You might be surprised to hear a copywriter say this, but: Pain is what sells! Here’s my proof:

I love my car (a black Audi Quattro) but don’t take care of it the way I should, mainly because my life is so hectic and busy (some people would say surreal, my father called it chaotic) that I can’t seem to find a day to leave it at the shop and go without.

So things happen and I ignore them. The check engine light comes on. Well, the car still getting me to Seattle for client meetings, right? No problem. A funky warning light comes on, a circle thingy with two parentheses around it. (Obviously I know a lot about cars.) But again, all I have to put up with is a little nagging doubt that maybe I should be working harder and getting it to the shop, a doubt I can easily ignore by thinking about something else.

But then yesterday, yesterday one of the windows stopped working. I rolled it down to say one last thing to a friend I had just dropped off, and it wouldn’t go back up. Well, it would, but then it would go halfway down again. I tried and tried and finally had to give up and get on the freeway to drive home from Seattle in 44 degree weather with the passenger side window halfway down (and the heat cranked). And what am I thinking? “I wonder if I can get my car into the shop tomorrow.”

I tell this story because it illustrates where your customer’s mind is often at when you’re marketing to them. Unless you’re pointing out a pain that they have, they aren’t necessarily listening. Find their pain point, get their attention. That’s why emotions work in copywriting. A potential customer cares less that your product has a high antioxidant rating and more that it might help prevent cancer. What’s the pain point? Fear of cancer.

So don’t let your copywriter talk about antioxidants until they’ve first gotten the attention of that prospect by talking about cancer. Feel their pain!