When I train people to write microcontent and conversion copy, we focus on two big categories of emotions — fear and desire — because they motivate a lot of what we do.
Fear isn’t just about being scared, but also includes things that produce worry and anxiety. Fear can look like problems, questions, roadblocks, anguish, injustice, things we want to avoid, and things we are afraid we might lose and therefore want to protect.
If you are addressing fears in your copywriting, you might use language like
- Are you tired of . . .
- You can stop this.
- Join the fight to . . .
- Help protect good X from bad Y
- If you don’t do anything/something, it will just get worse
- Don’t let this happen . . .
On the more positive side, desire can also look like many different things too, including hopes, dreams, pleasure, comfort, what we want to get, and what we could gain.
To connect to desires in your writing, you might use phrases like
- Would you like to . . .
- Have you ever wanted to . . .
- It’s easy to . . . Here’s how.
- Imagine that . . .
- What most people do is . . .
- What if . . .
- You’re standing at the crossroads . . .
If you are struggling to come up with messaging, think first about the person you are creating that messaging for. What are their fears and desires, broadly defined? That will help you get on the right track with your messaging decisions.
