I should’ve said no.
But it was dry season for clients … and her payday loans firm had a bottomless budget (thanks to its 2356% APR).
No pride won that week.
Only thing gained was a lesson – two, actually:
Lesson One:
A payday loans customer doesn’t need a friend. He doesn’t even need somebody to understand his struggle. He just needs the cash.
No point casting your favourite research techniques here. No point deep-diving on empathy. Just get out of your own way – and show him the money.
— Note: My headline for this post has misled you.
There’s NEVER a time we can bench empathy as copywriters, completely.
In this case, I empathised with a father of three, who just got ‘let down’ by Real Madrid on his weekend bet. And I made it stupid-easy for him to get his money back (temporarily) by explaining what would happen if he clicked ‘Apply’.
It took empathy to step into the customer’s shoes and respect his urgency. —
Lesson Two:
If your conscience whispers ‘no’ when a job’s on the table, listen. No payslip’s worth a guilty gut.
See Kevin Rogers talk on the right way to use empathy here (his tale is much funnier).
Or confess your ugliest client in the comments.
— By the way, this post is just one of the chapters for our ebook on empathy and how to use it in copywriting. Just click the link to get your free copy. —
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