Agencies, Freelancers, Design, Copywriting & more.: [Copyblogger] Are Sales Slipping Through Your Fingers? Close the Deal with Logical Benefits

Are Sales Slipping Through Your Fingers? Close the Deal with Logical Benefits

Are Sales Slipping Through Your Fingers? Close the Deal with Logical Benefits

Logical

In earlier posts, I talked about how to use emotional benefits to drive reader interest, and gave you some sample headlines you could use as a jumping-off point.

Emotional benefits trigger the “me-want” response. They create desire for our offer. But creating desire isn’t usually enough. Unless you’re selling a purely emotional product like fashion or music, you also have to give your reader enough logical ammunition to justify the purchase to himself.

This is where logical benefits come in. These are all the rational, intelligent reasons we have for buying the stuff we want. You hook prospects with the heart, but you close the deal with the head.

Logical benefits aren’t necessarily about logic

The funny thing about logical benefits is that they’re often important for a very emotional reason. Your customer’s “me-want” reaction is warring with a “what if I’m an idiot?” insecurity about buying the wrong thing, spending too much, or outright getting scammed.

Most people are terrified of feeling foolish. They’re anxious about the possibility of spending money and later feeling like a chump.

Logical benefits help soothe that fear. They provide reassuringly objective reasons to buy, which helps nervous prospects settle down and feel comfortable enough to type in that Paypal password.

Some classic logical benefits that can boost your response

Financial value. This doesn’t work for everything, but when it does, it’s a killer. Spend some time thinking about how to make it work for you.

Figure out a way to assign a dollar amount to the benefit you provide–an amount that’s far greater than your product’s asking price. For example, if you sell a book on time management, quantify that to “my audio program helped this Fortune 500 executive save more than $34,000 a year by eliminating waste and improving productivity.”

Set up a no-brainer equation. $34,000 against a set of $97 CDs makes the decision pretty simple.

Remember, you can compare apples to oranges in persuasive writing. Don’t compare the cost of your $39 home study course to other e-courses; compare it with a $499 in-person seminar that delivers the same results.

Measurable results. This is the obvious one . . . what does your product do? What problems does it solve?

Remember, even though we’re focusing on logic, you’ve still got to translate features into benefits. Warehouses become 196% more efficient when they use your software. Dieters who use your program lose an average of 13 pounds. Golfers who complete your course take an average of 2.4 strokes off their games.

When you’re describing logical benefits, translate anything you can into numbers. (And don’t round them off. Highly specific figures are more convincing.)

Risk reversal. Explicitly offer your concrete reassurance that the customer is not, in fact making a dumb decision. Offer a strong guarantee and a great service promise. Remember, if it can go wrong, it will go wrong. Make yourself very clear: if things don’t work smoothly for the customer, you’ll make it right.

Where do logical benefits go in your copy?

Benefits tied to product features normally make up the meat of your copy. After you’ve led with an emotional hook that gets the reader involved, start stacking up those logical benefits. Make them measurable, and be sure you’re not relying too heavily on features (what your product does) over benefits (what your customer gets).

Testimonials are an especially good way to make a logic-based argument. Instead of trumpeting that 147% improvement yourself, get one of your customers to describe it for you.

Traditionally, you also want a nice cluster of logical benefits at the end of your persuasive copy. This is the right spot for risk reversal points, but it’s also good for some additional results-oriented evidence.

Your prospect wants to say yes, but her hand is wavering as she reaches for that credit card. Logical benefits can give a gentle, reassuring push to get her past the tipping point.

And don’t overlook the chance to provide some additional logical benefits after the sale. Give your customer all the evidence in the world to satisfy herself that she’s made a great decision.

What happens when you don’t provide logical benefits?

You’ll probably still make some sales if your message is completely based in emotion. There are enough impulsive, emotionally-driven folks out there to keep a lot of us in business. The problem is, today’s emotional purchase leads to tomorrow’s regret.

If you haven’t provided logical, rational reasons to buy from you, you’re asking for more than your share of returns and complaints. Remember the prospect insecurity we talked about above? Your product might be outstanding, but if you haven’t sold the brain as well as the heart, your customer will start to second-guess himself. That sets you up for an unacceptable number of returns and service calls, as well as shutting down the potential for repeat and referral business.

If you’re attracting interest but not closing deals, take a look at your logical benefits. Get your readers’ heads and hearts working together to create loyal, happy and profitable customers.

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