So many times you will have found advice on how to write engaging and effective web content. In fact, the persuasive copywriting is a necessary step in getting conversions. That is: to get users to take valuable actions on your pages such asbuying a product or making a contact.
However, what we like to highlight in this mini-guide is the persuasive power ofempathy. Let’s find out how to score by changing perspective and making a human connection, even on the Web.
Empathy and web marketing: what are we talking about?
Writing successful web content depends on a happy concatenation of causes. This is not a random event, far from it!
When we go online, the first goal is to get a good positioning of the site by bringing to life text that the search engine likes.
How? With specific techniques, for example:
- the web design
- The construction of a responsive structure for the platform
- the SEO copywriting
The second goal is to strike a chord in the hearts of your readers, your target audience, the one that will form the basis for any strategy.
Do you really know how to connect deeply with your target audience?
Empathy can be a key: putting yourself in the other person’s shoes allows you to build a trusting and authentic relationship with the people who follow you, read you, listen to your podcasts, buy your products and/or services.
Therefore, a change of perspective is essential, that is, moving from defining a target, generic and impersonal, to identifying the personas, with their needs, doubts and personal emotions.
Numbers and examples of empathetic marketing
But is this really the case? Do people seek an emotional connection with the brands they are most attached to? Yes, as some numbers attest.
According to anIPSOS survey., creating a sense of community and conveying authenticity in the production of valuable content brings an increase in consumers of up to +70%. Moreover, especially after the crisis related to the COVID-19 epidemic, 86% of customers choose brands and companies that can convey a message beyond profit. In other words, people are looking for those who treat them as individuals and not just as numbers on an economic balance sheet.
Some of the most recent marketing and communication campaigns of large groups testify to this. Here are a couple of examples of putting ourselves in each other’s shoes.
- Social #ShowUs Campaign (Where)
The soap and body cleanser brand Dove did asurvey to contextualize its audience and found that 70 percent of women do not feel represented by advertising campaigns and stereotypes of the female world. It therefore asked them to show themselves as they are and celebrate their bodies. The result? Over 5,000 images posted on social: the largest collection created by women and non-binary individuals, demonstrating the deep connection between people and the message conveyed by the brand.
Self-love + Authenticity = 100% empathy
- Microsoft infographic
In past years Microsoft has tried to make such a ‘tough’ topic as personal data protection attractive by creating the interactive site Anatomy of a Data Breach. In it, consumers are educated and told how to defend themselves against data theft. The perspective is quite unusual: users become hackers and are guided step by step through the breach of web security protocols. How do you show empathy with such a technical topic? By creating an engaging story that helps people understand what the topic is about, including through statistical data.
Access to information + Problem resolution = 100% empathy
Writing content for the web: how to be empathetic?
At this point it is clear: your content is needed to connect with personas. That’s why we wanted to summarize in 3 tips how to go from theory to practice, that is, how to write empathetic web content.
- Ask yourself questions. Find answers.
Knowing people means centering on the topics of greatest interest and striking the right chords. To do this, it is necessary to do research not only on the target audience, but also on individual topics. Let us, as always, put ourselves in the shoes of others and ask ourselves if the content is useful, if it is sincere, if it is correct (i.e., does not contain inaccuracies), if it speaks the right language of the people who will read it etc.
The brief phase is crucial to communicating as an expert and in an engaging way, whether you are working on a blog article, or an Instagram post, or even a company brochure. - Be conversational. Be human.
You are a person, not an algorithm: affirm it through your messages. The human side behind the brand is what brings you closest to people. Use appropriate language: the right tone of voice to speak to people who are interested in fashion is not the same as the tone of voice to use in sports content, let alone in medical or scientific content. - Tell a story. Yours.
Storytelling is among the most powerful forms of empathic content. The storytelling you need to gain trust: people want to know who you are and what makes you the perfect speaker to communicate with them on a given topic. If you want to shake people’s emotions, you can’t help but authentically and transparently tell your brand story or make yourself available to convey ethical messages.
Skills and empathy: with Isola you can!
The writing content for the web usingempathy may seem easy, and it really isn’t. It is not a matter of slyly riding the wave of emotions, but rather of planning a strategy that models every aspect of corporate communication.
Consulting specialists then becomes an obligatory step to achieve programmatic goals. At Isola Communication, a web agency in Milan, we bring together professionals in the creation of professional websites and in corporate communication planning.
If you want to get to know us better and discover our faces, visit the page about us of our website. What do you think about us? If you’d like, we’d love to hear about your idea and project and tell you what we can do together to bring to life an empathetic content strategy that humanizes your brand!
To continue to learn more:
Content is king: the importance of content marketing in digital
