Happy Sunday to 1,699 creators reading The Sticky Writing Chronicle - a newsletter that will make your jaw drop more often than I drop my phone (and that’s a lot!).

In this week’s letter, I’ll tell about the most potent emotion a copywriter can evoke (that’s - according to scientific research - even more motivating hunger)….

and how to leverage it in your writing to make it more engaging & persuasive.

Ready to dive in?

Let’s go.

“What’s the reason people buy things?”.

I felt a bit caught off guard when my friend asked this question on a call…

But then I thought to myself:

C’mon…it’s a test. Sit back. THINK. Now it’s time to show off all of your copywriting knowledge.

“Uhm…it’s because…” struggling to frame the words correcctly

“People buy things to get a solution to to their problem.” I say that with 0.01% confidence in my voice.

“That’s right,” he nods.

Ha. I made it. Win.

“But there’s also another major reason…”

Crap. He got me. I guess I have to give in.

“I don’t know.” I said with a guilty voice.

The friend smiles.

And then he says something that changes my view on copywriting forever:

“It’s because of curiosity. Oftentimes, you don’t buy because you really want to solve a problem. You just want to experience what it’s like to own & use the product.”

This was a big aha moment for me.

And I believe you can find it relatable as well.

Just ask yourself:

“How many times did you buy a product not because you NEEDED it but just cuz you were curious what is it gonna be like?”

I bet your answer’s gonna reveal a lot.

As I’ve already mentioned in the beginning, research has proven that curiosity motivates people even more than hunger.

With that in mind, imagine how STRONG curiosity is if it can outplay possibly the most fundamental biological instincts we’re all born with.

If you can make your prospect curious about your product…

That’s 80% of the success. Heck, I’d bet my dog it’s more than that.

Enough of the nerdy talk for now though.

Instead, let’s answer the burning question that’s most likely on your mind right now:

How do you evoke curiosity in your copy?

Look:

There are 3 main parts of a sales copy where curiosity plays the most important role:

1. Headline (I bet you know what that is)

2. Lead (the thing that follows right after the headline)

3. Bullets (the bullet points that describe the things you’ll discover in the product. E.g. for a course sales copy, they’re gonna talk about the information you’ll find in separate modules).

How do you know you’ve done a good job with them?

It’s quite simple.

The reader’s gonna ask one of the two most basic questions a human being can ask:

“How” or “Why”

Do you want to know how to do that?

If you do…

I gotta pat myself on the back because I made you ask yourself a ‘how’ question.

Anyway…

Here’s how you do it…

Create a curiosity gap.

No matter if it’s the headline, the lead, or the bullet section…

In all of those, you’re telling a story.

And your goal is to tell the beginning & the end of the story…

But not the middle.

That’s what’s gonna force the prospect to read the copy (and eventually buy the product).

Let me show you a few examples:

Look at the subheadline of this legendary ad written by Joe Sugarman:

He reveals the beginning: “When I put on the pair of glasses…”

He also reveals the end: “…what I saw I could not believe.”

The first that’s gonna be on the reader’s mind is “Why?”

“What was so amazing about glasses that he couldn’t believe what he saw?”

“Why is he writing a whole ad about it?”

Got it?

Nice.

Let’s stay with this ad for a bit more & talk about the lead:

“I am about to tell you a true story. If you believe me, you will be well rewarded. If you don’t believe me, I will make it worth your while to change your mind. Let me explain.”

See?

You know the beginning, and Joe’s now teasing an even more interesting end.

It makes you ask deeper questions like “Why is this guy so confident about the glasses being so great? WHY?”.

No wonder he’s one of the copywriters of all time. A pure genius.

Now, last but not least…

We’re gonna talk about bullets.

And on this planet, you wouldn’t find a person that’s better at writing bullets than Ben Settle.

Here’s one (you can check more of those on this sales page)

He reveals the beginning:

“The “wet dream” secret of creating emails, ads, podcasts, articles, and other marketing documents…”

And the end…

“…people almost can’t forget and that they may sometimes even love buying from.”

And as you can tell…

Ben isn’t only creating the precious curiosity gap…

He’s also “twisting the knife” for each to generate even more curiosity.

A few examples…

• He names things in a strange way (I mean…isn’t the word “wet dream” making you feel curious enough?)

• He promises outcomes people would have never expect to achieve (make people love buying from you)

• He uses the word SECRET - and people damn love secrets…

There are tons of sneaky persuasion techniques Ben’s showing us here…

But these could be a subject for another time…

But for this week, that’s all I wanted to share with you.

Talk next Sunday,

– Claudia “Tryin’ to make you curious” Stellner

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