Why You Need Your Audience to Nod as They Read

If you do one thing with your copy, and one thing only, what is it?

It's an age-old technique salespersons use because it moves people to act.

And isn't the purpose of your copy to get readers to act—whether it's a click-through, an opt-in, or a sale?

Get them to agree with you.

Yep, it's that simple.

No matter how brilliant your copy is, if you can't get your readers to nod along as they read, you haven't made that all-important connection yet.

A car salesman who's worth his salt will approach a potential customer with an easy answer question like "It's a nice day today, isn't it?" Assuming it is a nice day, you'll agree.

Next he'll say something about your current vehicle like "Your car is in excellent shape. You must take good care of it." Now who wouldn't agree to that?

Finally, he'll say "Since you're here looking at cars, are you thinking it's time for a new car?" Again, you respond with a "yes."

The salesman follows up with "How about I show you some new models with improvements that you might be interested in?"

Again, he's going for that "yes" that's so important to form a connection.

Because once you have your prospect nodding along and agreeing with you, they're more inclined to say "yes" when you throw down your ultimate Call to Action.

How do you do this? Here's the short answer.

Get their attention with a kick-ass headline.

There are a slew of articles already out there on how to write headlines, so we'll reference our two favorites here:

• "5 Easy Tricks to Write Catchy Headlines" by Jeff Goins

• "10 Sure-Fire Headline Formulas That Work" by Copyblogger.

Keep their attention with the first sentence.

You've got their attention, now don't lose it with your first sentence. Keep the sentence short and to the point. A single-sentence paragraph that intrigues is the perfect first sentence.

In fact, use this technique with your first three or four sentences. Short sentences create movement, and writing pithy, concise sentences, especially ones that ask simple questions to get your readers nodding along, work the best.

Now you create harmony.

You can do this in several different ways.

Again, use the simple techniques of asking questions you know your reader will answer with a "yes." Right? (See what I did there?)

Or assure your readers you know they're savvy. As you know well enough, readers like to be treated as savvy. (Did you catch that one?)

Another tactic is to help them see what you see. Use your creative genius to help them see themselves with your product or service and how their lives will change dramatically for the better.

Finally, show your reader they belong. Use case studies and stories to show your reader that people just like them are living a better life or succeeding in their businesses, or whatever your Unique Selling Proposition is.

Create an amazing finale

Don't drop the ball at the end. Here's where you need to make your reader take action. It's actually more simple than you think.

Tell them what action you want them to take.

If you don't ask, they won't do it. And if you've made them answer "yes" often enough in your copy, they're more likely to say "yes" to your Call to Action.

Have you ever read a blog post that asks for your thoughts at the end and felt compelled to share?

Or have you ever finished reading about a product and felt you really needed to have one?

That's good copywriting. And it all starts with getting your audience to nod along as they read.

Conclusion

There are many ways to create connection and harmony with your readers, like appealing to their empathy or even their fear (done ethically, of course). We'll leave that for another post.

The key is to get the head a'nodding and the rest will fall into place.

Do you use this technique in your blogs and content? We'd love to hear how others copywriters get readers' attention.