If you want to convince people to become your customers, it helps if you know a bit about how they behave and what motivates them.

Here are five facts about people that will help you craft digital copy that converts.

1. People are quick to judge

Once someone lands on your site they want to know quickly whether you’re what they need.

Your approach: Cut to the chase. Your homepage is your two-nanosecond pitch, so use it to communicate clearly and briefly what your audience has come to find out.

2. People are self-motivated

Your would-be customers have problems you can solve.

Your approach: Describe your business in terms of what you do for people.

3. People buy from people not websites

It's a bit strange doing business with pixels on screens. We need to know there are real people behind the interweb.

Your approach: Drop the marketing speak and the clichés. Use an honest and friendly tone and tell a story to communicate the human side of your business. Empathise with your reader to build trust and common ground.

4. People buy with their hearts not their minds

Research shows that we make decisions on instinct, then go back to the facts to reassure ourselves we've done the right thing.

Your approach: Use emotive terms to describe how much better your products and services make people feel, then follow up with the details and the stats.

5. People don’t like to be sold to

…But they love to buy.

Your approach: Don’t sell; help. Use your blog to give regular problem-solving tips and advice. Demonstrate your expertise so when they realise it's harder than they thought, they’ll feel good about coming to you directly for help.