The internet is different than print in many ways, one of them being the expectations of the reader. Since the internet was created as a way to share vast amounts of information, people use it in exactly that way and expect, well… information. They do not want to be sold to and are often turned off when it appears that may be the case. There are of course, exceptions to this rule, but normally they expect info, not sales pitches.

This can create a conundrum when your business is selling products or services online. If being sold to instantly turns customers off, how do we make our business work? Easy. Present your products differently.

Everyone has problems and our deepest wish is for those problems to be fixed. Now remember that, because it is the whole foundation of how to sell your product without it looking like you’re selling. You must understand what your clients want in order to give it to them. Consider:

• What is it that brought your customers to you?
• How can you specifically help them?
• What are they really looking for?
• How does it feel for your customers to have their problem (whatever this may be)?
• How does it feel for customers to not get this problem fixed?

The quickest way to bypass a customer’s innate skepticism is to overcome it by identifying with them. Feel their pain. Let them know you understand. Explain the problem they’re experiencing and talk about how it feels, then talk about how your product or service can help. Use ‘you’ statements so they know you’re talking to them. ‘We’ statements talk about you and is therefore not directed at your customers.

Your online business is NOT about you or selling your product. It’s about your customers and how you’re solving their problems.

This requires a shift in thinking, so if you have a product to sell, start by understanding why someone might need it. Now describe that, using emotional words. Fact: People buy on emotion and justify with logic. If your web copy has no emotion, you’re giving people no reason to buy.

Which scenario would make you buy?

Web Copy Example 1: We offer top of the line car batteries by all the major brands. By only offering the best brands, you can be sure you’re getting the best product designed to last longer. Along with an attractive and lengthy warranty, we offer the best prices in town. There’s no reason not to buy when we offer great brands, great warranties and great prices.
Evaluation: ‘We’ mentioned three times and ‘you’ only twice. No mention of a problem and how your product can solve it. Yes, everyone knows what a car battery does and it doesn’t need to be explained. However, your text has still given them no emotional reason to buy.

Web Copy Example 2: Leaving work an hour late, you’re already behind schedule. Feeling stressed out at all you still have to do this evening, you dash through the rain and land in an exhausted heap in the driver’s seat of your car. One turn of the key in the ignition tells you it’s going to be an even longer night than you’d planned.
Don’t let a dead car battery make a tough day even worse. Our top of the line brands and extended battery warranties help ensure this won’t happen to you.
Evaluation: You’ve identified the client’s problem - having a dead car battery. You’ve described how it feels - stress, long day. You’ve found a solution by offering top of the line batteries with extended warranties. You’ve solved your client’s problem and never once made them feel they were being sold to. You simply offered information and a way to help them.

Eliminate the sales pitch. Fix the problem.

There’s power here. Use it.