Before we get into this, a note about this picture:

I like it.

I could have chosen an ambiguous, artsy pic. But instead, I went with this one of a woman seemingly asking:

“HEY GOD! WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR ME TO WRITE TO MY CUSTOMER AVATAR?”

I can’t answer for God. But here’s my response to her.

If you’ve been in the marketing game for a while, this won’t be new.

Instead, it’s an illustration of a concept that’s drilled into our heads every day.

“Identify your customer avatar and write to that person.”

This is important, because our product isn’t right for everyone (unless we’re selling toilet paper).

Knowing that, we have to identify those people who need our product most and speak directly to them.

In general, this equates to more sales or more clicks or whatever…

And if you’re a conversion copywriter, that’s your job.

But the sale or the click is really just the end result of a longer emotional process in which your reader identifies with your message and actually feels something because of it.

The other day, a previous client reached out to me and shared a story of that process in action.

Here’s what happened.

I wrote an on-boarding email sequence for a SaaS company.

They had a TON of incredible user stories, but as far as I know, hadn’t used any of them in their marketing yet.

So we spent 3 emails in a 5-email sequence telling user success stories in ways that were simple and accessible to our avatar. Basically, we told stories thatreaders could envision themselves in.

That helped us accomplish two things:

1. It helped readers believe that they could actually accomplish the task the app was designed to help them do.

This was important, because our readers had likely never done anything like what we were offering.

2. It highlighted what made the app unique.

The founders legitimately care about their users.

They helped one of their users get a laptop, because she didn’t have one. To me, that’s impressive AF, because it wasn’t expected of them. They just did it.

And, well, the emails worked.

One of the co-founders emailed me last week and said:

He included screenshots of a message from one of their users. Here are a few snippets:

(I don’t believe she’s a native English speaker, so excuse the few minor typos and awkward phrasing.)

That was really cool to see.

I’m not sure if the 3-hour download happened before or after she read the emails, but regardless…

The emails I wrote made her feel comfortable actually participating in the community aspect of the app, which is a very important feature.

And they motivated her to pursue her goal despite her less-than-ideal circumstances.

It’s hard to tell based on her wording whether the emails convinced her to spend 3 hours downloading the app or if that was another part of the onb

And that’s awesome.

I’ve heard it said that, as copywriters, we sell hope. That’s true. And hope is especially powerful if it comes from someone your reader can identify with.

So, the next time you’re about to write some copy, make sure you know who you’re writing for.

Because your words might be more powerful than you think.

Why is it Important to Write to Your Customer Avatar?

Here’s what happened.

And, well, the emails worked.

That was really cool to see.