More Effective Copywriting
AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action

Welcome to the ninth part of this mini series on "More Effective Copywriting".

Learn The Structure of AIDA And Create Successful Sales Letters

Every person has some form of buying resistance. The objective of your sales letter should be to overcome your reader's buying resistance while persuading them to take action. Spoken or unspoken, there are some significant barriers to getting that all important sale:

• "You don't understand my problem"
• "How do I know you're qualified?"
• "I don't believe you"
• "I don't need it right now"
• "It won't work for me"
• "What happens if I don't like it?"
• "I can't afford it"
• "I am sick and tired of the same old hype"

Results-oriented sales letters will need to address some or all of these barriers or objections to be effective. The AIDA structure as outlined below is recognized as a highly effective way to overcome each of these objections.

So, why do we need to adopt these copywriting tactics?

It's important to remember that people are motivated to buy based on their emotions and justify their purchase based on logic only after the sale. This means that each step in the sales letter process must build on the reader's emotions to a point where they are motivated to take action.

There are only two things that truly motivate people and they are the promise of gain or the fear of loss. Of the two, the fear of loss has been proved to be the stronger motivator.

In my ongoing research into effective copywriting and successful sales letters, there is evidence to show that underlying the promise of gain and the fear of loss are eight "universal motivations" to which everyone responds. Whatever product or service you are selling you need to position it so that its benefits provide one or more of these universal motivations.

• To be wealthy
• To be good looking
• To be healthy
• To be popular
• To have security
• To achieve inner
• To have free time
• To have fun

So, remember, the product or service is just a vehicle to providing these benefits. Make sure your sales letter focuses on these universal motivational factors.

To help you...

There's a well-known structure in successful sales letters, described by the acronym AIDA.

AIDA stands for:

First, you capture your prospect's attention. This is done with your headline and lead. If your ad fails to capture your prospect's attention, it fails completely. Your prospect doesn't read your stellar copy, and doesn't order your product or service even if you have focused on some of the key motivational factors.

Apart from the separate chapter in this series called "The Headline", these three headline examples are proven to get attention...

"HOW TO _____________________"

People love to know how to do things. When combined with a powerful benefit the "How to" headline always gets people's attention. In fact, they're probably the two most powerful words you can use in a headline.

"SECRETS OF _________________ REVEALED!"

People always want to know "insider secrets." We love to know things that other people aren't privy to. Knowledge is power and those who have it feel powerful. Besides that, most of us enjoy a good mystery, especially in the end when the "secret" is revealed.

WARNING: DON'T EVEN THINK OF ___________ UNTIL YOU ___________.

Remember that people are motivated by fear of loss more than the promise of gain? Well, the "warning" headline screams fear. The word "warning" demands attention and combined with something of interest to the reader, is a very powerful headline.

Now, you want to build a strong interest in your prospect. You want him to keep reading, because if he reads, he just might buy.

Now that you have your reader’s attention you need to gain their interest by spelling out their problem and how it feels to have that problem. The reader should say to himself, "Yeah, that’s exactly how I feel" when they read your copy.

You present the problem then build on it so that they really feel the pain and agony of their situation. People are such strong creatures of habit that very few of us change our ways unless we feel great amounts of pain.

Next, you channel a desire. Having a targeted market for this is key, because you're not trying to create a desire where one did not already exist. You want to capitalize on an existing desire, which your prospect may or may not know he already has. And you want your prospect to experience that desire for your product or service. How? Provide The Solution: You’ve built your readers' interest by making them feel the pain, now it's time to provide the solution. This is the part of your copy where you boldly stake your claim that you can solve the reader’s problem. Introduce yourself, your product or your service. Relieve the reader’s mind by telling them that they there’s no need to struggle through all their problems because your product or service will solve it for them.

Remember, focus on benefits, not features. Moreover, where you can honestly, provide social proof or testimonials to back up your claims.

Before discussing the last part of AIDA, there are three other vital components that you need to consider carefully to increase the desire to buy - your offer, your guarantee, and a sense of urgency (or scarcity). These are so important that I have written a separate chapter on these (see end of this article).

Let me say now that Your offer is the most important part of your sales letter. A great offer can overcome mediocre copy but great copy cannot overcome a mediocre offer. Your offer should be irresistible. You want your reader to say to themselves, "I'd be stupid not to take advantage of this deal."

Finally, you present a call to action. You want him to pick up the telephone, return the reply card, attend the sales presentation, order your product, whatever. You need to ask for the sale (or response, if that's the goal). You don't want to beat around the bush at this point. If your letter and AIDA structure is sound and persuasive, here's where you present the terms of your offer and urge the prospect to act now.

Act now and make a note to look out for the last chapter in this series on More Effective Copywriting - "Use Takeaway Selling to Increase the Urgency" which will be published in a day or two.

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