As a buyer is reading your sales copy there’s one question constantly playing in their head, “Is this the right product for me?“

No one wants to buy a product that’s everything to everyone. We want to buy things that feel like they were uniquely made for us.

As a marketer, if I can get into the head of the buyer and understand their preferences, motivations, and psychology then I’m able to write copy that reflects those points of view.

There are 2 types of personalization:

1: Prediction based
2: User action-based

1: Prediction Based

Here the writer is so good they are able to guess aspects of the buyer and their psychology that the buyer has not even revealed. For the reader, it feels like magic.

Great copy should feel a little eerie. Like the writer is reading your mind.

Rishi Rawat

Let’s look at an example. Handicappedpets.com is a site that sells dog wheelchairs:

What can we guess about someone who is buying a dog wheelchair, which is a relatively expensive item?

Obvious Guesses

— Their dog is having difficulty moving about.

— While they are buying with their credit card, they are being it on behalf of someone who can’t voice his/her opinion so that adds extra pressure to think about all the details that may matter to their pet.

— Because the measurement is involved there will be some degree of anxiety around getting the measurement right. They would also have anxiety around dealing with returns if the measurement isn’t right and the dog isn’t comfortable.

— Dogs typically are taken for a walk a few times a day. People are used to adding a leash and being on their way. How much of a pain would it be to add and remove the wheelchair multiple times a day?

— “How is my dog doing to pee and poop when they are inside the wheelchair?” at some point this has got to be a question that pops into their mind.

Creative Guesses

— This is likely their first time buying a dog wheelchair. I can guess this because in the last 10 years I’ve only seen dogs in a wheelchair two times. I may be in the minority but it’s fair to say dog wheelchairs aren’t super common.

— Extending on the first creative guess; because this is the first time they are buying such a product, and because they will need to assemble it when they receive it, they will likely wonder “damn, I hope the assembly process isn’t a nightmare.”

— That they care deeply about their 4 legged best friends. Wheelchairs are expensive.

2: User Action Based

Instead of making guesses about the buyer why not just let the buyer tell us what kind of information they care about the most?

Before we get into that let’s first see how product pages are broken.

Your shopping habits are different from mine. What motivates you is different from what motivates me.

Yet, when you are I visit the same product page we are both shown the same product description. So let’s contrast that with what happens at a retail store.

At Retail Store

When a customer walks in the sales associate strikes up a conversation. As the buyer and the sales associate chat, the sales associate is getting a good idea of what product would be ideal for this buyer. In the end, a personalized recommendation is made.

Your digital product page plays the role of your sales associate. But it doesn’t personalize the sales pitch. Instead, it shows the same sales pitch to all visitors.

Imagine how much higher conversion rates would be if the reader felt the description was written just for them. We call this process of personalizing the sales pitch based on the preferences of the shopper Active Participation.

Next Steps

Personalized experiences are just 1 of the 9 elements in our sales pitch construction kit. The next item on that list is: People Like Knowing They’ve Stumbled Onto Something Rare.