June Copy Hacks: 5 Stealthy Ways to Get Inside Your Customers' Brains

Last month we explained that the #1 rule of copywriting isn’t about writing at all; it’s listening.

But in this world of websites, text messages and quick comments, it’s not always easy to get quality time with our customers.

And what if you’re just starting out and you don’t have any actual customers yet? What if they live on the other side of the planet? What if you’re not sure that your ideal clients will tell you what they really think anyway?

Our answer is this; you can still listen. You just have to do it by stealth.

Here are our favourite stealthy ways to get inside your customer’s brain

Use these top online tools to research what potential customers are sharing, what they’re reading and what burning questions plague their minds.

Amazon Reviews

Reviews of the popular books in your field can be real eye openers.

Check out both the 5 and 1 star reviews to spot trends, gaps, themes or common issues that your customers may be experiencing.

What we found when we did this:

Many of the 1-star reviews of popular copywriting books complain that they promote sleazy snake oil sales and copywriting tactics. This show us that people are hungry to learn “how write copy without the sleaze” or “how to convert customers without clickbait” - happily something we happen to be passionate about too.

BuzzSumo

This is an invaluable tool for understanding the most popular content in your area and what has been most shared.

What we found:

The most popular content around copywriting on BuzzSumo tends to be rich on practical detail. Everyone loves a good tip, trick or hack.

Quora

Despite it’s reputation for somewhat stupid questions, Quora can still be a great way to gain insight into the main unanswered questions in your field.

What we found:

One of the top questions was a request for great copywriting hacks- music to our ears as we begin this series!

Reddit

A goldmine for stealth research into common questions, concerns and themes in your ideal customer’s minds. Use ‘subreddits’ as a filter to drill down further.

What we found:

The most popular thread within this area was on the Oxford Comma, and punctuation preferences in general. We found this somewhat surprising given that we largely live in a post-grammar world.

Answer the Public

Does what it says on the tin- it’s a wonderful visual keyword tool about what the public are searching for.

What we found:

The results here show that there seems to be a real lack of understanding of copywriting actually is and what someone hiring a copywriter should expect. We tend to take this as a given, but it might be interesting to explore on the blog in future.

A word of warning: set a timer. Heading to Reddit especially can suck up most of your day if you let it.

Coming up in next month’s copy hacks, a super-easy copywriting formula to help you stand out and get more eyeballs on your copy. Sign up on the right to be sure you won’t miss it.