How To Drive Sales With Words (part 2 - The Undefeated Alien test)

In the last article we talked about how to make sure your prospects don’t die before they even get to the spicy part of your content. If you haven’t checked it out, it’s here: https://www.themrresults.com/post/how-to-drive-sales-with-words

Now that we’ve lured the reader in, it’s our job to keep them reading.

How do we do that?

By:

Using The Alien Test To Fix Your Writing

If you were able to read the first sentence without having the thought that aliens have taken over Earth… you’re a braver man than I am.

This was the text of a Facebook ad I saw recently.

I guarantee you that it didn’t perform well.

Why?

Because it doesn’t pass the Alien test.

“Ok, What The Heck Is This Mythical Alien Test?”

The Alien Test is undefeated and undisputed. As long as humans are alive you’ll be able to use the Alien Test to drastically improve your copy (Unless, aliens actually take over Earth).

Here’s how you use it: 

You look at a piece of text (we call this ‘copy’ in the biz) and you ask yourself:

‘would I say this to an actual human being in a conversation?’

It’s easy and it works every single time.

Let’s look back at the first sentence of that ad.

“We now do slab cutting, trenching, recessed shower floors for ADA…” it goes on and on and on.

People would think: “What the heck is going on?”.

In a real conversation you’d say something like:

“Are you looking to remodel your driveway?”

You see how much easier it is to read?

No confusing words, no boring monologue.

The first sentence sounds like an alien pretending to be a human. The second sentence sounds like an actual human.

The Quickest And Easiest Way To Fix Your Writing:

Here’s a trick that works every time. It’s going to sound simple and almost childish… but if you give this a try you’ll wish you knew this earlier.

Read your copy out loud.

Where does it sound weird? Where do you stumble? Where does it go off track? Would you say this to an actual human being?

It’s the easiest way to make sure that when someone reads your stuff, they actually know what you're saying.

Take the second sentence of the ad for example:

“We will be adding a wall saw too in the near future!!”.

A wall saw? I don’t even know what that is! Are we trying to cut into walls now?

When the ideal prospect sees this ad, they’ll have no idea what you’re talking about.

It goes off track from what we’re trying to do—sell tile and stone projects.

Read your copy and question it, I guarantee you’ll see more results from it.

Apply this advice to your content and see how much more response you get to whatever you write.

P.S. Want to see how I’d use the Alien Test to make your prospects drool through your writing and become a new customer? Fill out this form here.

If we’re a good fit I’ll personally take a look at your marketing and come up with a strategy of what I’d do differently and discuss it with you in depth on a call. 

No cost, no obligation.