How to Use Numbers in Your Health Supplement Copy to Engage With Your Audience

Let’s talk numbers.

Every health supplement copy needs them, a lot of them. Numbers show up in health supplement copy for a variety of great reasons, from clinical study results, statistics, to facts and figures that support the argument your copy is making.

The Thing About Numbers…

Numbers tend to overwhelm, confuse, and bore people. When your prospect feels any of those emotions, they’re more than likely to bail.

But these numbers are crucial for any health supplement copy. They demonstrate how effective your product is and can be. The problem with adding them to your copy is that you run the risk of boring your reader. And when your reader is bored, they’ll likely exit out of your page, which means you just lost a sale.

An Easy Solution

A simple way to liven up these numbers is by using an analogy or real-life comparison that the average person can identify with.

For example:

I wrote a promotion for where I mentioned how a certain nutrient deficiency contributes up to 96,000 deaths per year. We all know that 96,000 is a lot people. It’s a big number that is hard for us to imagine and grasp.

I immediately followed that statistic up with this: “96,000 — that’s equivalent to filling up Madison Square Garden nearly 5 times.”

That instantly reframes this intangible number in a much more powerful and engaging way.

The reader is now going to think back to the last time they were in a sports arena or stadium. They’re going to picture themselves sitting in their seat, looking around the entire arena, seeing every seat filled with a person. They’re going to start imagining multiples of that entire stadium filled with people being gone.

If You Need More Help Breathing Life Into Your Health Supplement Copy

I wrote another article that discusses how a simple trick can help breathe new life into science-heavy health supplement copy.

If you need a little more help writing Red Hot Health and Supplement sales copy, feel free to download the PILL FRAMEWORK by heading to www.writinginfire.com

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Why My Copy Completely Bombed and 3 Tips to Make Sure Yours Won’t

A lot of copywriters like to do breakdowns of winning sales copy, or promotions they wrote that beat the control. While we can get a lot of valuable information from studying winners, this breakdown you’re about to read showcases an advertorial that I wrote for a health supplement that completely bombed and missed the mark.

Why am I sharing this? It isn’t easy for me (and my ego) to share my failures, but after some time analyzing and processing, I’ve identified where I went wrong. In this article, I’ll be rounding up my mistakes and sharing 3 tips to make sure your copy won’t miss the mark.

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Why My Copy Completely Bombed and 3 Tips to Make Sure Yours Won’t

In this breakdown, I’ll be focusing on the headline, subhead, and the lead of this advertorial.

The Set Up

This advertorial is for a brain health supplement so we’re looking at an audience of an older demographic, ages 60 and older. Both men and women are represented here, but this advertorial does skew a little in favor of men.

This supplement is for people who are already experiencing some type of brain issues (primarily with memory), or are worried about experiencing these brain issues due to their advancing age and are looking for a preventative solution.

Disclaimer:

This advertorial did one test run in a newspaper publication and the call to action was to dial a 1–800 number to place an order. This was not an online advertorial so there was no link sending them to a website or online sales page where they can find more information. This means there are pieces of analytical data that are missing from this advertorial (i.e: how many people saw this article, how much time was spent on the page etc…).

Now let’s get right into it!

The Headline

This is a fairly weak and generic headline. The main benefits mentioned in this headline are “Thriving Health” and “Peak Brain Performance”… what does that mean?

These are very vague terms. “Thriving Health” could be mean so many different things, and so can “Peak Brain Performance” (does this mean I’m going to be more intelligent? Be in a better mood? Etc…) The headline should be more benefit specific, focusing on memory specific brain issues, even the fear of losing independence.

Which brings me to the first tip…

Copywriting Tip #1: Make your headlines more benefit specific

How can we achieve that in this particular case?

This headline could be better if it focused on brain issues such as fading memory, since this is a concern for this demographic. Another angle that could come into play is one of dependence. Losing independence is a fear for this particular audience as they wouldn’t want to rely on their children or spouse (or worse — be put in a nursing home).

The Subhead

The subhead, in my opinion, is pretty strong. It has a good amount of intrigue and curiosity with the 5 tribes of “Super Agers”. The latter half of the subhead (laughing, dancing etc…) is also very visual which is a great engagement device.

I don’t think the subhead hurt the performance of this advertorial, however, if there is one thing I would change about it, it would be experimenting with different visuals and activities.

Like I mentioned, both men and women are included in this demographic but the advertorial does skew in favor of men. Activities like dancing and drinking martinis may not appeal to a lot of men who are in this audience.

Copywriting Tip #2: Include visuals and activities that appeal to your demographic

In this particular advertorial, including activities that are more relevant to the audience (activities that may be more appealing to men who are 60+) could make a positive difference.

