Technique: Convert numbers and product facts into relatable stories
Using numbers or real product facts is good. Dramatizing numbers or product facts and making them relatable is better.
Numbers are numbers. And facts are facts. But numbers or facts alone aren't enough to persuade people.
Because they lack meaning.
They lack context.
Which means they won’t impact consumers.
Louis XI "The Spider King" of France (from 1461 to 1483) was a super superstitious man and he had a thing for astrology.
One day an astrologer came to court and predicted that a lady of the French court would die in 8 days.
8 days later that lady died.
Louis XI was furious.
Louis XI was in love with that lady and he believed the astrologer's prediction was THE cause of her death.
So Louis XI orders his guards to throw the astrologer out of a castle window as a punishment.
But before giving the order to kill the astrologer Louis XI asks, "Tell me, you pretend to be so clever and such a learned man, what will your fate be?".
The astrologer "knew” the King was going to order his execution.
So he replies, "Sir, I forsee that I shall die three days before your Majesty."
Then Louis XI changed his mind.
Instead of ordering his execution, the King did everything he could to protect the astrologer's life.
Bottom line: The astrologer saved his life, all thanks to a simple persuasion rule:
Numbers, when used right, are powerful persuasion tools. But to persuade with numbers you have to frame them from your audience's perspective.
The same principle applies to product facts.
Good copywriters know that anyone can state facts about a product.
But making those facts come alive in an interesting and dramatic way is harder.
You see, numbers are a shortcut for your readers' brain (because numbers are easy to scan).
That’s why good copywriters are obsessed with details.
Like all the silly little facts and numbers behind a product.
For example: how it's made, how long it takes to make it, how it works, what motivates people to buy it and what makes people notice.
So, before you start writing copy, do some detective work.
Try to uncover insights, product facts and unique qualities you can communicate numerically but in a relatable way.
Because facts (or numbers) don't persuade, but storytelling based on facts (or numbers) can be veeeeeeeeeery persuasive.
1. Convert numbers and product facts into relatable stories.
Before
1. Clarify What’s The Price⇝ “The $95 rain tire”.
2. Dramatize the Contrast To Reinforce The Value Of Your Product (in a relatable way)⇝ “If it only saves your kid’s life once.”
3. Close With A Bang⇝ “it’s a bargain.”
2. cold, specific, hard facts are always, Always more effective than vague claims.
When Porsche says "The car that Car and Driver tested from 0 to 60 in 4.6 seconds" that’s 10 times more memorable than just saying “Porsche 911 is the fastest car in the World”.
3. reframe the importance of the money consumers are saving (and make it relatable)
