Transcription
What makes a winning ad? You might think a great hook, opening a curiosity loop, or using a proven script framework. But when I analyze the top 1% of ads for some of the biggest drop shipping brands, ads that consistently convert at 10%, while other drop shippers trying to sell the exact same products can't even convert at 1%, something weird emerged.
The highest performing ads weren't just breaking conventional rules. They were doing the complete opposite. They had mediocre hooks that should have killed engagement. They had little to no editing, which breaks every single video ad best practice. But somehow these ugly, bad ads are converting five to 10 times better than the textbook perfect ads. Therefore, there's something else at play that drives conversions that nobody else is talking about.
Because the main thing all these winning ads had in common was that they showed the viewer that they truly understood them before they ever mentioned their product. But most drop shippers just tend to be in a rush to say the same regurgitated benefits without ever showing the viewer that they actually understand their problem. Which is why people keep scrolling past your ad and Facebook is punishing you with high CPCs and CPMs that just make it impossible for you to be profitable.
But once your viewer feels understood, then belief becomes automatic. And that's exactly what happened to me when I bought a $97 productivity system the other day from some random dude on my Instagram feed. Now, as a marketer, I know every psychological trigger and main manipulation tactic in the book. I mean, I have done my fair share of women manipulating. But here I was, credit card out, banging it on the table for a product that I had seen a thousand versions of already before.
So, something happened in that ad that just bypassed every rational defense I had. And when I broke it down, I realized this guy didn't just describe my problem. He described my exact situation by saying, "Every productivity system you've tried was designed for neurotypical brains. So, if you have ADHD like me, they're not just failing you, they're actually making your symptoms worse." He then goes on to explain why traditional productivity systems always fail for people with ADHD brains. So, in my eyes, this wasn't another productivity guru. This was a guy that truly understood why I had failed at other solutions because he was exactly like me.
So, when you're making ads, the goal shouldn't be how do I make a scroll-stopping hook or how do I make a winning ad. It should really be: How do I demonstrate to my viewer that I truly understand their problem better than they do? Because that's when they're automatically going to trust me and buy from my brand compared to everyone else selling the exact same product.
Now, I already hear the little voices in your head saying, "Ethan, how the [ __ ] do I demonstrate I understand my customers' exact life story in a 30 to 60-second ad?" Well, I'm going to expose the exact strategy that the top 1% of drop shippers use to demonstrate understanding so deeply that your customer thinks you're stalking them or watching their daily struggles from their closet like Dexter. As there are two specific ways that you can engineer this belief.
And the first one uses a principle that psychologists call diagnostic recognition. And this is by far the most powerful tool you can use to get in your customer's head and show them you understand them better than they do. See, real diagnostic recognition is like going to an expert doctor for a specific injury, like dislocating your shoulder after swinging and missing at a pitch and watching your promising baseball career vanish in front of your eyes. So, you have to make drop-shipping YouTube videos for the rest of your eternity. But you go to this doctor who has seen thousands of patients just like you. And after a few tests, they automatically can diagnose your exact situation, every feeling, every thought, every emotion that you have tied to this problem, which makes you think, "Holy [ __ ] this doctor gets me." So whatever he prescribes as the best solution to heal me, I am going to do automatically.
So instead of saying generic problems which actually make your customers trust you less, what we want to do instead is use specificity to create instant recognition. So, how can we apply that to selling a weight-loss product like this hula hoop right here? Well, you want to start with step one, which is the specific daily frustration. So, the generic way of doing this would be saying, "Oh, well, these are people that are trying to lose weight, so I'm literally going to say, 'Are you struggling to lose weight?'" I'm going to say it right on the nose. But the diagnostic way of doing this would be: You meal prep every Sunday. You weigh yourself every morning and feel that sinking disappointment when the scale shows the same number for the third week straight. That is the cutting-edge specificity that will actually show you demonstrate your customer's situation.