The Lead

Now the biggest mistake in this advertorial wasn’t in the headline or the subhead, but in the lead. Specifically, when I transitioned from the story of the 5 tribes of Super Agers into introducing the product.

I spent some time building the 5 tribes of Super Agers to make it seem like there’s going to be a big reveal, a huge shared secret behind why these 5 isolated tribes of Super Agers are able to live longer and healthier lives.

But when it came to the big reveal… it just came down to having remarkable brain health. That’s it.

Well, no shit.

It’s kind of common sense that if you’re going to live to 90 years old and beyond, if you’re going to be dancing, drinking martinis, cooking, etc… you’re going to need to have good brain health. That’s not a shocking secret that no one has seen or heard of before.

If you were reading this advertorial, you’d probably be annoyed that the big reveal was something you (and the general public) had always known all along.

How do we fix this?

Copywriting Tip #3: Make your big reveal worth your reader’s time

What would have made a much stronger connection was if the shared common trait of those 5 tribes of Super Agers, consumed higher than normal levels of one of the key ingredients found in my client’s brain formula.

This will give a direct connection to lead into intense studies that show that these 5 super agers were consuming way more tyrosine (that key ingredient) than the rest of the world’s population, and they attributed this to their remarkable memory and brain health.

This will make a stronger case for my client’s brain formula, as it just so happens that this new product has super therapeutic doses of tyrosine to rejuvenate brain health.

It makes it worth your reader’s time when the big secret and shared common trait of these 5 tribes of Super Agers was the main ingredient of the supplement.

Bonus Tip: Get REALLY specific

Even though I love the super agers story and it is very relevant to this audience, it is not really specific to brain issues and overall brain health. There could be a good amount of the audience who think “I don’t care about dancing. I just don’t want to forget who I am and lose my memory.”

We could use the Super Agers story, but be more specific and boil it down to the simple, innate desires and fears of the audience. Instead of relating it to activities, there could be more focus on brain health, memory, and cognitive performance.

The Conclusion

If you’re in the health or supplement market, don’t be afraid to ask your copywriter about some of their duds. Failure is a part of learning and growing as a copywriter. Let’s face it — the best copywriters in the world produce copy from time to time that completely misses the mark. A great copywriter will acknowledge these mistakes and grow from them. The key here is:

1. To acknowledge when a mistake is made and identify where we went wrong.
2. To be able to go back, analyze the mistake, and fix it.

How to Get People EXCITED to Buy from You by Activating Their “Buying Chemical”

Sales Copy Breakdown: Longevity Max Sales Email-Dr. Gundry

How to Amplify the Impact of Statistics in Your Health Supplement Sales Copy (And Not Bore Your Audience!)

Giving Value is Not Enough. You MUST Sell! Here’s why…

Give value…

Deliver value…

How much value do you provide?

Give value first, and the money will follow…

This mantra is seared into our brains, chanted over and over again in our Facebook feeds and email inboxes. It seems as though “giving value”, a somewhat arbitrary concept, is the cornerstone of doing business nowadays, especially online.

And for good reason. With so many unscrupulous individuals, scam artists, and dishonest businesses trolling the web, providing VALUE to your audience before asking for the sale is often a smart business strategy. This approach allows you to build a trusting relationship with your prospect, making for a smoother transition to the sale. Done right, this warms them up and primes them to buy.

But here’s where some entrepreneurs go wrong. They get so caught up in the “value giving phase”, they forget about or neglect the most important part of the process: The SALE!

This leads to a deadly mistake: relying only on the value you provide to sell your product or service.

I hate to break it to you, but when push comes to shove, nobody really cares how much “value” you’re giving them. Sure, they are grateful and appreciative. Many will even tell you so. They will engage with you and be some of your biggest fans. But this alone does NOT guarantee they’ll ever spend a single dollar on your products or services.

Your audience will ONLY buy from you if they believe one of the following to be true:

1. Your product or service will help them obtain something they desperately want.
2.  Your product or service will solve a problem that’s been causing them deep pain or discomfort.

That’s it. It’s that simple. The amount of value you provided, the amount of goodwill you created up to this point means nothing, if you fail to meet one of these two conditions with whatever you’re selling. This is why making an effort to actively SELL your shit is critical to your success.

And honestly, it doesn’t need to be that difficult or complicated. You don’t need to be a master copywriter or marketer to successfully sell your stuff. Start with the simple PAS framework, and you’ll have a solid selling foundation in place every time.

The PAS model is a powerful marketing formula popularized by Dan Kennedy, considered by many to be one of the greatest direct response marketers of our time. If you’re not familiar with the PAS formula, here’s a quick breakdown for you:

P: Identify an intense problem or pain point your prospect is experiencing.

