The Refrigerator Moment
One thing I run into all the time as a copywriter, is getting deep into the head of my clients’ customers. As entrepreneurs, we spend a lot of time thinking about what we’re good at, what we can sell, how to package it, how to price it, what it does… but we kind of forget about whom we’re selling to.
No. That’s not quite right. We do our due diligence on Ideal Client Avatar exercises. Who they are, where they hang out online, what their days and cars and homes and lives and closets look like.
Where it feels really vague, to me, when clients talk about their work, is getting inside the customer’s head. I guess you could call it “pain points” but a more accurate description would be “tipping point” (not all clients are in pain). What are they thinking about, that, if you put it in front of them, would tip them off the fence, into buying from, subscribing to, clicking through to you?
Sometimes I describe this as the Refrigerator Moment.
Because I think about food all day (like, almost every second of every day) but know I can’t eat constantly all day… there’s usually a moment that gets me to actually open the fridge. Sometimes the hunger overwhelms me. Sometimes the boredom overwhelms me. Sometimes there’s a task I don’t want to do and I know that accompanying it with peanut M&Ms will make it easier to swallow (all puns intended).
I want to eat. The urge has been building… it’s more than I can stand, so now here I am, in front of the fridge. What’s my state of mind ? What exactly am I looking for?
If I’m about to take on an agonizing task and you offer me a hamburger… no. That’s not what I need. I need a small, repeatable pop of sugary-ness that I can reward myself with frequently as I work through my tax prep.
However – If it’s Friday and it’s been a long week and I skipped lunch so now I’m standing in front of the open fridge and you show up with a Finbar’s burger with caramelized onions and bacon and cheese, I will muck that so hard you’ll need to move your hand.
Here’s a more nuanced example.
I write for a lot of coaches. Broadly speaking, they all offer “coaching services”. But their clients, their clients’ problems, and so their clients’ tipping points, are all different.
Say you feel stuck. (The thing I love about my coach clients is they are amazing at getting people UNstuck and back into motion. And man, if there’s one ‘pain point’ I can relate to, it’s being stuck.)
I want something more precise than “stuck”. Think about all the different ways we can feel stuck. Like…
I have no clue at all why I’m stuck. I just feel like something’s wrong, and I don’t like this uncomfortable stuck feeling.
I know why I’m stuck. I keep getting stuck at the same place, but I don’t know what to do differently to avoid getting stuck here again.
I know exactly why I’m stuck. I even know what to do. But I’m too scared right now and I need help getting past the fear.
I’m not scared. But I’m overwhelmed by this enormous task, and I don’t know how to break it down, and it feels like one enormous spider web I’m stuck in.
I’m not scared or confused. In fact, I know where I want to go, I even know how to get there. But I don’t know what to do first, or how to manage my energy as I’m working through it all.
Right?
Each of these stuck people will resonate with a different message.
This is why it matters to know what’s really going on in your customers’ heads and hearts at the moment they decide to get help getting unstuck.
Same as my refrigerator moment(s).
And that’s why I get really uppity about your client’s state of mind. I will push and push to get super precise about what EXACTLY that “yes okay I’ll click, call, buy” Refrigerator Moment is.
It’s hard to put your finger on, I know. It took me years to figure out that I’m different from other copywriters because I obsess over every word. The writing issue I’m best at solving and like solving best is when people aren’t happy with the words they’ve chosen. They like their idea, and know what they want to say… but what they’ve written doesn’t capture exactly what they want to say. Close… but not quite.
I don’t create offers for people… but I’ll name them. I don’t write blogs on clients’ behalf… but I’ll tweak them. I’m not a master of SEO… but I’ll write copy your people want to keep reading. See what I mean? Because the only clients I want are the ones who really really care about the right words. Who want their emails, web copy, articles & newsletters to be spot on and precise, because ‘close’ isn’t working for them.
It’ s subtle, but important. That’s what fantastic salespeople and fantastic sales copy is able to do – zero right in on the problem that needs solving in the most specific way. Because when you describe that exact tipping point and then present a solution, that’s when you make the sale. As soon as you mention just the right snack, that’s when I open the fridge.
If you’re having trouble identifying what’s going on in your clients’ heads, just listen. Ask them why they called you, ask them what they were thinking, when they called you today. And look at your testimonials for clues of what your happy clients were happiest to change.
That’s a big part of what we work through in Word Rules. Figuring out what your clients are thinking so we can find the exact words that show we understand.