Note: I have a busy morning, so this is an email I sent out a few months ago that’s all about one of the biggest mistakes that instantly will kill your sale.
Last night while I was helping my parents with their retirement portfolio, I learned a very valuable lesson about not talking over someone’s head.
Here’s what I mean…
We had a Zoom call with me, my parents and my financial advisor (Randy) to go over their portfolio.
And right away Randy started talking about stuff that I knew was flying over my parents head.
For example, he was talking about index funds…
And showing them how they could be making a lot more money in a simple low-fee index fund than the mutual funds they were in.
Which is true.
Problem is, my parents don’t know what an index fund is.
So everything he explained after mentioning index funds didn’t matter.
It didn’t matter that he showed them the returns would be better.
Or that they wouldn’t be getting raked over the coals with high fees anymore.
They were still wondering “what the hell is an index fund?”.
So I addressed that.
I stopped the conversation.
And took a few minutes to explain to them what an index fund is.
And how it differs from a mutual fund.
Once they understood that, Randy was able to show them all the benefits of the index fund.
What’s funny is that for Randy, it probably seems obvious that someone would know what an index fund is.
And I’m sure his savvier investors do understand it.
But my parents didn’t have a clue.
They were just lost.
And waiting for someone to help them.
And there’s a lot you can learn from this when it comes to good copy.
Because if you’re talking over the head of your reader, you’re gonna lose them.
For example…
Let’s say you’re writing a financial promo and you refer to stocks as “equities” because in your mind they’re the same thing.
But your average person doesn’t realize that.
Your average person barely understands what a 401k is.
So if you keep talking about equities without explaining what equities are, you’re not gonna make that sale.
Cause the reader is gonna be confused.
And guess what confused people do?
They don’t buy!
Talking over the head of your reader is a big, big problem in copy.
And watching it play out in front of me last night with my parents was a real eye-opener.
So next time you’re writing copy…
Make sure you’re NOT talking over the head of your reader.
Cause that’s an easy way to confuse them…
And cost yourself a sale.
That’s all I got for ya today.
Enjoy your Thursday.
– Justin
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