Author: Darrell Cuthbert
Most purchasing decisions are driven by emotion, even when customers think they’re being entirely logical. That’s why emotional copywriting (crafting messages that appeal to your audience’s emotions) can be a powerful tool in your marketing strategy.
By tapping into feelings like excitement, fear, trust, and even nostalgia, you can create copy that resonates with your audience on a deeper level, making them more likely to act.
By tapping into feelings like excitement, fear, trust, and even nostalgia, you can create copy that resonates with your audience on a deeper level, making them more likely to act.
Understand the Emotions Behind Customer Behaviour
Before writing emotional copy, you must understand what drives your customers emotionally. Are they motivated by a desire for success, security, or belonging? Or perhaps they’re looking to solve a pain point, such as reducing stress or saving time.
Identifying these emotional triggers allows you to craft messages that speak directly to their needs.
For example:
Understanding your audience’s emotional drivers helps you craft copy that connects with their feelings, making it more likely to resonate.
Identifying these emotional triggers allows you to craft messages that speak directly to their needs.
For example:
- If your customers are business owners, they may be motivated by the desire to grow their company and achieve success. Emotional copy focussed on the satisfaction of watching their business thrive would resonate best with them.
- If your target audience is parents, they may be driven by the need to provide safety and care for their family. In this case, emotional copy focused on the security and peace of mind your product provides would work best.
Understanding your audience’s emotional drivers helps you craft copy that connects with their feelings, making it more likely to resonate.
Use Storytelling to Evoke Emotion
Storytelling is one of the most powerful tools for emotional copywriting. When you tell a story, you take your audience on a journey, allowing them to relate to the characters and the challenges that they have faced.
Instead of simply listing the features of your product, you could tell the story of a customer who faced a challenge, used your product, and saw their life improve as a result. This highlights the benefits of your product but also connects with the reader’s emotions.
Example: how storytelling can be used to sell a financial planning service:
When Sarah started her business, she was overwhelmed with managing her finances. She didn’t know where to start, and it kept her up late every. After working with our team for a few weeks she finally felt in control. Now, her business is thriving, and she gets a good night’s sleep knowing that her finances are in order.
This story appeals to the emotions of stress and relief, making the reader feel that they will experience a similar transformation by using your service.
Instead of simply listing the features of your product, you could tell the story of a customer who faced a challenge, used your product, and saw their life improve as a result. This highlights the benefits of your product but also connects with the reader’s emotions.
Example: how storytelling can be used to sell a financial planning service:
When Sarah started her business, she was overwhelmed with managing her finances. She didn’t know where to start, and it kept her up late every. After working with our team for a few weeks she finally felt in control. Now, her business is thriving, and she gets a good night’s sleep knowing that her finances are in order.
This story appeals to the emotions of stress and relief, making the reader feel that they will experience a similar transformation by using your service.
Focus on Benefits, Not Features
A common mistake in copywriting is to focus too much on product features and not highlight the benefits those features provide enough.
Features explain what a product does, benefits explain how it makes the customer feel and the problem it solves. When you write emotional copy, focus on how your product or service improves the customer’s life.
E.g., instead of saying:
Our software tracks your expenses and generates reports.
You could say:
Feel confident knowing your finances are managed well with our easy-to-use expense tracking software.
The second version appeals to the customer’s desire for control and peace of mind, making it more emotionally compelling.
Features explain what a product does, benefits explain how it makes the customer feel and the problem it solves. When you write emotional copy, focus on how your product or service improves the customer’s life.
E.g., instead of saying:
Our software tracks your expenses and generates reports.
You could say:
Feel confident knowing your finances are managed well with our easy-to-use expense tracking software.
The second version appeals to the customer’s desire for control and peace of mind, making it more emotionally compelling.
Conclusion/TLDR
Emotional copywriting helps you connect with the customer on a deeper level, by showing them how the product will improve their life or business rather than just telling them about product or service features.
Storytelling that gets the reader to connect with the character emotionally and understand how they felt after using the product or service is a powerful technique within emotional copywriting.
Storytelling that gets the reader to connect with the character emotionally and understand how they felt after using the product or service is a powerful technique within emotional copywriting.