Over the next few installments of my copywriting series, I’m going to be covering some key elements of copywriting that go beyond the X’s and O’s. In this particular installment, I’m going to talk about customer empathy, what it is, and why it’s important when writing a sales letter.

Let’s start off with exactly what customer empathy is. The best way to explain it is like this. What you, as the copywriter want to do, is put yourself in the place of the customer. You want to try your very best to feel what that person is feeling as they try to wrestle with the problem that they’re having. For example, if they’re suffering from acne, you want to try to feel the pain of a teenager afraid to ask a pretty girl on a date because his face looks like the surface of the moon.

Why is this important? Well, there is an old saying that misery loves company. The truth is, people who are suffering don’t want to feel that they are suffering alone. That is why there are support groups or so many things from alcoholism to anger management. Knowing there are others going through the same thing that you’re going through gives hope that maybe there is a solution. If nothing else, it gives the sufferer somebody to talk to. In the case of the sales letter, this would be the copywriter or the product creator.

This is where, as a copywriter, you have to get into the head of the customer. The best way to do this is to go directly to the source. Hang out at the places these people hang out. If there are online forums, go to them. You will find a lot of discussion about what’s troubling these folks. Speak to the product creator himself. In most cases, a person creates a certain product because they’ve had first hand experience with the problem.

After you’ve done your research, you then have to convey this empathy through your sales letter. That’s why, if you read many of these sales letters, you’ll see lines like, “I understand what you’re going through. I used to suffer from this same problem until I discovered this amazing solution.” This is the product creator’s way of telling these people that he understands. Trust me, it’s a very effective tool.

You can certainly write a sales letter without customer empathy, but you’ll have a lot more success if you can convince the person on the other side of that letter that you’ve been in their shoes.

To YOUR Success,

Steven Wagenheim

Want to write copy just like the pros? Visit my site at http://www.bcipe.com and discover killer copywriting tips that have allowed me to write my own copy for years and earn myself a 6 figure a year income selling my own products.