The Second Research Category: Your Prospect or Customer
Remember the first part of the 4:20+Research Method includes the four research categories. We covered the first—your product—in the last segment. The second Research Category is the Prospect or Customer you are writing to.
This is easily the most important part of your research. If you don’t understand who you are selling to, their needs, their problems and pains, what they want and how they think, no copy course can help you very much. It all comes down to the person on the other side of your copy.
In the last segment, we mentioned the research documents included with this course. You’ll find a copy of the Prospect Document included with your course materials. We recommend you either copy the Google doc version to your own google drive, or download and print the PDF versions.
Just like the Product document, we’ve included a few lines with each question so you can add notes. But you’ll be gathering far more information than you can fit on a few lines, so don’t limit yourself to the space on the forms. Pull out a notebook or an extra sheet of paper to capture everything you need as you answer these questions.
As with the last document, you may not need to ask all of these questions. And some questions you may want to edit to reflect your niche, your customer, and the work you do. This is just a starting point, but we’ve tried to include just about everything you need to get started. Let’s do it.
The first question you want to answer is: Who is your prospect? Describe them in as much detail as possible. We’re going to get into some specifics with the questions that follow, so here you’re looking for a general description of your ideal customer or reader. Are they women or men? Parents? Singles? Teens? What is their income level? Do they live somewhere specific? You’re looking at averages here for the typical customer. This description may not include every customer or user, but do your best.
The next question is: What stage of Awareness are they in? We talk about the stages of awareness in greater detail in the Copywriting portion of this course, but your research should tell you whether they are: unaware, problem aware, solution aware, product aware, or most aware (that is they already have their credit card out and are ready to buy). This is critical information to know because it will completely change the kind of copy you are writing.
The next prospect question is: What is their big problem or pain? This is one of the keys to your success as a writer. And the bigger or more serious the problem is, the easier it is to sell a solution for. Some marketers refer to big problems as “bleeding neck” problems. If your neck is bleeding, you need to deal with it now or you will die. So what’s the big problem your customer needs to get fixed? Try to find the biggest, most urgent problem to address.
Next question: What gains do they want to achieve? In addition to the big problem customers need to solve, they may have improvements they are seeking. For example, an aging grandparent may want a solution for their painful knee. This is the problem. But they also want to spend time roughhousing with their grandchildren. That’s a gain. Another example, your client may need a website where they can sell their products. Lack of sales is the problem. But they also want to grow their audience and display their expertise. These are gains.
The next question you want to answer is: What keeps them up at night? This is just another way to get at the real pain and its connection to their worry or anxiety. Your client needs sales. But the thing that keeps them up at night is losing their house because they don’t earn enough to make the mortgage payments. Knowing what keeps them awake at night will help you identify some of the core emotions and beliefs you need to address in your copy.
Similarly, the next question: What do they feel inadequate about? helps you get to similar insights. Inadequacy, shame, guilt, and embarrassment are deeply felt emotions that people are often desperate to fix. You want to understand these feelings, not so you can “rub it in” but rather so you can empathize with your customers as you write.
Next question: What are they afraid of? Answers to this question will help you get to the same kinds of deeply felt beliefs. The grandparent with a bad knee might be afraid of falling down the stairs. They might be afraid of losing a relationship with their grandkids because they can’t keep up. Or they might be afraid of the side effects of surgery. Think about your customers and what they fear most. It’s probably more than one thing.
What are they angry about? Who are they angry at? One powerful copywriting technique you might employ when it’s time to write your copy is fighting an enemy. Apple did this in their advertising when they took on the PC. Pepsi did this with Coke and the Pepsi Challenge. Liquid Death’s enemy is thirst. Duck Duck Go’s enemy is anyone who won’t protect your data. So what is your customer angry about? Who will they pick up a pitchfork and charge? And why?
The next question… What are their top frustrations? You may want to keep this related to the product or service you are selling, but this could include just about anything. Let’s say you’re writing copy for a time management product. Frustrations might include: Not finding a usable journal, trying to get various calendars to sync with each other and failing, procrastination, struggles with personal discipline, and similar struggles. Ask you customers to share their frustrations with you.
The next question: What trends are occurring that affect their business/life? Most potential customers won’t be able to answer this question. People simply don’t pay close attention to the future or what’s happening around them. But as an expert in your niche or field, YOU should be aware of these. Your client may also be able to share ideas related to this. A recent example of trends shaking up many industries is the advent of Artificial Intelligence. Other trends might be economic. Or related to innovations and competition.
The next question: What do they secretly desire most? Aside from the pains your customer wants to solve and the gains associated with that, they may have some additional desires. For example, if you are selling a dating app, the immediate pain your product solves may be loneliness and the need for companionship, a date, or sex. Gains might include a boyfriend or girlfriend, new friends and new experiences. But the secret desire (maybe it’s not all that secret in this case) is true love and long term happiness.
Another great question to ask is: What words or jargon do they use? In some industries and niches, knowledge of insider language is a clear trust signal and a sign you know what you’re talking about. If you can use these words naturally in your copy, it will be more believable.
Shifting gears a bit… you also want to know What other solutions have they tried? This will help you identify competitors and understand what other messages and solutions are available.
What was their experience with those solutions? You want to know if those solutions worked or not, and how that affected their lives.
Next question: What beliefs do they have that are keeping them from buying now? This question is very similar to one of the questions you asked on the product belief, but you want to answer this from the customer’s perspective. Their answer here may help you address indifference and inertia when you write your copy.
The next question is the flipside of the last one: What beliefs do they need to adopt in order to buy now? These two questions together will help you address the biggest objection of all… why do I need to do this now instead of later?
Next you want to understand what the resulting outcome is like, so you ask the question: How will they feel after their problem is fixed? You’re looking for emotional language describing this “after” state.
And the final question is: Describe their world after using this solution. Paint the future. Include all the positive benefits and results. If you’re selling a headache remedy, don’t just answer with: the headache is gone. Focus on what that means. What can they do now that they’re not lying in a dark room wishing the pain away? What relationships are better? How is life different? How is it better?
That’s it for the prospect brief. As a quick recap: take a look at the questions on this document and determine which ones you need answers to. Don’t let the number of questions overwhelm you.
Okay, quick recap: you can use these questions as provided, add others, or revise these to fit your needs. In another module, we’ll give you specific directions on different ways to collect this information. But like the last document, ask your clients, but don’t stop there. Talk to actual customers and prospects to get the full picture. If you have answers to the questions on this document—answers based on research from your customers as well as non-buyers, along with the answers on the other three research docs—you’ll be ready to write engaging, compelling copy that connects and ultimately sells.