The first rule of The Writing to Sell Club is: do not confuse your readers.
The second rule of The Writing to Sell Club is: do NOT confuse your readers.
Unfortunately, 100% of my copywriting clients (coaches, creatives, and consultants) struggle to pull this off.
Which sucks because it results in lost sales, stalled social outreach, and weak website copy.
Why do we, the experts, have SO MUCH TROUBLE communicating ideas in a way our prospects understand?
Drumroll please…
And brace yourself…
It’s because we’re experts.
Welcome, my friend, to the Curse of Knowledge, “a cognitive bias that leads better-informed parties to find it extremely difficult to think about problems from the perspective of lesser-informed parties.”
(Thank you, Wikipedia.)
In other words, Curse of Knowledge is your lack of beginner’s perspective.
You literally know TOO MUCH about your industry, your business, your products and services, to think about them like newbie clients would. As a result, you’re unable to explain WHAT you sell or WHY someone should buy…in terms your dream clients can understand.
The Curse is insidious because most of the time, you don’t even know you’ve got a problem. You’re the expert, for crying out loud. Surely people will catch up if they just stick around and hear you out.
But ay, there’s the rub.
A classroom of students might listen with rapt attention as you illuminate your big idea, but most folks on the internet are busy.
Your prospects are people in a rush, clicking from one site to the next. They’re distracted, listening to the microwave beep just as the baby monitor starts to wail.
And when they’re ready to buy? They’re desperate.
We humans don’t part with our cash unless we KNOW that doing so gets us a specific, concrete result that we desperately need.
That means that if you can’t break down your offer into small, understandable parts that lead to a specific result, your prospects won’t read more…or click through…or buy.
It’s as simple (and complicated) as that.
Every single one of my copywriting clients suffers from the Curse of Knowledge. They have awesome, exciting, valuable products and services, but in many cases, they don’t know how to communicate about those products and services in a way that anybody can understand.
If you’re a life, health, or business coach, the Curse of Knowledge is an even bigger problem.
That’s because:
1. You don’t sell concrete products.
Your clients can’t hold the end result in your hands. So unless you use very good descriptors, it’s difficult for them to envision what you sell.
2. You often hang out with other coaches speaking coach lingo.
Unless your target market is coaches, this will give you a warped perspective of your clients. For example, you may think that the word “coach” is overused or way too commonplace, so you attempt to stand out by inventing a creative job title like “Freedom Motivator”. But 99% of your non-coaching market barely knows what a coach is, let alone what you mean when you say “I’m a Freedom Motivator.”
3. Your work is all about the process.
Because you typically lead clients on a journey from Point A to Point E, you’re tempted to spend a lot of time talking about Points B, C, and D. After all, that’s where you get into your Zone of Genius—eliminating mindset blocks, aligning Six Human Needs with Core Values, building habits for sustainable self-awareness, etc.
But guess what? Nobody cares. Not at first, anyway. They’re only interested in the outcome, the end goal, and that you can take them there.
Think about it.
When you are thinking about buying a new dress for a major corporate event, do you ask yourself questions like “Hmm, what weight thread did the seamstress use? How did the designer arrive at this particular cut?”
Of course not! You just want to a) see the dress; b) decide if the style suits your corporate/creative vibe; and c) read reviews or backstory to determine the quality of the product. You might want to know about the integrity of the seams, or the shop’s fair trade principles, or the eco-friendliness of the dye, but only after you’ve decided the basics of the dress match your expectations.
Here’s a guarantee: If you overwhelm your prospects with information, you will confuse and lose them.
Wikipedia gives the example of a tailor who, after spending hours laboriously hemming, trimming, and hand-stitching a dress, can’t understand why a customer balks at his high prices.
“When pricing a dress for sale, [the tailor] needs to take the point of view of an uninformed customer- someone might be walking into the store with no previous knowledge of the owner, dressmaker, or how difficult or easy the item is to make. The tailor, as hard as he might try to take the point of view of the customer, cannot completely separate himself from the knowledge he has of the quality of this dress, and therefore will assume a customer will value and pay much more for the dress than is actually true.”
