Have you ever met someone who really makes you feel special? Every time you’re with them, they make you feel like you’re the most important person in the room? What is it that makes them come across this way?
I’d imagine it comes down to a couple things:
1. Their body language
2. Their genuine interest in you
What exactly does that look like? It’s probably a combination of eye contact, raised eyebrows that show interest, a smile showing that they’re friendly and non-threatening, and an open stance. Plus, I can imagine that the person who makes you feel so important is asking all of the questions. People who are like that don’t do a lot of talking. They are engaged and just keep asking you about yourself. At the end of a conversation with someone who genuinely cares about you, you might think to yourself that that was a really nice person and that you sure enjoyed talking with them. In fact, you likely did all of the talking and they just listened. People love to be heard. We’re naturally selfish beings that tend to look out for #1. It’s a basic survival instinct. Since it’s rare to come across someone who is not concerned with themselves, those folks really stand out from the rest. They’re rare so when you meet one, you notice them.
Now, how can you use that information to help increase conversion rates through your website? Obviously, you can’t demonstrate your body language through your website, but you can use the other techniques that great communicators utilize in their everyday lives. You can make other people feel special by talking specifically to them. You can write your content as if you’re writing to one individual, rather than to a crowd. People notice when you write personalized copy that’s not written for the masses. For instance, I hate it when I read copy that says something like “One would enjoy this product…” rather than saying “You would enjoy this product…” By using the word “you,” I feel like the writer is speaking directly to me, rather than to a large audience. I want the speaker to talk to me about my problems. I want the speaker to acknowledge that I matter.
In our ever-growing world where good communication is being dropped in favor of technology, speed and efficiency, personal communication is a forgotten thing of the past. Today, communication is impersonal. Email is considered personal compared to texting or instant chats. This lack of personalization makes good old-fashioned communication stand out from the pack. When I come across a site that speaks to me by using the word “you” a lot, I notice. It feels different. It resonates with me unlike the cold corporate feel of sites that speak to everyone at the same time.
Here are a couple simple tips for writing copy that speaks to one person:
1. Pretend you’re writing a letter to your best friend when you write your website content. Feel free to start out by saying, “Dear Tom.” you can delete that at the end, but it sets the tone so you keep your language toned down and keep it conversational.
2. Put a picture of the person you’re writing to on your desk. This can help you to write to one person.
3. If all else fails, try recording yourself on your smartphone and then transcribe the message. This keeps it conversational because we tend to be more relaxed when we’re speaking and for some reason we lock up and become more robotic when typing content.
Hope that helps!