Get more restaurant reservations by writing great website content
Your restaurant’s website looks good, it has a lovely design, it has great photos and it’s easy to navigate. Yay! But what about the narrative? The what? The narrative – what you are actually saying in words. Copy, or content (what you say), matters. It matters a lot.
The thing is though that what is “great copy” for one person might not work for another. One person’s meat is another person’s poison. Different people respond differently to different styles of copywriting.
When you sell a product or service, different buyers need different information depending on their personality. The trick is to write copy that appeals to all of the different types of buyers.
So – what are these different types?
According to Bryan Eisenberg and Jeffrey Eisenberg (in “Call To Action” 2005, Wizard Academy Press), there are 4 basic personality types; competitive, spontaneous, humanistic and methodical.
The Competitive: This person wants accomplishment. They are goal oriented people, who want to know why your product will solve their problem.
The Spontaneous: This type of person likes the personal touch, hates cold hard facts. They like to know why your service/product is the right fit for their need. This person wants acceptance. The approach best used with these types is to provide assurances, guarantees, an emphasis on personal service.
The Humanistic: Creative type who enjoy helping others and socialising. They want to know who else has used your service to solve their problems. They value testimonials, reviews and the knowledge that others have already used your product successfully.
The Methodical: These types like accuracy. Facts. Figure, statistics, methodology. They like logical information displayed in detail.
The Eisenbergs give an example of one paragraph that addresses all 4 types in 3 sentences.
“Our approach is personalised to meet your objectives. The bottom line is that your results are guaranteed. Explore our methodology to discover how thousands of clients just like you have been delighted.”
Here’s the same sentence with the personality types that are addressed highlighted…
“[Our approach is personalised to meet your objectives]*2. The [bottom line]*1 is that [your results are guaranteed]*1. Explore our [methodology]*4 to discover how [thousands of clients just like you have been delighted.]*3“
1 = Competitive (problem solved)
2 = Spontaneous (personal touch)
3 = Humanistic (who else?)
4 = Methodical (facts and figures)
So how does this translate to the hospitality industry?
I found this copy about Hummus Bros, one of my favourite fast casual lunch stops in Soho.
“Hummus Bros is about feeding you homemade hummus with mouth watering toppings, scooped off your own individual bowl with warm pitta bread, and accompanied by refreshing salads and juices. We focus on taste, value for money, freshness and simplicity. We are proud to be the only place in the UK to concentrate solely on what we love most – hummus.”
To re-write this copy and address all four personality types, you could instead say;
“Tasty, great value for money, fresh and simple. There’s a reason why the Soho locals fill our seats every lunchtime.
Take homemade hummus and add your choice of a range of hot or cold healthy toppings to create your personal feast. Add brown or white pitta bread (hot or cold, small or large) and accompany with a refreshing salad or juice and enjoy with friends.
We guarantee you will leave feeling nourished and satisfied and will want to come back for more. We are proud to be the only place in the UK to concentrate solely on what we love most – hummus.”
Here’s where the personality types are addressed:
“Tasty, great value for money, fresh and simple. [There's a reason why the Soho locals fill our seats every lunchtime]*3. Take homemade hummus and add your choice of a range of hot or cold healthy toppings to [create your personal feast]*2. Add [brown or white pitta bread (hot or cold, small or large)]*4 and accompany with a refreshing salad or juice and [enjoy with friends]*3. [We guarantee you will leave feeling nourished and satisfied]*1 and will want to come back for more. We are proud to be the [only place in the UK]*1 to concentrate solely on what we love most – hummus”.
1 = Competitive (problem solved)
2 = Spontaneous (personal touch)
3 = Humanistic (who else?)
4 = Methodical (facts and figures)
And why to go through all of this bother? Your website is there to turn browsers into diners. Better copy will lead to better conversion – in your case, restaurant bookings.
It should also by the way lead to better search engine rankings. Let’s leave that discussion to another day.
