Friday, August 19, 2005
The "Polite" Trap
The "Look at Me" Trap and the "Polite" Trap have some things in common when it comes to the traps that eat into website business' success. But in other ways they're the exact opposite of each other.
They're alike in that both result from the business owner injecting too much concern with the way that others see him or her. But they're different in that while the business owner who falls into the "Look at Me" trap is focused on being seen as cool, cutting edge, a big shot, the business owner who falls into the "Polite" trap is worried about being seen as impolite or pushy.
Maybe it's something about our elementary school way of learning writing. We're taught to write formally, impersonally, unemotionally. And years later, when we start our own business, we can't shake that feeling that that's the way we must write our sales copy.
So we write it with a "just-the-facts" approach that ultimately is uneffective—lists of features, but nothing to help the visitors visualize the benefits they'll receive from buying that website's products.
And heaven forbid that we should actually say something that encourages visitors to buy! Even is simple link that says, "Click here to put this item in your shopping cart," is banished in the fear that it will make us look pushy.
But the "Polite" Trap, in all its fear of being thought of as unprofessional in our writing or pushy in promoting our products, neglects to see that our visitors aren't looking for a sixth-grade essay on our products—they're looking for solutions to their problems. And if we get so caught up in being formal about our products that we don't help them see the solutions our products offer them, we're depriving them of the very solutions they seek.
And if we fear so much that we'll come across as pushy if we dare to suggest that our visitors start the process of buying our products, we leave them in their state of uncertainty—"Shall I buy this now, or think it over? Shall I buy it here or look elsewhere?" Many times, that little nudge is all it takes to help them resolve their uncertainty by giving them permission to make the decision they'd like to make, but are being held back from by inertia.
Don't be afraid to be personal, warm, outgoing in your writing style when you write about your products. Your visitors aren't looking for a formal essay on the Web; they're looking for a person they can trust with solutions they can trust.
And don't worry that you'll appear pushy if you suggest that they take the next step toward buying. If they've gotten to the point where you have nothing more to say to them than to ask, they're interested enough to not think badly of you for asking. And you may be surprised at how many more people buy when your sales copy is personal instead of formal and your suggestion to buy is direct instead of unspoken.
Jeff
The "Look at Me" Trap and the "Polite" Trap have some things in common when it comes to the traps that eat into website business' success. But in other ways they're the exact opposite of each other.
They're alike in that both result from the business owner injecting too much concern with the way that others see him or her. But they're different in that while the business owner who falls into the "Look at Me" trap is focused on being seen as cool, cutting edge, a big shot, the business owner who falls into the "Polite" trap is worried about being seen as impolite or pushy.
Maybe it's something about our elementary school way of learning writing. We're taught to write formally, impersonally, unemotionally. And years later, when we start our own business, we can't shake that feeling that that's the way we must write our sales copy.
So we write it with a "just-the-facts" approach that ultimately is uneffective—lists of features, but nothing to help the visitors visualize the benefits they'll receive from buying that website's products.
And heaven forbid that we should actually say something that encourages visitors to buy! Even is simple link that says, "Click here to put this item in your shopping cart," is banished in the fear that it will make us look pushy.
But the "Polite" Trap, in all its fear of being thought of as unprofessional in our writing or pushy in promoting our products, neglects to see that our visitors aren't looking for a sixth-grade essay on our products—they're looking for solutions to their problems. And if we get so caught up in being formal about our products that we don't help them see the solutions our products offer them, we're depriving them of the very solutions they seek.
And if we fear so much that we'll come across as pushy if we dare to suggest that our visitors start the process of buying our products, we leave them in their state of uncertainty—"Shall I buy this now, or think it over? Shall I buy it here or look elsewhere?" Many times, that little nudge is all it takes to help them resolve their uncertainty by giving them permission to make the decision they'd like to make, but are being held back from by inertia.
Don't be afraid to be personal, warm, outgoing in your writing style when you write about your products. Your visitors aren't looking for a formal essay on the Web; they're looking for a person they can trust with solutions they can trust.
And don't worry that you'll appear pushy if you suggest that they take the next step toward buying. If they've gotten to the point where you have nothing more to say to them than to ask, they're interested enough to not think badly of you for asking. And you may be surprised at how many more people buy when your sales copy is personal instead of formal and your suggestion to buy is direct instead of unspoken.
Jeff
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