When sales tactics don't work

The writer was good, really good. One of the best. And not cheap. This writer is on the "leading edge" (aka. "cutting edge," "bleeding edge," pick your jargon) of content marketing. And she used every tactic in her well-stocked writerly arsenal to write a sales page for one of my favorite life coaches.This page looked like the Example Page for the Best Practices in Conversion Copywriting handbook. It had a compelling intro, well-placed CTAs, and copy that followed the prescribed formula for successful sales.And it did not work.Conversions plummeted. (And this writer did everything right  - really, she did)But for the coach's audience, an audience so used to the coach's self-written weekly missives, an audience who had fallen in love with her personality, wit and wisdom, but also her vulnerability - the sales tactics on that page didn't ring true for them at all.It repelled them.It felt like a bait-and-switch.It read like the wise life coach they knew and loved had been body-snatched by a corporate alien.I understand why this happened. It was a mismatch between what the writer had been taught was effective, fail-proof marketing, and the actual needs, wants, and expectations of the coach's audience.But it wasn't until now that I had a term for it:Psychological BackfiringDefintion: When manipulative (or "psychological") tactics trigger the exact opposite of the desired behavior.According to Shanelle Mullin, on the ConversionXL blog, backfiring can happen because you implemented psychological tactics poorly, or because your audience is a pack of obstinate non-conformists.For the record, I am a card carrying Obstinate Non-Conformist. If I  see the herd running one way, I trudge steadfastly in the opposite direction. If a sales page is trying to sell me something, I am automatically put on the defensive.Honestly - I think most people are this way. We've been taught, through being marketed to non-stop, to be suspicious of and hyper-sensitive to manipulative sales tactics.6 Ways your copy could backfireResearchers Dr. Brian Cugelman and Dr. Agnis Stibe believe that backfires come in six varieties (at least - there could be more, but the research is really just getting started):

1. Credibility damage - when your message is read as inauthentic
2. Inexperience - when you apply a marketing theory without understanding the underlying logic to it (and do it badly)
3. Fineprint fallacy - highlighting all the benefits and hiding the negatives in the fine print
4. Personality responses - when a message doesn't align with the audience's self-identity, they'll do the opposite of whatever it says
5. Poor judgement - when you don't tailor your message to your audience correctly, perhaps because you don't understand their needs/knows/wants as well as you thought (or haven't done the research!)
6. Social psychology (anti-modeling and reverse norming) - when you show a negative behavior (ie. DO NOT DO THIS) and you accidentally imply that (LOTS OF PEOPLE DO THIS and it's not that bad...)

For our purposes, credibility damage is the most dangerous backfire. Our businesses, for the most part, are based on developing a deep, unshakable sense of trust with our clients. That's true for coaches, it's true for me, it's true for any personality-driven business.

A personality-driven business is any biz in which you, the owner, are the reason people come, come back, and bring their friends. 

When a landing page, sales page, or email suddenly doesn't sound like you, it shakes your credibility in the eyes of your audience.And, when a landing page, sales page, or email misjudges your audience, they'll feel like you don't understand them as well as they believed (ouch).How to bypass the backfireThis isn't to say that you can never sell things, or have a sales page that works.This just means that the tactics that work in traditional marketing may not work for your audience.I see backfires happen most often in personality-driven businesses (like coaching, professional bloggers, even a woman-owned and operated travel company).Why?Personality-driven businesses are a special class because you're not seen as a "business." You're seen as a trusted friend and confidant.How would you feel if your best friend invited you to a Tupperware party every week and gave you the hard-sell?Betrayed? Hurt? Disappointed?Yet this is what marketers typically tell business owners to do - create regular "offers" and send recurring email campaigns or newsletters with Calls-to-Action throughout.But, what if your best friend said instead: "Hey, I found this really cool dish with a lid and it keeps my pesto fresh for a week. I think you'd really love it."Mmmm pesto. This approach bypasses our "Sales Sensors," and instead acts more like social proof, which is an intensely powerful credibility-builder.I'd love to hear your "backfire" stories if you've got them! Please share in the comments (good karma is guaranteed).