How to use copywriting to drive traffic to e-commerce platforms and achieve direct conversions?

How to use copywriting to drive traffic to maternal and infant products on an unknown e-commerce platform and achieve direct conversions ?

It is undoubtedly extremely difficult to get a share of the maternal and infant product category where competition is fierce. No matter how much you praise the mother and baby products on the platform, the user's first reaction is: go to Taobao and search for this product.

Once you want users to give up the Taobao Tmall , overseas shopping e-commerce and various vertical maternal and child e-commerce that they are accustomed to, the huge force of old habits will hit you head-on.

However, Mimi Meng did it through copywriting.

In her controversial article "Every Working Mother Owes Her Child an Apology," Mimi Meng used text and audio to depict the pity of children in dual-income families who grow up alone without anyone to accompany them, fully arousing the strong sense of guilt among working mother readers towards their children.

The mothers were in tears and had a strong desire to accompany their children. Mimi Meng called on them to "buy good things for your children on COFCO WoMai.com", which brought good traffic to the advertiser, a low-profile e-commerce platform.

Why is it that Taobao is still the e-commerce overlord in the minds of users, and various overseas shopping platforms for mothers and babies also have a solid position, but Mimi Meng’s copywriting can make users temporarily forget about Taobao and make different purchasing behaviors?

This is because the essence of a user’s purchasing behavior is a behavior of choice – choosing a solution to the problem they want to solve.

It's not about choosing the best solution, but about choosing one that is better than the original default solution.

The marketing strategy is to think about how to design a good multiple-choice question for users, lock the user's thinking and attention firmly into the range of choices you designed, and make choices according to the standards you set.

--chestnut?--

A cinema ’s advertising copy, when placed on a group-buying website, should say “4D effect, immersive” to highlight its advantages over the default solution – other cinemas;

If it is put on a billboard in a shopping mall, it would say "If you are tired of shopping, why not watch a movie?" To highlight the difference between it and the default solution - beauty salons, cafes and other leisure places in supermarkets.

Remember, users don’t choose the best solution, but the better of the two solutions you provide.

Therefore, in order to avoid direct competition from advertisers (COFCO Womai.com) and Taobao, Mimi Meng used words to create a closed cinema, used plots with strong emotional cues to induce tears, and then kindly handed tissues to readers - a plan to make up for guilt by "buying, buying, buying".

A long copy successfully changed the original choice question in the user's mind: "Which platform should I buy things for my children on":

It becomes a multiple-choice question: "How to compensate the child?"

At this moment, readers gave up considering the relative advantages of [Taobao/NetEase Kaola/ Miaya ] and thought in their hearts: "I want to spend more time with my children, but it is impossible to give up my career. Alas, I have to buy something according to Mi Meng's recommendation to make up for it."

The solution of “unknown e-commerce” cannot defeat the default solution of “Taobao”, but the solution of “giving up career” is obviously much less feasible than “buying things to compensate the children”.

In the copywriting , you can set default options for different types of users, drag users into an arena where you have an advantage, and cleverly use different persuasion techniques to bring unexpected conversion effects to your copywriting.

How do you design a good multiple-choice question for users in the copy so that users can choose the option according to the criteria you give?

1. Traditional persuasive copywriting: copywriting that directly addresses the pain points of competitors

Directly targeting the inherent disadvantages of key competitors and highlighting the advantages of one's own products is a more traditional pain point copywriting routine.

At this point, the "default option" that the copywriter gives users to choose is your direct competitor.

The multiple-choice question at this time is "Direct competitor VS your solution", and the selection criteria is "whether it has the advantages of your product."

--chestnut?--

(Photo of Shenzhou Special Car )

UCAR: It directly attacked Uber’s safety disadvantage and initially lost the public opinion, but in the long run, it successfully dragged Uber into its own advantageous battlefield.

(Ofo picture)

Ofo : Directly attacking the disadvantages of Mobike, which is heavy and difficult to ride, and emphasizing its own advantages of being easy to ride

2. Cross-level persuasion copywriting: a low-threshold alternative to the default solution

When your product lacks a strong advantage and is not enough to make users abandon competing products and choose you in a certain scenario, you can choose cross-level persuasive copywriting.

For example, in the dead of night, women generally choose the safe Shenzhou private car and give up the cheap Didi or Uber.

When riding a longer route, women generally choose ofo, which focuses on ease, and give up Mobike.

