If you’re a diligent researcher, you might think you know everything there is to possibly know about your prospect.
Deepest fears, pain points, income, business, marital status, family status. You might even know their hair and eye color.
If you’re writing to that person (and you really have those details correct), your copy will likely convert well.
What you might not know about is a secret weapon you can add into the mix that, if used correctly, can skyrocket your conversions through the roof.
Do you know your prospect’s productivity personality? No? That’s all right, not many do. And that’s precisely why this knowledge can give you an unfair advantage as a marketer.
There are four basic personality types that profoundly affect human preferences regarding organization, time management, and productivity strategies.
If you know the personality type of your ideal customer, you can make your copy speak to them on every possible level, from the problems you’ll solve to how you’ll go about solving them.
Let’s take a look at all four, and how to write for each of them …
1. The Fantastical type
The Fantastical personality type is energized by wrestling with problems and coming up with creative solutions.
They learn best by doing, and they have a tendency to lose track of time when they’re caught up in an interesting project.
The most distinctive mark of a Fantastical, though, is that they need to have all the pieces of a project in front of them, otherwise they’ll forget it exists.
My Fantastical business partner goes so far as to refuse to use the produce drawers in her refrigerator because otherwise she’ll forget she bought the fruits and vegetables!
Fantasticals want more than just a plug and play product.
When writing to Fantasticals, make sure you assure them that they’ll get full explanations of all the actions suggested in your product, and then tell them how they’ll solve their problems and learn by doing.
Once you’ve closed the sale, keep up the Fantastical copy by making sure your product dishes out the background theory and information, because your Fantastical customers will want to know all the details.
2. The Structural type
Structural types are natural organizers (and, not coincidentally, are the authors of 99% of the productivity books on the market).
A Structural thrives in a calm, structured environment and doesn’t do well with uncertainty or surprise.
The Structural is the one everyone turns to when there’s an event to be planned, a schedule to be created or a pile of files to be organized.
They can typically pull off feats of organization that amaze lesser mortals, but take away their planner and to-do list and they’re lost.
You also need to explain why your product is better to solve their problem than any other product out there.
And don’t forget to provide testimonials, because a Structural will be reluctant to try it without some evidence that it actually works.
Including clear steps and checklists in your product (and your pre-launch content) will help Structurals to implement your ideas, and trust your word.
3. The Environmental type
Environmentals are all about connections and people.
They care that everyone around them is happy, healthy, comfortable and has what they need.
The Environmental type thrives on human interaction, and has been known to miss meetings and appointments because they were deep in conversation with a friend or coworker who needed a hand.
A strong Environmental type will even go so far as to save anything that might be of use to someone someday — like my grandmother, who ran the string that bound the Thanksgiving turkey through the dishwasher each year and tucked it safely away into a drawer (we did actually find a use for them one year, thus vindicating Oma for everything she’d ever saved).
If you’ve included forums, tell them all about the great interaction you’re expecting and the support networks of peers that they’ll have a chance to contribute to.
The icing on the cake would be to mention all the people the Environmental customer would be able to help after they finish your product — thereby selling the outcome rather than the tool.
4. The Analytical type
Analyticals are success-driven, goal-oriented individuals.
They work well with summaries and numbers, and they don’t have patience for anything that appears unnecessarily elaborate or potentially ineffective.
An Analytical is gifted with the ability to see the big picture and plan accordingly, but their ability to track the smaller details isn’t particularly strong.
It’s not that they aren’t capable of doing so. They just don’t view the financial paperwork or files to be essential to the big picture in their head.
Copy for Analyticals needs to be precise.
Don’t beat around the bush; condense your benefits into concise points and tell your prospect exactly what you’re solving and how you’ll go about doing it.
Extra bonus points if you can fit it into a chart or graph that can be understood in seconds — Analyticals are all about understanding valuable information quickly and effectively.
Many Analyticals have assistants or informal helpers, so structure your product with the understanding that your Analytical customer may not be the one handling the minor aspects.
If you can communicate all this succinctly in your sales copy, you’ll have a great shot at winning the business of your Analytical customer.
Why write for personality types?
By writing to your prospect’s personality, you can connect with them on a level that everyone in the marketplace ignores.
You can also structure your product offering to suit the style of the primary type in your audience, thus increasing the chances that they’ll be able to implement it effectively.
Writing to your audience’s personality allows you to accurately cater to them from pitch to result, giving you more money in your pocket and a cadre of fans raving about how awesome your product is.
There’s no marketing strategy that’s more effective than that!