How to sell ethically, without manipulating your buyer

Non-manipulative selling.

Or, how can I sell while still being ethical?

Since you're the kind of person who's clicked on a post about ethical sales, I think it's safe to assume that you don't want to sell in a manipulative way.

In fact, when I was doing my own customer research, not wanting to manipulate your readers came up as one of the very biggest issues people had with writing sales pages.

But what does it actually mean, to be manipulative? 

The key issue is around the definition of manipulate as getting someone to do something 'with intent to deceive' and/or 'to cause someone to do something that's not in their best interest'. So, when we're writing our sales page, that's the bit we need to avoid.

Where ethical copywriting can go wrong

But what I see people doing in their sales pages, if they're concerned about potentially being manipulative, is throwing the baby out with the bathwater and missing out on creating connection with their reader as a result.

So, leaning on people's pain points - exaggerating what's wrong and over-hyping your solution - is manipulative. But acknowledging that your ideal client has a problem that you're hoping to help them solve isn't manipulative.

One of the biggest things I want you to take away from this post is to understand that, as long as you're not seeking to deceive your readers, or trying to push them into a decision that's not in their best interest, you're not being manipulative.

And the corollary to that point is that you may be under-serving your client if your desire not to manipulate means that you don't try to connect with them.

How to write ethical copy that still connects with your reader’s emotions

Say you're a baby sleep expert. Your potential client feels exhausted, at her wit's end, like nothing will ever be normal again. Her brain is foggy, she's stumbling over basic tasks and she's not sure how much longer she can cope without a proper night's sleep. If you don't acknowledge that reality, she won't feel that you grasp her real situation, so however well you lay out the details of how you work, she's unlikely to consider you her first choice. 

There’s no need to agitate her pain points - she’s living their reality right now. But it’s crucial to make it clear that you understand where she’s coming from, so that she can trust that your solution will make sense for her.

Ethical sales is about empathy, not manipulation

This quote sums up one of the big jobs your copy needs to do for you:⠀⠀

"If we don't feel that someone knows what it is like to be us, what they say has little credibility. If he could have entered into their feelings, and if he could have had them understand that he understood, his answers, which were probably right, would have been embraced." - Dr Henry Cloud ⠀⠀

Or there’s the old saying, “I don’t care what you know until I know that you care.”
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If you can make your readers understand that you understand them and that you care, what you have to offer them is oh so much more likely to be embraced. As with so many elements of business and selling, empathy will take you further than any amount of attempted manipulation (and it doesn’t feel icky or sleazy either).
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If you want to dig a bit more into how sales pages work, check out this post about the basics of what to include in a sales page.

If this is something you’d like to dig into in more depth, you might like to work with me 1:1 on your messaging, copy and marketing strategy.