What my three-year-old's tantrum taught me about copywriting
Last weekend my family went to the circus. For the first ten minutes everything was awesome. The music was loud. Trapeze artists were flipping through the air and two clowns fought over a balloon on a twenty foot swinging ladder. My kids eyes were huge. My husband and I felt like awesome parents.
Then the clowns came out with bundles of neon green pirate swords. My son saw them and immediately yelled over the noise, "I want a sword!" We didn't hear him. He was so overcome with imagining the exhilaration he would feel as soon as he had a sword to swing, that he skipped over asking for it nicely and saying please, and went straight to crying and screaming, "I want a sword! I want a sword!"
My husband had to drag him out to the car, and we left early.
The situation reminded me of how people buy things based on emotions, and not logic. My son didn't think, "Is this sword worth $9? Will it last? How does it compare to all the other swords I have at home?" Of course not, he's three! He was just hyper, and wanted to move around. When he didn't get what he wanted he lost it.
Adults buy things based on emotion all the time. Motorcycles, makeup, shoes, frequent flyer programs and magazines. These products all fulfill an emotional need, but when an adult buys, they usually need to back up the emotional reason for buying with a solid sales argument and guarantee.
Comments