This is not the tailor’s FAULT. He didn’t do anything WRONG. But he won’t make the sale because he’s so caught up in his own head and he doesn’t understand his clients’ true needs.
If poor Mr. Tailor can’t communicate the true value of his dress to clients, he simply will not make the sale.
And neither will you.
That’s why I’m asking—no, I’m BEGGING you—to diagnose and consciously fight the Curse of Knowledge in your business.
Yes, it’s can feel damn near impossible to step outside of yourself. That’s why so many people hire specialists to do it for them.
But nearly impossible isn’t ACTUALLY impossible.
Here are 3 tips you can use right now to curse-proof your copy.
Let’s begin with an example.
Scenario 1:
Person #1: “I have an apple. Are you hungry? Would you like it?”
Person #2: “Well sure, I’ll take it!”
What’s happening here?
Persons 1 AND 2 understand what’s going on. One of them has an apple, which is a delicious type of fruit. It’s also concrete, easily recognizable, and most people know exactly what do with it. The other is going to receive that apple because yes, they want it.
Scenario 2:
Person #1: “I have a freedom-based flow session to expand your core alignments . Are you interested in freeing yourself from false beliefs and elevating your world view? Would you like it?”
Person #2: “Uh… No thanks, I’m good.”
What’s happening now?
Person #1 obviously understands what’s going on. She’s offering a free coaching consultation.
But Person #2 has no idea WHAT Person #1 is talking about. She can’t understand the expert jargon.
Why is the “sale” in Scenario 1 so much more successful than the attempt in Scenario 2?
Let’s look at the 3 main opportunities for improvement in the second scenario above.
I’ll explain what each issue means for your business and how you can use those insights right now.
Issue #1: Concreteness.
An apple is a specific object familiar to most people on planet Earth. When you say the world “apple” it immediately conjures an image in the mind of an apple. That’s how universal the understanding on this subject is.
Flow sessions, on the other hand, are squishy. You can’t picture them. You can’t hold them in your hand. Unless you’re familiar with holistic health and wellness, you might hear the word “flow” and just assume it means “menstrual period.”
TAKEAWAY TIP: Test how your website comes across in the real world.
Go to the website Peek by User Testing to test your website clarity right now, for free. A few hours after you sign up and submit your domain name, you’ll receive a video of a total stranger arriving at your website for the first time, clicking through it, and trying to explain what they think you’re all about.
Opportunity #2: Specificity.
An apple is a specific type of fruit. The recipient knows what it is immediate and can make a quick decision as to whether or not that type of fruit is what she wants.
“Flow session” does not offer any particular details about duration, the medium by which two people will talk, or what actually happens in the session. The recipient has no idea what to expect or what she might be forced to commit to. Is it to a 20-minute phone call? A 5-week trip to Laos?
TAKEAWAY TIP: Examine your latest sales page for specificity.
See if you can point out one place in the copy where you very clearly spell out the SPECIFIC aspects of your service or program.
Opportunity #3. Relevance.
Everyone eats, often many times a day. So an apple is highly relevant, especially for hungry people.
Not everyone elevates their worldview on any kind of regular basis. Not only is the concept vague, it has little relevance to the average person.
Basically, no one wakes up in the morning and says, “Boy, I’d love to expand my core alignment and liberate my worldview today!” But they might want to eat an apple. 🙂
TAKEAWAY TIP: Identify and assess the key benefits of your products or services.
For each new benefit, ask yourself, “Is this something that my customers would say they want? Do they wake up worried or dreaming about this benefit in their lives?” If yes, then you’re golden. If not, you’d better get some clarity ASAP.
If you DO discover you’re suffering from the Curse, never fear. I’ve got you covered!
Send your questions to ehd@elizabethhopederby.com, and I’ll give you some straight-from-the-hip advice on how to improve your copy.
Or sign up for my newsletter to be notified when I release new trainings about creating your authentic message.