But then you want to go to the next layer deeper, which is step number two, which is what is their emotional reality? What is the specific emotions they feel but they never say out loud? So we know that the surface-level pain and desire for this audience is that they want to lose weight. But what is that emotion they feel when they can't lose those stubborn pounds? Well, you could say something along the lines of, "That shame you feel of your body when you avoid the mirror after a shower or when you automatically suck in your stomach when someone takes a photo." Those are incredibly specific scenarios that when you read reviews, when you watch videos and listen to actual reviews from real customers, they are going to say specific scenarios like this. And when you can call that out in your ad, oh my god, does it feel like this person is in my head.
Now, step number three is incredibly crucial and it can make or break your ads if it does apply to this type of product that you're selling because for some products, it really doesn't make sense to do this because the problem is pretty cut and dry. But this would be labeling the specific type of problem that your customer has. So, this is a great instance in which if they know their problem, but you can actually shift their perspective and make them realize it's actually something else that's causing this problem, then oh my god, have you opened Pandora's box in your customer's mind. So, for a weight-loss example, this would be perfect where you could say, "If you're someone who eats healthy, you're exercising, you're doing all the right things, but that scale still won't budge. It's not because you have a regular weight problem. It's because you have metabolic resistance." Which means if you do all the right things like eating less and moving more, it still won't work because your metabolism has adapted to your current weight. So, you now shifted the perspective and realized the real problem, the real enemy isn't the initial thing you thought.
Now, step number four is just creating that bridge between where your customer is currently at and where they want to be. Because most drop shippers try to sell their product for everyone, but with diagnostic recognition, we are positioning our product as the best solution for a specific type of problem, which you've already conveyed in the previous steps beforehand. So, this is just putting it all together. So, the generic way of doing this would be saying that this supplement or this hula hoop, it burns fat fast. But the actual diagnostic way of saying this would be: "If you're selling a supplement per se, would be: This formula was specifically crafted for people over 35 whose metabolism, which is the problem that we actually talked about, crashed after having kids and you can't spend 2 hours at the gym every day or eat like a rabbit in order to lose weight." Therefore, you're not just selling another product. You are selling the perfect solution for that specific type of person.
Now, before we get into the second framework, if you want me to personally help you brainstorm and implement these belief frameworks into your ads so that you can scale to one grand a day, like my students Tim and Reneer and so many more, then click the first link in the description down below and apply to join my one-on-one program. You get my exact image and video ad templates that I use to make winning ads for any product. And then along with that, you get five group coaching calls with yours truly where I'm going to review your products, your website, your ads so that you can scale to one grand a day guaranteed or I keep coaching you for free until you do. So right now for September, I have five spots available. So if you are interested, click that first link in the description down below and apply today.
Now, while diagnostic recognition is a great way to build belief to sell a lot of different types of problem-solving products, it usually works best for those emotional core problems like losing weight and self-esteem issues. But obviously, there are tons of other winning products that solve more common everyday problems too. So with the next framework, this is all about how you can convince your customers that all the other alternative solutions will fail for them and that your solution is the best and most effective one to solve whatever problem that they're currently dealing with. And this is by far the most profitable framework for my 101 students right now.
Now, this framework is really just using unique mechanisms because before you or your customer buys any product, your brain naturally goes through every other option that you can try before having to part with your hard-earned money. But most drop shippers ignore this mental process and just skip right into, "Here is why my product is great." Therefore, your customers are still left thinking, "But what if I try X or Y or Z first before having to buy your product, even while watching your ad?" But if you systematically go through each other alternative solution and break down why they won't work for you, then logically the only option left would be your product, and then you can explain exactly why it's the best solution.
So step number one of using unique mechanisms would be explaining why each alternative solution fails for your customer's specific situation. So if I'm selling a sleep supplement and let's say for instance, the two most common alternatives are melatonin and then cutting your caffeine down or going to bed a little bit earlier. So in a conversational way, actually explain why they don't work. So for melatonin, here's the thing. It only helps if your problem is not being tired enough. And if your mind is racing with stress, melatonin just makes you feel drowsy while your brain stays active and wired. So you still won't be able to go to sleep. And again, we are right now specifically calling out that your sleep issue is because of stress. So melatonin is not going to work. And cutting caffeine might help, but it just takes weeks to kick in. And it doesn't actually solve the real root issue of stress buildup that's keeping you awake at night.