That is to say, when your users are using your competitors' products, you do not have enough chips to hit their pain points. When changing their choices, you can make another suggestion to them that will resonate with them.

--chestnut?--

( Financial management copy picture)

The "Heart-breaking Series" posters disguised as financial products of a certain platform, which were very popular some time ago, made an inhumane and negative confession to the middle- and low-income groups who are still struggling in the workplace in big cities through a series of explicit copywriting. While it aroused a certain resonance, it also attracted a lot of discussion and criticism.

This financial product has no obvious advantages over similar financial products. Users have no reason to choose your product when choosing between “other high-yield financial products VS advertiser’s financial products”. Therefore, a different suggestion should be made.

Although this copy uses a series of words that arouse users' anxiety and fear, its essence is to give users a suggestion to "improve their economic situation."

The default option of this suggestion - "work hard and make good money" - has such a high threshold, so the poster also proposes an alternative - using our high-yield financial products.

However, users are not familiar with other similar financial products and are too lazy to learn about them, so this copywriting successfully crosses levels and becomes the preferred alternative option.

Of course, if the purpose of this copy is to promote conversion, as a product with high decision-making costs , it is also necessary to solve the trust issues (this is why the copy has to use the name of Alipay ), risk issues, usage threshold issues, etc., in order to truly eliminate the user's cognitive obstacles.

But if the purpose of the copy is to increase product exposure and enhance users' understanding and attention to the product, then it is basically a success.

Generally speaking, in the persuasion chain, the more the suggestions provided to users can hit the users' most essential and deepest needs, the more they fit the users' emotions, and the more they can make users feel a sense of lack.

For example, for young people, it means “live a quality life”, “don’t live a monotonous life”, and “be the best version of yourself”; for parents, it means “spend more time with your children” and “give your children the best life”.

These suggestions are perennial pain points in users’ minds and are relatively fundamental needs in human nature. They work as soon as they are said and make people’s hearts beat as soon as they are teased.

But at the same time, making these essential suggestions will make it difficult for users to choose your solution, even if they feel a sense of lack. Because there are too many products that are used to meet the essential needs of human nature - 98% of the products on the market are used to meet essential needs such as "living a better life".

At this point, the user’s precious attention will instead flow to the solution that occupies the first place in their mind, which is the user’s default solution.

However, there are some exceptions.

If the default preferred option will not/cannot be selected by users due to inherent or artificial limitations, then your product can become a low-threshold alternative, taking a different approach, skipping the levels of the persuasion chain and achieving cross-level suppression.

In other words, the suggestions you give to users should include the goals that the users themselves want to achieve, and your product should replace the default solution and become the user's preferred solution.

The multiple-choice question at this time becomes "restricted preferred solution VS your solution", and the selection criteria is "the threshold for implementing the solution".

Smart copywriters will take advantage of these “exceptions” and find channels and scenarios where users’ preferred options are restricted.

In Mi Meng’s COFCO copy, a suggestion of “compensating the children” is made to readers. However, the default preferred option of this suggestion - “giving up work and spending more time with the children” has too high a threshold, so readers will turn to its low-threshold alternative - buying good things for the children from COFCO.

Because "which platform to use to buy things for children" is a choice behavior with low decision-making cost , and Mimi Meng's articles have strong emotional implications and environmental closure effects , a series of maternal and child competing products such as Taobao/NetEase Kaola/Miaya are temporarily blocked from users' minds, achieving the effect of "separate evaluation" of the COFCO platform.

When using cross-level persuasion, two elements are indispensable: the suggestions must accurately hit the pain points; and the product must become the first choice to replace the default solution.

--chestnut?--

Incorrect example:

(Excellent product picture)

Youjipin is an e-commerce platform that sells household products with better design and texture. On it, users can choose shampoo without additives, more designed tea cups, and good-looking kettles.

However, its slogan "Higher quality, better life" gives users an overly grand life suggestion. " Living a better life" is indeed a pain point, but its solution involves all aspects of food, clothing, housing and transportation. No matter how low the threshold of the "Youjipin" solution is, it cannot completely become an alternative choice.

This is a typical example of a failed attempt to use copywriting to carry out cross-level persuasion.

3. Complementary persuasion copy: Leverage the user’s other default options

You have insight into a real need of the user. If the user wants to meet this need, he must use a series of solutions to solve the problem.

For example, to meet the need of "creating a more beautiful image", one must purchase clothes and skin care products.

