Research Into Revenue, Part 1: The Calls

Doing calls with your customers is one of the best ways to do research.

Research that brings in way more $$$ from your email campaigns.

This research will show you exactly what pain points, fears, and desires to write about.

It'll also show you the emotional journey your customers go on, and the specific language they use.

Since copywriting is about entering the conversation that's already in your customer's head, this info is key when it comes to driving revenue.

Plus, as an added bonus, you'll get video calls and transcripts that you can easily transform into conversion-boosting video and text testimonials.

Here are the exact steps I use to setup and do the calls:

1. Email your client’s list of buyers for the specific offer you’re creating research for.

In my experience, different offers have different pain points, language, emotional journeys etc. So I create a different customer avatar for each offer I do.

The email will ask them to fill out a short survey.

Here's a template of that email you can use.


2. Reach out to survey responders

The survey will give you some info, but really it’s a filtering mechanism.

Because it’ll ask the people who say, “Man, I love your stuff” if they’re willing to do a Zoom video interview.

You’ll reach out to those people with a short and sweet email to confirm the call and schedule a time. In order to get 7 calls on the books (recommended, but 5 is enough if they are good), you’ll want to schedule 8-9.

Here’s a template of that survey you can copy and use.


3. You’ll do the calls themselves

These are mostly about building rapport, asking open-ended questions, listening well, and reflecting. The better you are, the more juicy, emotional stuff people will share with you on the call.

Obviously, this hyper-emotional content is king for testimonials and for your research.

However, (and this is the hardest part), you need to kindly dig for this emotional payoff.

For example, not too long ago I did interviews for an accounting certification course.

After plenty of active listening and reflection along with several rounds of prompting, the customer shared that he felt “free, excited, and proud of himself. Like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. And my income doubled.”

I can’t completely teach this through a LinkedIn post. But I’ve shared some of my top tips, along with the exact questions I tend to use, right here.

Once you have at least 5-7 of these calls done, you're ready to create your customer avatar.

Check out Part 2 for that.

Thanks for reading,
- Zak C