How To Appeal To Different Personality Types With Your Copywriting

Whether it’s your milkman or lawyer, do you ever find yourself talking to different types of people in different ways? Do you use different words? Different types of expression? Or find yourself behaving in a different way altogether?
Well, it’s just human nature to sometimes mould ourselves to mirror the person we’re talking to. This tactic of changing the way we talk to sound more appealing can also be effective in sales letters, web pages and any other type of highly targeted copy.
So the next time to sit down to write, consider how to adjust your copywriting to appeal to your target customer. Should it be more lively and energetic? Should you use storytelling? Or should you stick to the cold hard facts?
How to gauge your copywriting’s tone of voice
One way of gauging how to pitch your copywriting is to immerse yourself in the world of your customers. Read their magazines, visit their popular websites and read through any marketing material you can get your hands on that’s targeted at your customer.
It can also help to create a profile of an imaginary customer. Try to pinpoint what their challenges are. What are their hobbies? What do they aspire for in life? This then makes it easier to gauge which words and phrases to use to address them in a conversational manner.
The four key personality types
Over the centuries, philosophers, psychologists and copywriters have broken people down into four key personality types. Identifying which category your target customer falls into can help you to gauge how to pitch your copywriting:
1. Drivers
What they want – Bottom line benefits: What results can they expect? How much money or time will your product save them?
Who are they – Hardnosed B2B buyers and sales managers.
How to appeal – Provide plenty of clear, concise facts. Creative storytelling with an ambiguous conclusion is best avoided.
2. Analyticals
What they want – Facts, stats and list of features. They want in-depth technical information on how your product works and why it’s the best available.
Who are they – Scientists, doctors, technicians, engineers and doctors.
How to appeal – Provide spec sheets, test results, surveys and cold, hard data.
3. Expressives
What they want – Driven by emotions, this personality type wants products that will make them feel good about themselves and will raise their social capital.
Who are they – The artistic and aspirational, designers, teachers, people that like designer labels with active social lives.
How to appeal – Paint a picture of how your product will make them feel and help them to stand amongst their friends.
4. Amiables
What they want – Help in solving a problem, not just for them but for other people. They care about other people and how their buying decisions will affect others.
Who are they – People that deal with people through their jobs and daily life. Consultants, HR, public services and parents.
How to appeal – Give them assurances that your product has social proof with testimonials, case studies and real life stories on how your product has solved a customer’s problem.