For the 10% who will likely read and apply what I’m about to mention in this post (extra sauce at the end in the Pro tip)...

You’ll gain an unfair advantage versus the rest.

It’s the backbone of how we’ve generated an incredible increase in sales for the brands
we serve…

And I’m sharing it with you here.

After working with over 120+ eCommerce brands in different industries, I’ve learned one fundamental truth about the best performers.

The most successful DTC eCommerce marketing (and marketing in general) can be boiled down to a single sentence.

That one sentence is:

“People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, ease their fears, confirm their suspicions, and help them throw rocks at their enemies.” – Blair Warren

To make the sentence easier to remember, I personally call it the E.J.E.C.T formula.

→ Encourage their dreams

→ Justify their failures

→ Ease their fears

→ Confirm their suspicions

→ Throw rocks at their enemies

Helps drive it home easier and remember it when trying to weave it into your marketing.

Winning eCom brands don't just market. 

They seek to understand. 

And that understanding comes full-circle through “One-Sentence Persuasion.”

It's the basis of every successful marketing campaign you see out there.

Even if the marketer, or the person being marketed to doesn't know it (yet).

This sentence beautifully captures the 5 triggers that build a BRAND vs a business.

Businesses sell things to you.

Brands make you desire things from them.

The most successful DTC brands make you desire things by understanding these 5 points:

→ What are your customers’ dreams?

→ What have they already tried? What’s failed? Why is it NOT their fault?

→ What do they fear, deeply?

→ Who / what are they suspicious of?

→ Who / what is the enemy?

When you can weave 3-5 of these points across all of your marketing:

- Ads 

- Emails 

- Blog posts 

- Shorts 

- Reels, and the whole lot…

You’ll start to see a strange compounding effect.

This is how to reach a ‘tipping point’ or ‘inflection point’ in your business.

All of your questions and customer interactions should ideally be centred around trying to understand these 5 points.

Let’s go a layer deeper:

1. Encourage Their Dreams

We start off by deeply understanding what our customers' dream state actually is.

• What are they trying to achieve?

• What are their deep desires?

• Where do they see themselves in their winning season / winning dream?

The more viscerally you understand their dreams, the better your marketing can paint a picture of their desired state.

Here are a few examples of how to weave this into your emails:

When you can truly understand their dream and add it to your marketing, you’ve got one very powerful part of the equation down.

And when you mix it with the rest that is about to follow, it’s a seriously potent marketing mix.

2. Justify Their Failures

When we consider the people we get along with most and gain a natural liking to, it’s usually those who are empathetic towards our situation.

They make us feel like it’s not our fault, but they help us navigate what our responsibility is to solve a specific problem

• What have they already tried?

• What hasn’t worked?

• Why is it NOT their fault?

Maybe they’ve tried everything, but they weren’t told one specific piece of information. Removing the blame allows them to be open to listen to your solution.

The key here is removing their blame, and not making them feel as though they are a failure for not finding a solution yet.

Sit on the same side of the table as them, and help them understand WHY it hasn’t worked yet.

Show them the crucial piece of information they were missing which puts everything into perspective.

3. Ease Their Fears

We all have fears. But we connect most viscerally with those who help put our fears at rest, and comfort us when we are anxious.

The brands that do this make magic happen.

But to do so correctly, it’s crucial to know:

• What are they actually afraid of?

• How does your product reduce their fears?

• Do they have any regrets?

If you know what they fear deep inside, you can work on moving them away from that fear and towards the identified dream in the first point.

See how all of this is starting to tie together?

So now you know what they dream of, what hasn’t worked yet, and what they fear.

There are still 2 more parts of the equation to make this potent.

4. Confirm Their Suspicions

We’re all suspicious of something. It may be big corporations, stories we’ve been told in the past… 

But one thing's for certain. We all have our suspicions about something - or someone. 

Once we figure that out, and confirm the suspicions of our target market, another crucial aspect of persuasion is unlocked.

• What / Who are they suspicious of?

• How and why are their suspicions true?

• How does your product align with their suspicions?
  
  

Sometimes, our suspicions just need to be articulated and validated for us to feel truly connected.

The best brands understand this and go all-in.

5. Throw Rocks At Their Enemies

Abe Lincoln said it best: “A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have”.

Similar to our suspicions, we all have an enemy. 

And it’s important to understand:

• Who or what is the enemy?

• Why is their enemy perceived as evil?

• Can you empathize with WHY they dislike the enemy?
  
  

Sharing a common enemy in marketing naturally makes 2 people close.

So once a brand truly understands what or who its’ customers dislike, and as long as it ethically aligns with the ethos of the brand itself…

Articulating this can be extremely, extremely powerful.

The next part is the magic on how we actually get this all done.

Pro Tip

So now you’re probably thinking:

“Alright. This is great and all. But how do I actually find this information? How do I know the dreams, fears, enemies and all that jazz?”

Great question. 

There are two answers here - one that’s likely self explanatory and one that is a bit of a growth hack I found during my time as a copywriter.

The Self Explanatory Way: Ask your customers.

I know - shocker, right? But seriously, the amount of brands that don’t have customer conversations is quite sad.

The best brand leaders continuously speak to their customers on a weekly basis and try to find this stuff out.

But I get it - you’ve got a million things to do and you want a shortcut of some kind.

Lucky for you, this is one of the few times ever a decent shortcut actually exists.

And that shortcut is called Google Discussions.

It’s a free Chrome extension you can download that allows you to pull up every single forum on the internet based on a keyword.

You simply download Google Discussions from the Chrome Web Store, and it will show up when you next go on Google at the top…

Right where it says ‘Web, Images, News’ etc.

So let’s say my brand sells insoles to solve the problem of plantar fasciitis, a medical condition that affects the feet and makes walking difficult.

Here’s what I’d do to find the above information:

Step 1: Download the free Google Discussions chrome extension

Step 2: Go on Google and type in ‘Plantar Fasciitis’ (Or whatever the core problem you’re solving)

Step 3: Click the ‘Discussions’ tab at the top of the Google window

Step 4: Go through all of the forums and read people’s experiences.

This chrome extension literally pulls up every single forum on the internet where people discuss the keyword you type in.

It’s like sitting in a room with your target market, and listening to them complain about the problem you solve.

You learn about their dreams.

Their failures.

Their fears and frustrations.

Their suspicions.

And their enemies.

Basically, it’s a hack to fast-track the E.J.E.C.T formula.

And there you have it.

Customer research on steroids.

Here’s a quick video I posted on LinkedIn a while back on how to use Google Discussions properly. 

Still as relevant as ever, and super easy to use.

Conclusion

Once you understand these 5 elements, your marking will reach a new height. Your customers will consider you a brand that truly, truly understands them, and they’ll almost be left with no choice but to purchase from you.

Have you ever purchased something where you felt like whoever it was you were buying from just knows you and your problem SO WELL?

That’s because they’ve applied the one-sentence persuasion so, so well.

And sometimes, they don’t even know it.

I sincerely hope it serves you well.