A: Agitate that problem. Twist the knife. Point out in vivid detail how this major problem is wreaking havoc in their lives. (Or how it will blow up if they don’t do something about it)

S: Tell them or show them how you can SOLVE their problem. Offer this solution (your product or service) for sale.

This is a very basic explanation, but the truth is this all you need to get started. If you take the time to flesh out this simple 3 step formula with consistency, you’re almost guaranteed to make some sales. This is assuming of course your offer isn’t complete shit and that you’re targeting the right people with your message.

Just last night, I attended a Facebook live webinar conducted by a pretty well-known influencer in the social media space. The first half of this live session was amazing. He delivered incredible value (yes, I know I said it!), gave simple and actionable tips for getting quick results, and his energy and passion were off the charts. Dude was electric!

It was one of the most interesting and engaging live trainings I’d attended in quite a while. But that quickly changed once he transitioned into his “pitch.” Boom! Instant shift in energy. Maybe it was partly due to nerves, which is totally understandable, especially if this was his first time selling in a live format. Not sure if it was or not. But here’s what struck me as odd:

He seemed to rush through his product pitch. He presented 3 different options at 3 different price points. But he gave very few details about what was included in each option. And guess what? If people are confused or unsure about what exactly you’re offering? They’re not gonna buy.

Not only that, he did not follow the PAS formula I just talked about. Yeah, he kind of identified the problem…but he didn’t agitate it. And he did not clearly and persuasively communicate the specific benefits his customers would receive from his program. He didn’t tell them how his program would solve their most excruciating problem.

When he was making the transition into his pitch, he actually said something to the effect of “If you liked what you learned in this training, I would like to continue working together. I would like this to be the beginning, not the end.”

Again, that’s not an exact quote…I’m paraphrasing. But it’s very close.

Statements like that don’t do anything to help you make the sale. No emotions triggered, no pain points pressed. Now I’lld admit, I have no idea what this guys sales figures were from this live training. But I’m certain based on his change in energy and body language, people just weren’t biting.

I actually felt bad for the guy. While I only know him from his activity on Facebook, he seems very passionate and authentic. And the dude’s constantly dropping mad knawledge bombs everywhere. If he gave his product pitch just a little more TLC…if he followed the simple PAS formula…I’m confident he would have had better results.

I want the same for you.

If you only remember one thing from this post, make sure it’s this:

Value alone is not enough. When the time comes, you must be willing to SELL.

Adam Napolitano

 

Email Hacks #2: Simple Recipe for Writing Winning Subject Lines

Getting your subscribers to open your emails is half the battle. Ain’t nobody gonna read your email or buy anything from you if they don’t open your email. This is why your subject line is so important. It has one job, and one job only: Get people to open your emails. There are plenty of resources online filled with tested and proven (hopefully?) subject lines you can swipe. I will not be giving you a list of email subjects here. Instead, the purpose of this post is to share a simple recipe for writing a winning email subject line every time. Put these to use in your own email marketing, and you’ll find the results especially delicious.

Stimulate Curiosity

As humans, we’re curious by nature…whether we want to admit it or not. Think about your email’s hook or storyline. What’s the most interesting piece of this story? Once you’ve identified the most interesting part of your email content, think about how you can use that one piece to create a curiosity-infused subject line. I’ll take an example from my previous blog post about using Authenticity in your emails. 

You might recall I wrote a true story about my social anxiety for a supplement client I worked with. This story for this email ended with me vomiting profusely in front of my ex-girlfriend’s parents. I decided to take one of the most interesting (and embarrassing) parts of this story (the vomiting), and I used it to craft my subject line. This was the exact subject line I used for that email:

So nervous he “tossed his cookies”…

Most people know “tossed his cookies” is a euphemism for throwing up. When someone on my client’s list who also suffers from social anxiety reads a subject line like this…do you think it will pique their interest? Absolutely! They’re curiosity gets the best of them. They have to see what I’m talking about. This is how you got about using curiosity in your email subjects.

Amplify Fear

Fear is an extremely powerful motivator. Especially the fear of loss. People can’t stand the thought of missing out on or losing something valuable. This drives them bonkers. You can use this psychological trick to your advantage when writing subject lines. This works like magic if you’re offering a discount or special promotion. Example:

Your discount is expiring.

Rich, poor, or somewhere in between…everyone enjoys a good deal and keeping more money in their pocket. With a subject like the one above, chances are they’ll open your email to see what they’re losing if they don’t act now.

Leverage Trending Topics and Pop Culture

Hot topics in the news or pop culture can make for buzz worthy subject lines. Just be careful with using topics that might be too polarizing. Take good ole’ Trump for example. He may still help you pull open rates, but you’ll piss a lot of people off in the process. Unless of course your audience is strictly staunch conservatives.

