I feel your pain

If you’ve ever witnessed two people commiserating over a shared situation, you probably noticed the immediate bond this can create. It’s why mothers love to share pregnancy stories with each other or quips about how bad their babies slept. It creates a sense of relief.

It should come as no surprise then that pain – or more specifically, recognizing and empathizing with pain – is a common way to connect with customers and prospects.

But it’s rare to see a brokerage address the common pain points or worries of buyers and sellers in their marketing materials or websites. For instance:

• Am I pricing too high or too low?
• How do I figure out everything I need to know about mortgages, insurance and closing?
• I don’t want to get ripped off.
• I’m anxious and worried about moving.
  

Real estate marketing rarely exhibits empathy that directly addresses consumer pain, yet real estate transactions are wrought with it.

Why is that?

Now that listings information is ubiquitous, addressing and alleviating pain in the process is a big part of the industry value proposition. Yet, when we do see declarative headlines on brokerage websites, for example, they tend to address only home search. Find your next home; Search all the homes in Los Angeles; etc.

This is a missed opportunity for brokerages to connect with buyers and sellers in a way that is uniquely theirs. The search portals and MLS are places to find homes, but the brokerage is a place to get help owning that home. It’s an important distinction in the value chain.

What could that look like in the headline of website or ad? A couple of examples:

• No pressure. No surprises. We’re here for the hard stuff.
  

• Drama-free home buying and selling. It’s our speciality.
  

Of course, these are each a bit generic in their own right. But you get the point.

Even better would be to use an actual statistic that helps to address these paint points. For example, maybe your agents have a superior list to sale price ratio. Or maybe 95% of your transactions close on time. Maybe 100% of your customers come back.  

Brokerages could also use this approach when writing copy for agents. Think about their pain points around leads, marketing and broker value and address them with friendly copy or hard statistics.

Good copy matters in business

OK, but why?

A line of copy may not seem like it’s make or break, but when done right it can enhance your brand and help your market clearly understand what makes you different and what’s in it for them.

Copy can also increase your conversions by enticing visitors to take action.

If you can show your prospects that you get where they’re coming from, that you are sympathetic to the pains they have when it comes to buying and selling homes, you’ll start them off with a good feeling. That good feeling is where trust begins. And trust earns business.

Next time you’re redesigning your home page or writing an ad, think about this:

Buying and selling a house can be painful. It’s time consuming. You don’t really know exactly how it’s going to turn out going in. You could lose money. The loan process and closing are confusing. Moving sucks. And few people fully trust their lender and agent at the beginning.

Show them you get it. Show them you feel their pain.