Were you aware that you can change perceptions by changing the time reference in which you write?
If you weren’t (past tense), you are now (present) and you will be able to take advantage of this strategy from now on (future tense).
With any product or service, there are pros and cons. If you’d like to highlight the pros, write about them in the present tense. If you’d like to deemphasize the cons, talk about them in the past tense.
Talking about things in the present give them the most life and immediacy. This is when you want to talk about all the great benefits purchasing will give your prospect now.
At the same time, you shouldn’t ignore the drawbacks unless you like returns. You don’t have to make a big deal about it or give your customer a problem in the now. Tuck it gently in the past where they’ve already encountered the issue and are okay with it.
People buy things because they want to feel better. Maybe it’s a new pair of shoes or a book. To help them come to that buying decision now, take about the great feelings they will have in the future. Help them imagine being noticed, solving a problem or how much faster they’ll get boring tasks done.
I used the technique in the second paragraph if you noticed.
Let’s do it again now that you understand it:
While it’s true that you may have been listing benefits and drawbacks aimlessly before, you now know how best to maximize those things. In doing so, you’ll begin to see higher conversion rates and get more bang for your copywriting buck.
Here’s what we covered once more… shift the drawbacks as far back in the past as possible. Emphasize your benefits in the present. And materialize the future great results now too. Time will work for you as you recognize how to use it.