An example I used recently played off the movie 50 Shades Darker. The actual subject line was:

50 Shades of Harassment

I started off the email by sharing the story of going to see this wonderful movie with my wife. Then I transitioned into how debt collectors love to harass struggling consumers who can’t afford to pay their bills. This email was promoting a credit repair product, btw.

Keep in mind if you deploy this strategy, your subject lines may fade in effectiveness as these hot topics become less relevant. This strategy would be ideal for broadcast emails.

That does it for Email Hacks #2. Implement one of these strategies in your email marketing and let me know how it goes. I’d love to have you post a comment below sharing your experience. Or you can always drop me an email if you want to keep things private. Remember, these are just a few strategies you have at your disposal. There are so many ways to write compelling email subjects it can make your brain hurt. My advice: pick just 1 or 2 to focus on at first. Keep things simple, and you’ll be more likely to take action.

Email Hacks #1: Sell Yourself with Authenticity

But….I don’t know what to write…

I don’t have any interesting stories…

Making up entertaining stories is hard…

These are a few (of the many) excuses I hear from biz owners and entrepreneurs who DRAG their feet when it comes to email marketing. Done right, building an email list is the most profitable business asset you can ever create. When you stop and think about it…it’s the only true form of “push button” or “autopilot” income in existence.

Why then are so many of us frozen in bewilderment when it comes to typing up a simple email and clicking send?

You Don’t Need to Live the 007 Life

It’s amazing to me how many people think they need to live a high-profile life of mystery and intrigue to be worthy of sharing personal stories with their subscribers. I can tell you firsthand you don’t need to race across frozen tundras in tricked out Aston Martins chasing super villains to connect with your audience. In fact, one of the biggest mistakes I see marketers make is trying too hard to be funny or clever in their emails…

Always assume your subscribers are savvier than you think. Their BS meters work well, and if you’re being fake they’ll sniff it out in a heartbeat. That’s why when I work with my copywriting clients, I always strive to use real, authentic stories whenever possible.

Sell Yourself First

Marketing and Sales 101: People love to buy, but hate being sold.

Yeah yeah…you’ve heard this a million times, right?

But how often do you follow this advice in your email marketing?

This is why hard selling subscribers (who haven’t purchased yet) is one of the quickest ways to destroy trust and trigger a whopping unsubscribe rate. The trick is developing a connection of respect and mutual trust with your audience…and the best way to do this via email is with a carefully-crafted nurture sequence.

Key word here being nurture.

And what’s hands down the best way to quickly nurture this relationship?

Through AUTHENTIC story-telling!

Authenticity is a rare commodity in the online business space today. That’s why baring your soul and being honest with your audience is one of the easiest ways to build a tribe of loyal fans…

And stand out in an overcrowded marketplace…

People appreciate you taking the time to share mundane details from your daily life. It reminds them your a REAL person…not just a faceless, money-hungry business.

Celebrate Failure and Weakness

Wait…what?

It may seem counterintuitive, but the truth is people love reading stories of failure and mistakes. Especially if you can tie in a lesson you learned from this experience to make it relevant to what you offer. This is a great way to deliver tremendous value to your tribe. And here’s another thing to remember:

EVERYONE identifies with instances of failure or embarrassment. We all make mistakes and we all have weaknesses. Owning these experiences and openly sharing them forges an unbreakable bond of trust and intimacy. Get this right, and you won’t have to worry about selling your product or service…it’ll happen as a natural byproduct.

Example:

Towards the end of last year, I wrote a nurture email sequence for a client who sells a health supplement. This particular supplement has demonstrated benefit for a variety of medical conditions, including anxiety.

I have personally struggled with social anxiety my entire life. So for one of these emails, I shared an embarrassing story of meeting my ex-girlfriend’s parents for the first time. I won’t relive the whole story here but here’s the gist:  Her mom baked me chocolate chip cookies. I was so nervous I couldn’t choke down these tasty treats…and as a result I had to sprint into the bathroom and yakked all over. Oh…and the bathroom was like 10 feet from the kitchen. My Ex and her parents heard everything.

Yep…pretty much the definition of embarrassing. And here’s the funny thing: I never shared this story with anyone…not my best friend, not even my parents. For whatever reason, I decided to finally unload this cringeworthy experience in my client’s email, and it was very well-received.

His subscribers who also suffered from anxiety could actually identify with my struggle. Powerful stuff. Start thinking about how you can use experiences from your own life to connect with your subscribers on a deeper level. Let yourself be vulnerable. I guarantee you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the response you receive.

How to Use the Fear of Loss to Write Powerful Copy and Advertisements

Watch the video below to discover how to use fear of loss to write powerful copy. This applies to virtually all content you produce, including your website pages, blog posts, social media posts, sales pages, and advertisements.