Do you want to combine empathy and copy to relate to your customers and increase sales?
Copywriting can be tricky. Striking the balance between marketing and sales can be tough, though the ultimate goal of any good copy is to get the conversion.
And one emotion you NEED to get familiar with is empathy.
That’s why, in this post, I’ll share 3 expert tips on how to combine empathy and copy for stronger messaging.
But before we dive into that, let’s get clear on what empathy is for any of our sociopath copywriters out there (just kidding, don’t find me).
Let’s get started.
What Is Empathy?
Empathy is a lot like sympathy. But they aren’t quite the same.
Sympathy is understanding someone’s situation and feeling sorry for them because of it.
Empathy, on the other hand, is only about understanding someone’s situation. But rather than just feeling sorry for your customers, you can empower them instead.
In other words, sympathy has a fixed ending (feeling sorry for someone). Empathy is like a “choose your own ending” style book.
You can do nothing for them, get mad at them, be afraid for them, or, of course, you could simply HELP them.
See, empathy isn’t about being an emotional person necessarily, but more so understanding where people are coming from and what they need to hear for your message to resonate with them.
The easiest way I can think of describing empathy in copywriting terms is “putting yourself in the shoes of those who read your copy”.
So empathy is about understanding the needs and pains of those to whom we’re trying to sell our products/services.
And empathy is the secret to making copy that converts.
With that in mind, let’s turn to the 3 need-to-know pieces of advice for combining empathy and copy.
Empathy and Copy: 3 Need-to-Know Bits of Advice
1) Empathy Helps Your Market Research
Before you write any copy, it’s important to understand your consumers.
What do they want? What problems are they facing?
How can you help them solve their issues with empathy-filled messaging that drives sales up and down the funnel?
With empathy in mind, you’ll be able to find more insights about what makes people tick.
Which will, in turn, lead to more empathy and better copy.
This is a win-win for both you and your customers!
Your biggest challenge as a copywriter will be finding 2 things about your customers:
- Their current pain points
- Their imagined ideal future (when that pain is gone)
Understanding either of these aspects requires a certain level of empathy. You need to be able to imagine yourself in their shoes to figure out what their real struggle is.
Because you might think your product is solving a problem, but only scratching the surface of how it can REALLY help your audience.
Imagine for example that you’re selling clothing online. And your current tagline is something like, “Look great at prices you can afford!”
This is a good piece of copy because, after all, who doesn’t want to look great?
But dig a bit deeper. Is looking great REALLY what your audience struggles with? Or could your copywriting be even more effective with a bit of empathy.
Ask yourself:
- How do I feel when I DON’T look great?
- How do I feel when I DO look great?
- What other issues (like weight, skin allergies, climate concerns, etc.) might be making this decision harder for my customers?
Running through these basic questions is actually just a practice in empathy! All you’re doing is working to understand a problem from someone else’s perspective.
Then you can overhaul your copy with something that touches those unique points:
- “Look great. Feel confident.”
- “Only 5 dollars to feel like a million bucks”
- “Move over heart. It’s time to wear confidence on our sleeves.”
While a few minutes might give you time to improve the examples above, you get the idea.
By joining empathy and copy, you can tap into the root of your customer’s struggles and create more impactful campaigns.
2) Empathy and Copy ≠ “Soft” Voice
Did you think empathy meant your copy was supposed to be soft?
F*** that.
Empathy is about understanding the customer’s struggles, not avoiding them. So if they’re struggling with acne scars or bad breath, empathy doesn’t mean sugarcoating the truth.
It means working through that problem for them and making them feel like they’re not alone in the world.
So empathy is about connecting with what your customers are feeling, and it’s also very much about power: a shared empathy between you and them. It makes them stronger by having you on their side, and that can make all the difference in their purchasing decisions.
This is an important distinction to make because while empathy is one of your strongest assets, confidence is just as important.
That means you should never sacrifice one for another at any stage in your copywriting journey.
A good way to think about this is like the difference between a good and a bad therapist.
Which one would your rather visit, a therapist who:
- Empathized with all your problems and confidently gave you exercises and solutions in a respectful but genuine way
- Empathized with all your problems but didn’t seem sure of their solutions
You’d obviously want the former and avoid the latter like the plague.
Both therapists in the examples had empathy, but understanding your clients’ problems is worthless if you’re not confident in the solutions you offer.
3) Empathy Gives Your Audience HOPE
When you write your messaging with an empathetic but confident tone, you’re showing your audience two things:
- You’ve had their same problem in the past
- You’re MUCH better now because of the solution
That empathy and confidence show that you’ve been there before, but now you can help them get better.
It’s an incredibly powerful message to offer your customers because it gives them hope for the future instead of just sympathy in the present. This is exactly why empathy-based copywriting always has a happy ending for the customer.
You’ve heard the phrase, “Hope is a dangerous thing.” It’s true because hope can be used against you if it comes with no plan for action.
The empathy in your copywriting provides that path to take so they feel empowered and encouraged after reading what you wrote rather than discouraged or depressed about their current situation.
So empathy is about connecting with your audience in a way that makes them feel strong and confident, not sad or weak.
That’s what empathy-based copywriting does best: it gives readers the power to take action towards being better versions of themselves by following this path you created for them through empathy alone.
And the best way to become more empathetic?
Take a deep dive into researching your target audience and REALLY put yourself in their shoes.
Try to feel their pain and imagine what kind of future they’re hoping for.
Then you can tap into those (empathetically, of course) and write much better copy in the future.
And that’s all for today! This has been a short lesson in how to combine empathy and copy.
I hope you found this post helpful. After all, I wrote it because I ever-so-empathetically thought you might 😉
