Have you ever felt the sting of a lost lead? The sinking stomach as your click-through rate drops? Yeah, neither have we…
But we invite you to read on, friends. And join our Training Program Manager, Gwenny, in a conversation about nuggets, drinks, and humanising copy.
Key Learnings
Nuggets are delicious- Think sentence length
- Harness the power of questions
- Tell (not) tall tales
- Paint pictures with words
Let’s start by remembering the words of Oscar Wilde. Be yourself—everyone else is already taken. Oh Oscar, so wise! ‘You do you’ still resonates today. But more importantly, connecting authentically is the cornerstone of humanized, or relatable, copy.
WHY exactly is connecting on a personal level so important? And what does being relatable have to do with sales?
Today, successful brands are advice givers; they’re experts in their field. Gone are the days when companies could just list products and maintain profits. Thriving brands now trade in trust.
Where’s the evidence?
Good question. Here’s a case in point. In the latest Global Consumer Insights Survey by PwC, trust was the second most common reason consumers chose a brand other than price. Second only to having items in stock. And in the huge market of China, trust was NUMBER ONE.
How do we get people to trust us? You guessed it! It starts with building a human connection.
You said this would be practical!
Yes, we did. And we won’t lie—there are lots and lots of ways to humanise copy. But to aid you in your quest, we whittled the countless ways down to four. Four juicy nuggets of wisdom just for you. Let’s dig in!
Vary your sentence length
Short sentences are punchy and powerful. Like a shot of tequila. Longer sentences are more like a quality whiskey or wine. You’re more likely to take your time with them, even get lost in them as you enjoy the taste. But as with tequila and wine (or in my case, Southern Comfort), you can have too much of a good thing…
Lots of short sentences can be choppy. And longer sentences—above 15 words—are hard to process. Hmmm, what to do?
Mix it up, silly! Think of it like a well-balanced cocktail. Grab attention with a short sentence. That’s your base. Add delicious details and descriptions in longer sentences. Those are your flavour and depth. I’ll take two please! Now, back to our nuggets…
Ask questions.
Aren’t we meant to sound like experts in our copy? Yes, you are! But won’t asking questions undermine our cred? No, it won’t!
Questions are an amazing way to hack learning. They prompt deeper engagement and promote comprehension. They wut? That’s just a fancy way of saying that questions help people build connections.
In short: Questions = people pick up what you’re putting down. And that’s powerful, humanised copy.
Tell stories
Recently, we had a small business client that was struggling to compete against bigger businesses. They started sharing daily stories about their experiences as a small business. And magically, sales grew by 60%!
Wait a second. Did that REALLY happen? Ahhh my friend <shakes head>, listen to the whisper of the nugget! The point is…does it matter?
Humans are wired for storytelling. This is well known now, yet we still don’t see enough stories. Weave a story in your copy and your readers will be coming back for more.
‘But my company prefers facts. And I certainly don’t like fairy tales with no substance.’ Lose the ‘tude, dude. Then do your research and include a relevant statistic or result. In this case, brain scans of people reading certain stories showed activity in the part of the brain related to social decision-making. Influences decision-making? Smells suspiciously like successful copy!
Use descriptive language.
Our last nugget—crunchy and satisfying. Can you taste it? When you’re writing copy, paint a picture with your words. How does something feel? What does it look or sound like?
Descriptive words are usually adjectives or adverbs for the grammatically inclined. Or for the rest of us, words like excited, powerful, unbelievable and the classic truly, madly deeply. Compare these three sentences (descriptive language in bold—the things we do for you…).
Let’s talk about how you can write copy.
Let’s talk about how you can leave your readers feeling excited.
Let’s talk about leaving readers excited and totally empowered!
Which one did you relate to more? More importantly, which one would your customers relate to? Research suggests the second or third.
Time for a pop quiz! Complete the gaps.
Vary your _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Ask _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Tell _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Use _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ language
How’d you go?
To sum up, do YOU. Then remember to vary your sentences. Ask your readers questions. Tell stories. Be persuasive by using descriptive language. And enjoy the authentic connections that follow.