However, users have set up different mental accounts for each of these plans, including money accounts and time accounts.

In other words, you and other plans do not have to compete with the user's limited money and time resources. When the user chooses this plan, he or she can also choose another plan without any obstacles.

Clothing and skin care products belong to two different accounts of personal expenses.

Your product and other default solutions complement each other and coexist peacefully, rather than being competing products of either one or the other.

Therefore, your copywriting does not need to attack the disadvantages of other default solutions, but secretly binds their strengths to form a combined product.

You can use the "consistency psychology" and "goal proximity effect" to make users feel that they have paid so much to achieve this goal. If they miss your product, all their previous efforts will become sunk costs and they will fail.

That is to say, let other default options "hitch a ride" in the copywriting and leverage each other's momentum.

The multiple-choice question at this point is "I have already made various efforts to achieve this goal, should I continue to meet this pain point demand?"

--chestnut?--

Some KOLs in Japanese magazines and beauty blogs on Weibo are adept at using this type of “combination copywriting”.

Japanese magazines stick to a theme, such as "Warm Winter Outfits", and have the magazine models wear camel-colored clothes and earth-toned makeup on their faces. The beautiful outfits successfully stimulate users' sense of lack and their desire to "dress up beautifully like models in winter", making users feel that their own makeup in reality is rough and unsatisfactory.

Then, the magazine copy lists the brands of skin care products, cosmetics, and makeup tools used by the model to complete the makeup. This series of products becomes the target object, and users use it to eliminate the sense of lack caused by comparison.

These goals are a combination of a series of solutions and are ways to help users achieve "exquisite makeup". Generally speaking, the greater the role your product plays in helping users achieve their goals, the greater the probability that you will be chosen by users in this solution portfolio.

4. Leadership copywriting: Emphasizing the industry's first attribute

If your product solution crushes competitors' solutions and you are the leader in the industry, your copy does not need to attack the disadvantaged competitors. Instead, you only need to emphasize your own advantageous positioning, such as "leading in sales for five consecutive years", "Afu is essential oil", "3 out of 5 friends use Didi".

On the contrary, if the competitor’s copy does not highlight the differentiated needs for our products, it will divert traffic to our products.

--chestnut?--

For example, a new travel website produced a copy like this. But even if consumers are tempted and willing to travel, their first choice will be Ctrip , Qunar , and Tuniu, rather than this new brand that has not established consumer trust.

In addition, industry leaders have a unique advantage, which is that they can go upstream in the persuasion chain, expand their category advantages, and thus attract traffic to themselves.

The multiple-choice question at this time is “Other categories VS your category”, and the selection criteria is “whether you have the advantages of your category”.

--chestnut?--

For example, JEEP is the representative of the "off-road vehicle" category in the minds of consumers. When the off-road market is stagnant, JEEP can completely abandon its advertising copy targeting other off-road brands and instead suggest to consumers to "break through the shackles and explore a bigger world" to call on consumers to abandon small family cars and choose off-road vehicles, thereby expanding the off-road vehicle category.

Summarize

Generally speaking, the classic pain point copywriting that we often see is based on "directly attacking competitors" to achieve precise and effective strategic strikes.

However, many of the industry's most contagious "hot-selling" pain point copywriting do not all demonstrate "advantages over competing solutions", but instead cleverly transform users' problems, design different multiple-choice questions for users, and limit users' thinking and attention to the scope set by the copywriting, thereby changing the comparison options in users' minds.

There are four types of pain point copywriting based on different selection designs

1. Traditional persuasive copywriting: copywriting that directly addresses the pain points of competitors

When your product has obvious advantages over competitors, and this advantage can make users choose you in certain scenarios, you can use traditional pain point copywriting.

2. Cross-level persuasion copywriting: a low-threshold alternative to the default solution

When your product can become an alternative preferred solution for a more essential need in a certain scenario, and the theoretical preferred solution is limited, you can use cross-level pain point copywriting.

3. Complementary persuasion copy: Leverage the user’s other default options

When your product can be combined with other default solutions (not the same mental account) in a certain scenario to become a common solution to a more essential need, you can use complementary pain point copywriting.

4. Leadership copywriting: Emphasizing the industry's first attributes

When your product is in an industry-leading position, you can use leadership copywriting to directly emphasize its leadership attributes or expand the category pie across levels.

The author of this article is @Marketing Flight and it is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

Product promotion services: APP promotion services, advertising platform, Longyou Games