How to Improve Conversions 10X Using Emotional Triggers

Do you wish you could have 10x conversions on your website, landing page, or product?

Well,you can, and it’s not as complicatedas you might think. It doesn’t involve gaining more social proof or increasingyour social media followers.

You can use emotion, psychology, and persuasion to radically boost your conversions.

Butbefore we can do that, it’s important to understand why people buy products andservices in the first place.

Why People Buy Products and Services

Many companies are guilty of using their landing pages to talk about product features, pricing, how good the product is, how long the business has been around, and so on.

Thismight lend a bit of credibility to the business. But it doesn’t do much to stirup emotions within the reader.

Ifpeople bought products for the reasons just mentioned, no doubt the top brandsout there would create landing pages around these features and facts. But theydon’t, because the items have nothing to do with the customer.

Thetagline for the Apple Watch Series 4 is “All new. For a better you.” It’ssimple, and it appeals to your emotions, doesn’t it?

Thereason we try to sell rationally is because we think this is how people buy. Theydon’t.

People buy on emotion and then rationalizetheir decisions later.

Professor of Neuroscience, Psychology and Philosophy at the University of Southern California Antonio Damasio found that emotions have an impact on every decision we make. Yes, every decision.

How to Identify Emotional Triggers

Once you’ve figured out the emotional triggers that move your customers the most, it makes it easier to choose the right images, copy, colors and structure for every page you create and every email you write. This will boost your ROI by a huge margin.

Butyou can’t figure out what emotions move your customers based on instinct oreven a Google search. You need to know exactly where the emotions are comingfrom, and what emotions are motivating your customers to buy.

Identifyingemotional triggers is a four-step process. Here’s what that looks like:

1. Analyze. Analyze visitor behavior on your website. What are theydoing? Where are they clicking? Where are they dropping?
2. Research. The emotions that impact your customers most,psychological triggers, cognitive biases, intent, hesitations, concerns.
3. Strategy. Create your messaging around what you discover in yourresearch.
4. Test. Test your strategy. Whether it’s successful or not,you’ll at least learn something about your customers.

How to Show Emotions on Your Website

There are over 220 emotional triggers that can play a role in decision making. And, it’s never just one emotion that drives our decisions. There are always a couple working together. That’s why it’s often best to use two at the same time.

Hereis an example of two that work well together:

1. Social Image

Socialimage is all about how you want people to perceive you. People care about whatothers think about them. So, many of the purchases we make have to do with howwe think others will see us.

Forinstance, parents buy their kids great presents for their birthday, so theirpeers think they’re well off.

2. Self-Image

Self-imagetends to go hand in hand with social image. This is all about how you feelabout yourself.

Forinstance, we purchase gym memberships to feel better about ourselves,regardless of whether we go to the gym at any point in time.

Headline Formulas

Nowthat we have a focus for our emotional triggers, it’s time to put together ourlanding page.

Asyou probably know, the headline is the first thing people see and read on alanding page.

Whenwriting your headline, you don’t necessarily need to reinvent the wheel. Hereare a couple of proven and tested formulas that can help you craft yourheadline without having to start from scratch.

Formula #1 – Have a/become a [desirablething] you can be proud of

Forinstance, if you’re selling email software, your headline could be somethingalong the lines of:

Writeand send emails that make you money and make you feel proud.

Formula #2 – The only [solution] madeexclusively to [most desirable social-image outcome]

Forexample, let’s say you have a VA service. Here’s a great headline to promoteyour offer:

Theonly VA service that will make people ask, “how does she get it all done?”

Call To Action Buttons

Whenit comes to call to action buttons, there are three things to keep in mind.They are:

1. Have one goal.
2. Be clear about the outcome.
3. The only thing that matters is value – the length isirrelevant.

Writingformulas can be applied to CTAs just like they can be to headlines. Here’s anexample.

Call To Action Formula – I’d like to

[specific action]

(what) because I want to [value] (why)

Let’ssay you’re asking your website visitors to donate to a worthy cause. So, yourcall to action button could be:

I’dlike to donate now because I want to impact thousands of lives in one click.

Thebutton itself may simply read “donate now”, but the supporting text below itcould be “impact thousands of lives in one click”.

Bullet Points

Bulletpoints are another important element on a landing page.

Again,we know that most companies tend to use them to list product features anddescribe themselves.

Butwe must keep in mind that people don’t sign up for the features – they sign upfor the value.

So,a good formula to apply here is:

Benefit+ value = emotional impact.

So,first you mention the benefit. If you’re selling an online parenting course, abenefit might be word for word scripts for handling backtalk. The emotionalvalue of this tool would be the ability to confidently and calmly handle anycrisis no matter what life throws at you.

So,your bullet point would be:

Wordfor word scripts for handling backtalk so you can confidently and calmly handleany crisis no matter what life throws at you.

Bulletpoints are meant to strengthen the emotional value of the sale. So, remove theburden of decision and help your prospects see the value of your product on anemotional level.

Testimonials

Testimonialscan go a long way towards helping you sell more. But if the emotional triggerswe’re focusing on are social image and self-image, then the testimonials wefeature should also be connected to these triggers.

Trust Symbols

Trustsymbols are an added layer of trust on your landing page that can increaseconversions.

2 Questions You Can Ask Yourself if YouWant to Improve Your Website Now

Ifyou’re wondering how you can apply the above to your website, simply ask thesetwo questions:

1. Are you making it about the customer?

Alwaysremember that the hero of the story is the customer – not you.

So,critique your page by asking and answering the following questions:

1. Am I focused on the customer’s value or the benefits andfeatures of the solution?
2. Am I using the right words to evoke the emotions I want tocreate on my page?
3. Do my testimonials address the emotional needs of myprospects?

2. Can people consistently feel theemotion?

Again,every element on your page should support your emotional triggers and overallstrategy.

So,in addition to all the elements already mentioned, ensure that your page passesthe five second test.

And, always remember that you will only achieve your goals if your customers achieve theirs.

To learn more about Talia's approach to conversion rate optimization, make sure to check out her content on GetUplift.