And then one more example because I see this so often even with my own students when they first get into my program is that sure, you'll call out the alternatives, but then you'll do the bare minimum of saying, "Yeah, you tried going to the gym, I tried doing X and Z, but nothing works." You can't say nothing works because that doesn't convince your customer that it actually doesn't work. So instead, you should say something along the lines of, "You've tried keto, but couldn't stick to it after 2 weeks. You bought that expensive gym membership, but you were afraid of being judged and it was too much of a hassle and commitment to actually go every single day." But none of these actually failed because you lack willpower. So, we're giving them an out. We're giving them hope. But it actually failed because they weren't designed for people just like you who have a specific metabolism type. And that is marketing 101, baby, of shifting the blame off of your customer and onto all the other bad solutions that they tried. Even if those solutions totally could have worked and it has a lot to do with them, but we're not going to say that. So right now, we are logically shooting down all the other first attempts that they tried because of course, that's not going to work for their specific type of problem.
And then step number two is revealing what is your unique mechanism. What makes your solution different than everything else they've tried, which is usually calling out a specific feature or mechanism that your product does, which others don't do. So, with a supplement, this is always going to be the formula or specific ingredients that you use. So, in this instance, I said, "This formula has magnesium, glycinate, and L-theanine, which actually lower your stress hormones before they spike at bedtime." So, again, we're still going with that issue of stress before bedtime. So your brain is actually going to wind down instead of racing with anxious thoughts because of that unique mechanism. So really guys, when you're selling products, you're not selling the product. You are selling the mechanism. Like with an LED red light therapy product that helps with your skin. You're not selling the product. You are really selling why red light therapy is the missing piece of the puzzle that that customer has not tried for their specific issue.
Now, if you do those first two steps right, you are going to get a ton of sales and already outmarket your competitors. But the final step and layer to really nail this down is realizing that your customers may still have that final objection of, "Does this product actually deliver the promises and the benefits that they say they do?" Because we hear promises all the time, but a lot of times we never see proof. Therefore, you need to strategically think about what type of proof, either visual or social proof, that actually backs up the claims that you are making in your ad.
So, when you're selling supplements, you're typically going to rely on social proof, which are different assets like a doctor recommendation, a sleep specialist, some authority figure, or detailed customer reviews. So, you can flash UGC clips of people saying specific scenarios and benefits that they got after taking your product. Or you can just use a quantity like, "12,000 happy customers have used this product and have got the specific desire." Or showing actual situations in which the benefit would matter. So, for instance, I sold a pheromone perfume product where instead of just telling people this would get your dream guy or dream girl, I had an ad where it was 7 seconds long where a girl put on the pheromone perfume and the next clip was her going to a bar getting hit on by tons of different dudes. So, I showed them visually the social proof of what would happen after you wore this product.
And then typically, you're going to use visual proof when you can actually show the results happening in real time. So, these are usually before-and-after type of products. So, weight loss, skin cleaning, posture, all those different types of products where you can actually demonstrate them in action. Those are where you're going to want to use visual proof to back up the claims you're making. So, typically, like with a lash product, you'll see the before and after of one lash without a product and then one lash with a certain mascara or with a hair curler in action. So, if you can actually show visually what the product can do, always use that visual in every single ad because that is going to be the most convincing form of proof.
Now, if you enjoyed this video, make sure to leave a like and subscribe down below for more videos just like this that I drop every single week. And if you want some AI prompts that will help you go through this exact process with whatever product you're selling, then click that first link in the description down below and join my free Discord where I am sharing the exact prompts that I use to create belief in every single one of my ads. So again, if you enjoyed, watch this video next to know exactly how I like to make my winning ads from scratch.