Now is a good time of year to talk about how you treat your audience.
Are you thankful for them?
Do you make them feel your concern and understanding of their unique pain points?
Is your content warm and inviting, demonstrating that gratitude?
Today, I’m going to share one trick that will help you make your customers feel you invited them into your warm house smelling of pumpkin pie.
You as a Copywriting Device
Our job as content creators is to advise our clients on how to talk to their audiences. You should always address your audience as you. (See what I did there? Telling you to use “you”? We’re practicing what we preach).
Here are five reasons you-language matters:
Here are five reasons you-language matters:
- People only care about themselves: It’s a fact. So they pay attention when you address them directly. It is like how you respond to your first name—people respond to the word you the same way. When you talk to your audience, they feel special. When you talk about them…well, you could be talking about anyone.
- Third person is awkward: You get into pronoun gender issues and just general grammar hoops and loops. Instead of sounding inviting and concerned, when writers use third person, they sound distant and cold. (See what I just did there?)
- You create distance: Let’s look at these two sentences:
“Your experience investing money with us will be simple and easy.”
“Customers who invest their money with us feel it is simple and easy.”
Who do you feel is really going to give you the customer experience you want?
- It’s conversational: Third person is formal and structured. When you use the second person, you create a connection with your reader. If content is a conversation, don’t you want to create the most natural conversation you can?
- It creates intimacy: Would you say to a customer standing in front of you, “Our customers find this short instructional video very helpful the first time they use our product?” No, you would say, “You should watch this short video—it will be helpful before you use this product.”
Improve your content by addressing your audience directly. It will be easier to write, read and act on. In case you’re not convinced, just think about some famous tag lines in history:
- We deliver for the customer.
- The customer is in good hands with Allstate.
- Never let them see the customers sweat.
- It’s not the customer’s father’s Oldsmobile anymore.
- We’ve got a taste for the customer.
From all of us at Aha Media, we say THANK YOU, and wish you a warm and Happy Thanksgiving—no matter where you are in the world.
