate that contrast to help her make a decision.
Contrast triggers desire
What sets a consumer on the road to making a purchase? People are looking for an answer to a problem. The best way to find a solution is to find someone who’s already tackled it and do what they do. As a copywriter, if you can tell that success story, then you can write effective copy.
First, you should know exactly what the problem is — even before your customer does. And yes, there is always some source of pain or difficulty, however minor. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be checking out your website, reading your ad, or lingering on your Instagram post.
It’s just human nature to compare our life with another’s. It’s why we obsess over social media and reality shows. It’s also why we choose the product that has 700 four and a half-star reviews instead of the one with seven five-star reviews. There’s comfort in numbers. When you can’t decide what flavor of taco to order, you ask the waiter the most popular flavor, and that’s the one you get.
But say your product doesn’t have the clout of hundreds of happy customers. How do you make her feel she’s buying into something that works?
Compassionate contrast
A good copywriter understands that contrasting two things enables the buyer to make a decision, one over another. Since the point of copywriting is to help a buyer take action, knowing how to position differences through comparison and contrast is a key part of your job.
Don’t assume that the buyer is in a mental state where she’s ready to act now. It’s likely she’s not even close to that mindset yet.
Most readers are on fact-finding missions. They’re looking for information, entertainment, social feels, or proof for something that’s weighing on their mind. There’s a craving they’re trying to fill — whether or not they’re aware of it!
You, the copywriter, are aware because you’ve researched your ideal customer and you know what her day looks like. You know her pain.
You know you’re never going to get her attention unless you meet her where she is right now. You have to show her that you not only feel her pain but that you can also describe it in detail.
You can’t have light without shadow. You can’t enjoy a fruitful summer unless you experience the dead of winter. You, the copywriter, must speak to your customer from the dead of winter. You have to speak to the pain and establish common ground.
Once you show you understand the pain point, only then can you present the alternative.
How do you show you’re on the same page as she is? You use the words and expressions the consumer or reader would use herself. Get into her mind and assure her you speak her language — literally.
Try one of these three ways to show contrast that makes a connection with your customer.
You versus the other guy
Your prospect is comparing you against your competition and will choose the product or provider that she most closely relates to.
In 1992, during a presidential debate, an audience member asked the question, “How are each of the candidates personally affected by the national debt?” Of the three candidates, two answered the question from a policy-making point of view. Everyone could tell they weren’t connecting. Two old white guys were speaking to a young black woman, and missing the meat of her question!
Finally, candidate Bill Clinton stepped forward, looked the young woman in the eye, and asked her if she knew people who’d lost jobs and were struggling. She answered, “yes,” to which he replied that he knew them too. He practically named the people in his home state and the factories which had shut down. You could see by her face and those of others in the audience that he’d made a connection. Candidate Clinton understood her concerns or at least made her think he had. Her face softened into a near smile.
Now if he had simply described what it would be like to pay down the national debt, his answer wouldn’t have been nearly as convincing. Instead, he showed that he understood the contrast between people who were having a rough time making ends meet and those for whom the national debt was merely a theoretical economic conundrum.
His answer created a clear contrast between himself and the other candidates for president. It also revealed the contrast between what was and what could be, if he won the people’s vote. He was one of us.
That’s using contrast for the win.
Dramatic, before/after contrast
Before and after cases are effective, especially where life transformation is at the root of the sale. You see this a lot in copy that sells fitness and diet programs, wealth-building training, and romantic relationship advice. There’s always the sad, pathetic past of the hero who’s finally fed up with her life. Then, after the purchase of fill-in-the-blank, her life is better in so many ways!
Because the consumer can read about the contrast between what was and what is possible, she’s able to decide as to whether she’d fit into that scenario. If the personal back-story is compelling enough, and the reader can relate to the case study, then your prospect will see herself as your customer. Why? Because she relates to the pain, even if it’s merely implied. Case studies featuring real people saying “I’ve been there, too” are a great way to create a compassionate offer.
The problem/solution contrast
Your customer has a problem that needs to be solved. She can solve it in many ways, but wouldn’t she choose the easiest, least costly, most accessible, or fastest way possible if that option is available? Of course, she would if she only knew what it was. Strive for copywriting that powerfully shows a better way to solve a problem.
One famous example is a wine company’s video that showed their wine-loving followers how to remove a cork without a corkscrew, using only a shoe. The video got 12 million hits because it solved a common problem. If you’ve ever had a bottle of wine you wanted to drink — but no corkscrew — you’d have been delighted to find the solution with a simple search. Because this company knows a better way to do it, it’s only natural that people trust them with their wine purchase. It takes compassion and a thorough understanding of your customer’s sticky situations to be able to create content like this — and it’s so valuable.
If you have a better way of doing something, share it with your customer. Show your compassion by solving her problem in a way that will blow her mind. Then enjoy the sales that result from a loyal fan base.
Look at your favorite service providers and you’ll find that they are among the best in their fields because they teach exactly what they provide as a service. Grout companies show you how to lay tile; social media marketing agencies freely teach how to efficiently manage your Facebook business page; compassionate hair colorists show how to touch up your roots at home during the COVID quarantine.
Why do these companies reveal their secrets? Because they know that compassionately showing an insider’s easier way to do something develops relationships and turns readers/viewers into paying customers. Plus, the fact is, they just want to help. Their followers feel it, too. By sharing their secrets, they earn the client’s trust and ensure they get their business in the future.
The customer either utilizes the content and turns to the provider as the source of the necessary products. Or the customer tries doing it herself and decides it’s worth it to simply hire the professional to accomplish the desired result. Either way, it pays to help your customer by giving away your “secrets.” Your customers can get the information elsewhere on the Internet; it may as well come from you.
As you craft your content and copy, do your research to find out how to speak your customer’s language of pain and discomfort. Find a gap that needs filling and create content and copy that shows compassionate contrast in one of the three ways described above.
It’s up to you to step in and provide the information your clients seek. It shows you’re a compassionate human and makes you a very effective copywriter.